#Heart2HeartChallengeIndia motivated thousands to climb stairs for heart health

Every year World Heart Day (WHD) is a gentle reminder to look into whether our heart is healthy or not. For every beating heart, beating cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is extremely important. However, heart health statistics are not very promising and approximately 12 lakh youngsters die from cardiac arrest every year in India.

A sedentary lifestyle has been one of the dominant factors in the uprise of cardiac conditions in young adults. The majority of chores that required human effort in the past have become automated through machines, stairs have been replaced by lifts, bikes by motorbikes, and so on. These small changes surely have added luxury to our day-to-day life but impacted the function of the most important machine of mankind – the human body. Studies have suggested that the human body must exercise 40 minutes a day to be at its best potential; however, the majority of individuals fail to include exercise in their daily routine.

Considering the dire need to curb the steady rise in the incidence of heart diseases – hypertension and heart failure in India, JB Pharma initiated the #Heart2HeartChallengeIndia with the support of HEAL Foundation to spread awareness amongst the masses to check whether their hearts are healthy or not by involving simple steps. The #Heart2HeartChallengeIndia is very simple – you have to climb 60 steps (4 floors) in a minute, make a video of it, share it on your social media, tag 5 people, inviting them to take this challenge to check their heart health.

The challenge takes its inspiration from a study published in Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed) “Time to climb 4 flights of stairs provides relevant information on exercise testing performance and results” in 2020. The same study was published as a press release by the European Society of Cardiology under the heading “Test your heart health by climbing stairs”. As per a study, finding climbing 4 flights of stairs in under a minute can be linked with low mortality. Key findings of the study were:

– Participants who took 40 to 45 seconds to climb the stairs obtained over 9 to 10 metabolic equivalents (METs). According to earlier studies, people who achieve 10 METs during the physical activity test have a low mortality rate (i.e equal to or less than 1% per year).

– Participants who climbed the stairs in 90 seconds or more garnered less than 8 METs. According to researchers, this can be expressed as a mortality rate of 2% to 4% per year.

– 58% of the participants who climbed the stairs in over 90 seconds had abnormal heart function during the treadmill test.

Dilip Singh Rathore, President – India Business, JB Pharma, said, “As per the WHO report, nearly 63% of total deaths in India are due to non-communicable diseases, of which 27% are attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) which affects 45% of people in the 40-69 age group. Raised blood pressure is among the most important risk factors for CVDs. Moreover, it remains poorly controlled due to low awareness about hypertension, lack of appropriate care through primary care and poor follow-ups. Considering the need to spread awareness around heart health, we initiated the ‘#Heart2HeartChallengeIndia’ – another gentle reminder to the masses to pay heed to their heart health, to make India heart-healthy.”

The purpose of this campaign is to drive awareness on checking heart health individually because if one is unable to climb 60 steps (4 floors) in 1 minute, it is the primary sign that one’s heart is suboptimal (not working well) as the European Society of Cardiology has demonstrated it. And it would be a good idea to consult a doctor and get your BP checked, to take preventive or curative measures whatsoever required to keep your heart healthy.

Speaking about bringing heart health awareness, and about the alarming state of hypertension in India, Dr Swadeep Srivastava, Founder & Chairman, HEAL Foundation, said, “As per the WHO report, only about 12% of people with hypertension in India have their blood pressure under control. And Foundationuncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke are responsible for one-third of total deaths in India. The Heart2Heart Challenge India campaign is a novel attempt to mitigate the deteriorating heart health conditions of Indian people, and to stride by the Government of India’s target to reduce the 25% prevalence of hypertension (raised blood pressure) by 2025. The campaign has multiple steps which include four flight challenges, learning accurate measurement (BP RIGHT KARO) of blood pressure, and cholesterol testing. We are hopeful that people will participate in the challenge wholeheartedly and we scale the height equal to 7 mountain Summits of the world to create a world record.”

To spread awareness about heart health, about 2500 JB employees including senior management from across multiple locations participated in the campaign. They took the challenge and invited more and more people from their groups to take the challenge and pass on the healthy heart and timely BP monitoring message in the community.

(A marketing initiative by Open Avenues)

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