How to avoid a heart attack?

Dr.Ashish Agarwal, 3 mins read

Heart disease, including coronary artery disease, angina, heart failure, and arrhythmias, is a leading cause of death globally, claiming millions of deaths each year. There are several risk factors for it. Some are non-modifiable like family history, age, ethnicity, and gender. You cannot change or modify these factors.

However, there are some modifiable risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity. You can control them by making some simple yet effective changes to your lifestyle:

Load your plate full of healthy foods
A healthy, balanced diet can go a long way in keeping your heart healthy. It can also help you manage other modifiable risk factors like diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure. Include vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, lean meats, low-fat dairy products, whole grains and healthy fats like avocados in your diet. Additionally, avoid high-sodium (salt) meals, sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates, processed foods, saturated fats, and trans fats.

Stay active and fit
Combining regular exercise with a healthy diet is a good idea to maintain your overall health. It helps you shed extra pounds and manage a healthy weight. It also helps address other health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes.

Aim for at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise daily. Shorter bouts are also helpful if you cannot manage this goal. Activities like walking a dog, gardening, and brisk walking can help.

Manage your weight
Obesity has become a common health problem nowadays, raising the risk of numerous health problems other than cosmetic concerns. The fat around the belly is especially not good for your heart health. Extra pounds can also fuel other risk factors for heart disease.

Use BMI (Body Mass Index) to measure your weight as per your height. Divide your weight (in kg) by the square of your height (in meters). For example, if your weight is 70 kg and height is 1.70 meters, your BMI will be 24.22. A BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight.

Weight circumference can also help measure belly fat. Men with waists above 40 inches and women with above 35 inches of waist should consider reducing their belly fat. Even a small weight reduction (3% to 5%) can reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

Quit smoking
This will be one of the best decisions of your life. Cigarettes contain harmful chemicals that damage the heart and blood vessels. The smoke of cigarettes lowers oxygen levels in the blood, making the heart work harder to supply enough oxygen to the body. Even if you are not a smoker, avoid secondhand smoke.

Manage your blood pressure
After the age of 18, periodically check your blood pressure. Normal blood pressure in adults is less than 120/80 mmHg. If your blood pressure often comes higher, you should take adequate measures to keep it under control. Eat a healthy diet low in saturated fat, exercise regularly, and take prescribed medicines timely.

Manage diabetes
Diabetes is one of the primary culprits for heart attacks. So, if you have diabetes, be more cautious about your health and periodically follow up with a doctor. Eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, manage weight and stress, get enough sleep, and stay hydrated.