The leading cause of a heart attack, according to the British Heart Foundation, is coronary heart disease. In order to limit your chances of developing this condition, there are two things you can do.
What is coronary heart disease (CHD)?
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) explained this disease occurs when fatty deposits clog up the coronary arteries.
The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle. When these become clogged with fatty deposits, the arteries become narrow.
This restricts the amount of oxygen that can flow to the heart muscle (known as angina).
Symptoms of CHD include chest pain, shortness of breath, pain travelling through the body, feeling faint and nausea.
Together, these symptoms are known as angina (which can develop slowly over many years).
A heart attack happens when a piece of the fatty deposit in the coronary artery breaks away and blocks the artery.
This would prevent any oxygenated blood from reaching the heart muscle, starving it of oxygen, causing parts of the heart to die.
READ MORE: High cholesterol: Lump underneath the skin is a warning your levels are too high
There are several risk factors with developing CHD, namely high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and being overweight.
In order to lower your risk of developing CHD (and, consequently, a heart attack), here are three lifestyle tips to follow.
As pointed out by the Mayo Clinic, the first step is to get your body moving.
Regular, daily physical exercise can lower your risk of heart disease.
DON’T MISS:
By maintaining a healthy weight, or getting into shape, you reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
The minimum amount of exercise to do every week is 150 minutes – this is to reap the health benefits.
A brisk walk counts as exercise, so does dancing, gardening and riding a bike.
Managing a 10-minute walk here or there throughout the day is a great place to start.
Consider adding beans or other legumes into your meal, and focus on eating lean cuts of meat and fish.
Steer towards low-fat and fat-free dairy products, and choose whole grains when picking your bread.
It’ll also help to cook with healthy fats, such as olive oil, and to limit dangerous foods.
Foods to limit include salt, sugar, processed carbohydrates, alcohol and saturated fats.