5 Lifestyle Changes Could Prevent 80% of Heart Attacks

Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in America, claiming about 1 million lives a year! The most common form of heart disease is coronary artery disease, which can lead to a heart attack.

This year alone, 920,000 Americans will have a heart attack. About half of them will occur suddenly and without any prior warning signs.

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to a part of your heart becomes blocked. This is often the result of plaque build-up inside your arteries, which is called atherosclerosis.

It’s remarkable that heart attacks are nearly always preventable. The 2004 INTERHEART study, which looked at heart disease risk factors in over 50 countries around the world, found that 90% of heart disease cases are completely preventable by modifying diet and lifestyle factors.

Unfortunately, most people are not using lifestyle habits to their advantage. The featured study involved men aged 45 to 79, of which a mere 1% of them engaged in all five of the “low-risk” behaviors that could prevent a heart attack.

So what are the five “simple” healthy lifestyle habits?

1. A healthy diet
2. Being physically active, by walking/bicycling at least 40 min/day and exercising more than 1 hr/week
3. Having a healthy waist circumference of less than 37.4 inches
4. Engaging in moderate alcohol consumption of between 10 to 30 grams/day
5. Don’t smoke

There you go! If you are not in the 1%, the time to change will never be better than today!

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