Are you at risk for a heart attack? The answer might surprise you.

According to the CDC, every 40 seconds someone in the US has a heart attack. With heart disease being the leading cause of death in men and women, it’s incredibly important that you understand your risk so that you can prevent a heart attack from happening to you. Turning to our West Monroe, LA, cardiologist Dr. Virginia Gonzalez can help you pinpoint your risk factors and change your lifestyle to reduce your risk.

The American Heart Association puts risk factors for heart attacks into three categories: major (ones that cannot be changed), modifiable and contributing. Here’s what you should know about each,

Major Risk Factors

Unfortunately, these are risk factors that you are born with that cannot be changed. These risk factors include,

• Age: the majority of people with heart disease develop it after age 65
• Gender: while both men and women can have heart attacks, it is more prevalent in men
• Heredity: a family history of heart attack or heart disease can also greatly increase your risk

Modifiable (But Still Serious) Risk Factors

There are certain habits, health issues and conditions that can also increase your risk for a heart attack. The good news is that these risk factors can be altered by simply improving your lifestyle. Some of these risk factors include,

• Smoking or tobacco usage: If you use tobacco you are far more likely to develop heart disease than nonsmokers, which is why it’s important to quit (if you’re having trouble quitting, talk with our West Monroe, LA, cardiologist about your options to help quit successfully)
• High cholesterol: If our cardiologist has recently told you that you have high cholesterol, he may recommend a special diet, exercise regimen and/or medication to help you bring your cholesterol levels back to a healthier range to reduce your risk
• Hypertension: Just as high cholesterol can affect how your heart functions, so too can high blood pressure (it’s important that you are making lifestyle changes and taking any medication your doctor has prescribed to help manage high blood pressure)
• Obesity: If you are overweight or obese, it’s important that you find effective ways to help shed the weight to reduce your risk for heart attack (maintaining a healthy body mass index is key)
• Sedentary lifestyle: If you aren’t as active as you should be, it’s important that you start adding regular physical and aerobic activities into your daily routine (even just 30 minutes a day can make a difference)
• Diabetes: If you have been diagnosed with diabetes you are also more likely to deal with heart disease, so it’s important that you are controlling blood sugar with medication and a healthy lifestyle (which your doctor can help with)

Contributing Risk Factors 

These risk factors combined with any of the ones above can also increase your risk for a heart attack. These include,

• Poor diet
• Alcohol use (particularly heavy alcohol use)
• Stress

If you are concerned about your chances of a heart attack and you’d like to sit down with our West Monroe, LA, cardiologist Dr. Gonzalez and the team at Cardiovascular Diagnostic Center to discuss how to improve your lifestyle to improve your heart health, call us today at (318) 338-3540.