¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ

Most people who die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older. While heart attacks can strike people of both sexes in old age, women are at greater risk of dying.

Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women. Men also have attacks earlier in life.

Even after women reach menopause, at which time women’s death rate from heart disease increases, it has been noted that women’s risk for heart attack is less than that of men.

Children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop heart disease.

Black people have disproportionately high rates of more severe high blood pressure. It also develops earlier in life. Heart disease risk is also higher among Mexican American, Native American, Native Hawaiian and some Asian American people. This may be partly due to higher rates of obesity and diabetes.

Historical and systemic factors play a major role in these statistics. Among them are adverse social drivers of health, the conditions in which a person is born and lives. The drivers include lack of access to health care and healthy foods and other societal issues. 

Tobacco use is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Nicotine, a chemical in cigarettes and e-cigarettes, causes your heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise. Smoking makes clots more likely to form. It can also promote the buildup of plaque in arteries.

Exposure to other people’s smoke also increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers.

If you smoke, get help to quit. Many effective tools are available. These include behavior change programs, nicotine replacement therapy and other medications.

Learn about smoking and cardiovascular disease

If you’re over age 20, you should have your cholesterol checked every four to six years as part of a cardiovascular risk assessment. You may need to check it more often if:

• Certain factors put you at higher risk
• You already have heart disease

Your health care professional will test your blood to measure your cholesterol levels. This may be a fasting or non-fasting lipoprotein profile. It assesses several types of fat in the blood. The test gives you four results:

• Total cholesterol
• LDL (bad) cholesterol
• HDL (good) cholesterol
• Triglycerides (blood fats)

Learn more about managing your cholesterol.

High blood pressure increases the heart’s workload, causing the heart muscle to thicken and become stiffer. This stiffening of the heart muscle is not normal and causes the heart to function abnormally. It also increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and congestive heart failure.

The risk of heart attack or stroke increases even more when high blood pressure is present alongside:

• Obesity
• Smoking
• High blood cholesterol
• Diabetes

Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mm Hg.

Learn more about managing your blood pressure.

An inactive lifestyle is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Regular moderate to vigorous physical activities can reduce your risk. Physical activity can help control blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. It can also help lower blood pressure in some people.

Adults should aim for at least:

• 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity such as brisk walking

or

• 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity such as jogging

or

• A combination of the two

Learn more about getting active.

People who have too much body fat, especially at the waist, are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke, even if they have no other risk factors.

Overweight and obese adults with risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar should make lifestyle changes to lose weight.

Many people may have trouble losing weight. But for those above a healthy weight, a sustained weight loss of 3% to 5% may lead to significant reductions in some risk factors. Greater sustained weight losses can improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose.

Learn more about managing your weight.

Diabetes greatly increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Even when blood sugar levels are under control, diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. The risks are even greater if blood sugar is not controlled.

If you have diabetes, regular checkups are critical to help keep your blood sugar under control. Work with your health care team to develop healthy eating habits, control your weight and get regular physical activity. You also may need medications to help control your blood sugar or insulin levels.

Learn more about managing your diabetes.

Everyone feels stress, but people react differently. Individual response to stress may be a contributing factor for heart attacks.

Some research has found a relationship between coronary heart disease risk and stress in a person’s life, along with their health behaviors and socioeconomic status. These factors may affect existing risk factors.

Over time, unhealthy responses to stress may create health problems. For example, people under stress may overeat, start smoking or smoke more than they otherwise would.

Find healthy ways to deal with your stress and make time for things you enjoy.  

Get stress management tips and tools.

Getting a good night’s sleep regularly is vital to cardiovascular health. Good sleep benefits your whole body, including your heart and brain. It can improve mood, memory and reasoning.

Your amount and quality of sleep can influence your eating habits, mood, memory, internal organs and more. Too much or too little can be harmful.

Adults should aim for an average 7-9 hours a night. Babies and kids need more depending on their age.

Get tips for getting good sleep.

Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure and increase your risk for cardiomyopathy, stroke, cancer and other diseases. It can also contribute to high triglycerides and cause irregular heartbeats. Excess alcohol consumption also contributes to obesity, alcoholism, suicide and accidents.

If you don’t drink, don’t start. If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to no more than two drinks per day for men or one drink per day for women. The following count as one alcoholic drink equivalent:

• 12 fluid ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol)
• 5 fluid ounces of wine (12% alcohol)
• 1.5 fluid ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits (40% alcohol)

Read our recommendation on alcohol and heart health.

A healthy diet is one of the best ways to fight cardiovascular disease. What you eat can affect other controllable risk factors, such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and weight.

Choose nutrient-rich foods, which have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients, but are lower in calories than nutrient-poor foods.

• Eat more vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
• Also include low-fat dairy products, plant-based proteins, fish, poultry, legumes, nuts and nontropical vegetable oils.
• Limit your intake of saturated and trans fats, sodium, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages and red meats.

To maintain a healthy weight, you need to use up as many calories as you consume through normal metabolism and physical activity.

Learn more about healthy eating.