How to Avoid Becoming A Victim of Heart Disease

For a small change in the way you live your life you could reduce the risk of a heart attack many times over. The worst thing about heart disease is that often, by the time the victims realise it's a threat, they have already been pronounced. Approximately 233,000 people are pronounced due to heart disease each year in the UK - that's about 1 in every 3 people who die. With odds like that wouldn't it be good to know how to stack them in your favour.

You probably won't be too surprised to know that if you're a man you already have a higher chance of dying young due to heart disease. For women the increase risk usually comes in much later - prominantly once 'the change' has occurred. Nevertheless the point is not whether you are a man or woman - though that does obviously affect your heart disease risks. The issue is more of the increase in heart disease risk in relation the increase in the amount of years you have been alive. The longer you have been around on this planet the shorter your chances of getting heart problems become. This is because many of the other risk factors increase with age - risk that you will need to be aware of.

If you're a smoker then heart disease is just one of many serious illnesses that you increase your risk the chances of getting. The rest of the illnesses and conditions are a subject all on their own so for now we will just focus on heart disease. Want to double your chances of heart disease? Well it's easy - just smoke 20 fags a day. Done. Increase the fag quota and increase the chances even more. Like aging, smoking is a serious health hazard. The difference is you can do something about one of them.

Abnormally high blood pressure is another risk factor for heart disease. The problem is with high blood pressure is that you could have it and not know it. You can be perfectly healthy and still have high blood pressure. This means that the best way to combat high blood pressure is to have a regular check with your GP - this is of particular importance as you get older. It's much better that your GP tell you about a high blood pressure problem than a heart attack.

Paid much attention to your diet recently? If you eat an unhealthy diet not only do you risk being over weight, you also risk having high cholesterol levels in your blood. Especially if you're partial to dairy products such as full cream milk, butter, cheese and eggs. The fact is if you have a particularly high cholesterol level you treble your chances of heart disease. Next time you're reaching for the full fat milk you might want to go for the skimmed instead.

There is no doubt that anyone who is very fat or unfit is at greater risk of developing coronary heart disease. For overweight people the risk is greater still as straight away the chances of higher BP and cholesterol levels increase. At least if you're both overweight and unfit there is some good news - you can do something about both of them at the same time. Take time out each week to do some exercise and not only will you have a fitter and healthier heart, you will also lose weight and enjoy better health.

We all get a little stressed from time to time. It's no big deal right? Wrong. Evidence points to ongoing stress leading to high blood pressure. This means as you get older stress becomes less and less welcome. This doesn't even take into account the risks that stress places on someone who already has heart disease. Stress could literally be the straw that breaks the hearts valve's wall. Admittedly stress is not nearly as big a problem as smoking or having a high cholesterol level. Nevertheless it can make the difference for some unlucky people.