Most Heart Attack Risk Factors Controlled By Choice

Many of the things that put people at risk for a heart attack involve their lifestyle and can easily be altered. However, some heart attack risk factors are inherited and can be reduce if proper precautions are taken as part of an overall health program. Medical experts explain that high bad cholesterol and low good cholesterol increases heart attack risk for many people and taking the steps to maintain a proper balance can reduce that risk.

Some of the most common heart attack risk factors include age, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and being overweight. While there is nothing someone can do about their age, many of the other heart attack risk factors can be controlled by personal behavior. Lack of exercise can also be an influence on a person s risk of heart attack as it can influence many of the common risk factors.

When people think about their cholesterol level, they are normally concerned with what is termed bad cholesterol, often forgetting that some cholesterol is actually needed in the body. This level of good cholesterol, usually measured at about 80, can be improved through exercise and decreases it at a heart attack risk. Eating high fat foods will not raise this cholesterol level, and will not lower the high cholesterol as well.

All Risk Factors Should Be Monitored

Some people pump out more cholesterol than others, usually due to heredity and there are also some heart conditions, such as what is termed hardening of the arteries that can be affected by genetics. In these cases, if the doctor knows the cause may have been inherited, they can cake steps to monitor those heart attack risk factors while helping control the others.

Smoking is a behavior that is difficult for some people to give up, but with everything that is known about this addiction, it is no longer considered a choice for those with coronary heart disease. There have been many instances of patients suffering a heart attack during or after strenuous exercise, being defined as a level they are not accustomed to performing, and the increase in the work that heart has to do increases the heart attack risk.

Whenever someone begins an exercise regimen, they must start slow and work their up to more vigorous levels, and if they have a high heart attack risk, it should only be done after consulting with their doctor. Those with severe heart attack risk should only exercise in the presence of qualified personnel.