5 Ways to Lower Your Heart Attack Risk

Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term that includes a number of conditions, including heart disease and heart attack. Knowing the risk factors for these conditions can help you learn how to manage those risks, hopefully preventing a medical crisis.

At Primecare Family Practice in Arlington, Texas, board-certified family practitioners Maryline Ongangi, APRN, FNP-C, and Lewis Nyantika, APRN, FNP-C, provide chronic disease management, which includes monitoring you for signs of heart disease and helping you lower your risk for the condition. 

What is heart disease?

Heart disease is an inclusive term that involves several serious medical problems, many of which are related to atherosclerosis.

Colloquially called “hardening of the arteries,” atherosclerosis involves deposits of plaque on the artery walls. The plaque is composed of cholesterol, fats, cell debris, and calcium. As the plaque builds up, the blood vessel walls thicken, narrowing the conduit through which blood flows. The heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood, and some tissues may not receive the oxygen and nutrients they need.

Where the plaque develops, and in which artery(ies), varies from person to person, but it’s especially prevalent in the heart, brain, pelvis, legs, arms, and kidneys. This can lead to conditions such as:

• Coronary heart disease (arteries in or leading to the heart)
• Angina (chest pain from reduced blood flow to the heart muscle)
• Carotid artery disease (neck arteries supplying blood to the brain)
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD) (arteries of the extremities, especially the legs)
• Chronic kidney disease

Coronary heart disease is by far the most common outcome of atherosclerosis.

Plaque presents a risk above and beyond narrowing the arteries. If a piece of plaque breaks off from the wall, it can be carried by the bloodstream until it gets stuck, preventing blood from flowing through the artery at all. It can also lead to the development of a blood clot that sticks to the blood vessel’s inner wall, compounding the blood flow problem.

If the blocked artery supplies the heart or brain, you suffer a heart attack or stroke, respectively. If an artery supplies the extremities, the result may be tissue death, or gangrene.

5 ways to lower your heart attack risk

A heart attack occurs when a blood clot blocks off the blood supply to part of the heart, causing the part of the muscle supplied by the affected artery to die.

Traditional risk factors for heart attack include:

• Smoking or vaping
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol/triglycerides
• Diabetes
• Overweight or obesity

These can be enhanced by a number of other medical issues, including:

• Family history of early atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Chronic kidney disease
• Chronic inflammatory conditions
• History of preeclampsia or early menopause
• High-risk ethnicity (e.g., South Asian ancestry)

While you can’t change certain factors, like a family history or your ethnicity, you can make lifestyle changes to address other issues.

The top five ways to lower your risk are:

1. Stop smoking/vaping (affects whole body health)
2. Shed the extra pounds (relieves stress on the heart)
3. Eat a balanced diet heavy on the fruits/vegetables and light on the fats and cholesterol
4. Get regular exercise (high-impact or low-impact, just get your body moving)
5. Manage underlying conditions

The sooner you implement lifestyle changes, the sooner you’ll begin to feel better, and the less risk you’ll have for suffering a heart attack.

Want more tips on lowering your heart attack risk? Need to have your heart and circulatory system evaluated? Primecare Family Practice can help. Call us at 817-873-3710 to schedule an evaluation, or book online with us today.