How To Prevent Heart Attack At Any Age

You’re never too young— or too old — to take care of your heart. Preventing heart attack (and all cardiovascular diseases) means making smart choices now that will pay off the rest of your life. Lack of exercise, a poor diet and other unhealthy habits can take their toll over the years.

Anyone at any age can benefit from simple steps to keep their heart healthy during each decade of life. Here’s how: All Age Groups No matter what your age, everyone can benefit from a healthy diet and adequate physical activity. Choose a healthy eating plan. The food you eatcan decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke.Choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium. As part of a healthy diet, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, fiber-rich whole grains, fish (preferably oily fish-at least twice per week), nuts, legumes and seeds and try eating some meals without meat.Select lower fat dairy products and poultry (skinless).

Limit sugar-sweetened beverages and red meat. If you choose to eat meat, select the leanest cuts available. Be physically active. You can slowly work up toat least 2½ hours (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity (e.g., brisk walking) every week. Or 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (e.g., jogging, running) or a combination of bothevery week.Additionally, on two or more days a week you need muscle-strengthening activities that workall major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest shoulders, and arms).

Children should get at least 60 minutes of activity every day. It's never too early or too late to learn the warning signs of a heart attack and stroke. Noteveryone experiences sudden numbness with a stroke or severe chest pain with a heart attack.And heart attack symptoms in women can be different than men.In Your 20sGetting smart about your heart early on puts you far ahead of the curve. The things you do — and don’t—are a tell-tale sign of how long and how well you’re going to live.

Find a doctor and have regular wellness exams. Healthy people need doctors, too. Establishing a relationship with a physician means you can start heart-health screenings now. Talk to your doctor about your diet, lifestyle and checking your blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, blood sugar and body mass index. You may also need your blood sugar checked if you are pregnant, overweight or have diabetes.

Knowing where your numbers stand early makes it easier to spot a possible change in the future. Be physically active. It’s a lot easier to be active and stay active if you start at a young age. If you’re accustomed to physical activity, you’ll sustain it. Keep your workout routine interesting by mixing it up and finding new motivators. Don’t smoke and avoid secondhand smoke. If you picked up smoking as a teen, it’s time to quit smoking. Even exposure to secondhand smoke poses a serious health hazard.

Nonsmokers are up to 30 percent more likely to develop heart disease or lung cancer from second hand smoke exposure at home or work according to World Health Organisation.

In Your 30s
Juggling family and career leaves many adultswith little time to worry about their hearts. Hereare some ways to balance all three. Make heart-healthy living a family affair. Create and sustain heart-healthy habits in your kids and you’ll reap the benefits, too. Spend less time on the couch and more time on the move. Explore a nearby street on foot or bike. Plant a vegetable and fruit garden together in the yard, and invite your kids into the kitchen tohelp cook.

Know your family history. Shake down your family tree to learn about heart health. Having a relative with heart disease increases your risk, and more so if the relative is a parent or sibling. That means you need to focus on risk factors you can control by maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, not smoking and eating right. Also, keep your doctor informed about any heart problems you learn about in your family. Tame your stress.

Long-term stress causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure that may damage the artery walls.Learning stress management techniques not only benefits your body, but also your quality of life. Try deep breathing exercises and find timeeach day to do something you enjoy.

 In Your 40s
If heart health hasn’t been a priority, don’t worry. Healthy choices you make now can strengthen your heart for the long haul. Understand why you need to make a lifestyle change and have the confidence to make it.Then, tackle them one at a time. Each success makes you more confident to take on the next oneWatch your weight. You may notice your metabolism slowing down in your 40s. But you can avoid weight gain by following a heart-healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise.The trick is to find a workout routine you enjoy.

If you need motivation to get moving, find a workout buddy - preferably your spouse.Have your blood sugar level checked. In addition to blood pressure checks and other heart-health screenings, you should have a fasting blood glucose test by the time you’re 45. This first test serves as a baseline for future tests, which you should have every three years.

Testing may be done earlier or more often if you are overweight, diabetic or at risk for becoming diabetic. Don’t brush off snoring. Listen to your sleeping partner’s complaints about your snoring. One in five adults has at least mild sleep apnea, a condition that causes pauses in breathing during sleep. If not properly treated, sleep apnea can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

In Your 50s
Unlike the emergence of wrinkles and gray hair, what you can’t see as you get older is the impact aging has on your heart. So starting in the 50s, you need to take extra steps. Eat a healthy diet. It’s easy to slip into some unhealthy eating habits, so refresh your eating habits by eating plenty of fruits and vegetables,fiber-rich whole grains, fish (preferably oily fish-at least twice per week), nuts, legumes and seeds and try eating some meals without meat.Learn the warning signs of a heart attack and stroke. Now is the time to get savvy about symptoms.

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