Ways to Never Have a Heart Attack

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Heart-healthy eating isn’t all about cutting back, though. Most people need to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet — with a goal of five to 10 servings a day. Eating that many fruits and vegetables can not only help prevent heart disease, but also may help prevent cancer.

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Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat, may decrease your risk of heart attack, protect against irregular heartbeats and lower blood pressure. Some fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are a good natural source of omega-3s. Omega-3s are present in smaller amounts in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, soybean oil and canola oil, and they can also be found in supplements.

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Following a heart-healthy diet also means drinking alcohol only in moderation — no more than two drinks a day for men, and one a day for women. At that moderate level, alcohol can have a protective effect on your heart. More than that becomes a health hazard.

4. Maintain a healthy weight

As you put on weight in adulthood, your weight gain is mostly fat rather than muscle. This excess weight can lead to conditions that increase your chances of heart disease — high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

One way to see if your weight is healthy is to calculate your body mass index (BMI), which considers your height and weight in determining whether you have a healthy or unhealthy percentage of body fat. BMI numbers 25 and higher are associated with higher blood fats, higher blood pressure, and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

The BMI is a good, but imperfect guide. Muscle weighs more than fat, for instance, and women and men who are very muscular and physically fit can have high BMIs without added health risks. Because of that, waist circumference also is a useful tool to measure how much abdominal fat you have:

• Men are considered overweight if their waist measurement is greater than 40 inches (101.6 centimeters, or cm)
• Women are overweight if their waist measurement is greater than 35 inches (88.9 cm)

Even a small weight loss can be beneficial. Reducing your weight by just 10 percent can decrease your blood pressure, lower your blood cholesterol level and reduce your risk of diabetes.

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5. Get regular health screenings

High blood pressure and high cholesterol can damage your heart and blood vessels. But without testing for them, you probably won’t know whether you have these conditions. Regular screening can tell you what your numbers are and whether you need to take action.

• Blood pressure. Regular blood pressure screenings start in childhood. Adults should have their blood pressure checked at least every two years. You may need more-frequent checks if your numbers aren’t ideal or if you have other risk factors for heart disease. Optimal blood pressure is less than 120/80 millimeters of mercury.
• Cholesterol levels. Adults should have their cholesterol measured at least once every five years starting at age 20. You may need more frequent testing if your numbers aren’t optimal or if you have other risk factors for heart disease. Some children may need their blood cholesterol tested if they have a strong family history of heart disease.
• Diabetes screening. Since diabetes is a risk factor for developing heart disease, you may want to consider being screened for diabetes. Talk to your doctor about when you should have a fasting blood sugar test to check for diabetes. Depending on your risk factors, such as being overweight or a family history of diabetes, your doctor may recommend first testing you for diabetes sometime between ages 30 and 45, and then retesting every three to five years.

 Sleep

This tip is one most people can probably get behind. In today’s hectic world, it seems like some of our basic needs aren’t often met –sleep is one of them. Although it varies for everyone, doctors suggest that you should get about 8 hours of sleep per night. Almost 60 percent of adults have problems sleeping, and only 37 percent get that recommended amount per night [source: National Sleep Foundation]. Not only does being tired all day hurt your performance, but research shows that too little or too much sleep can have some poor effects on your blood pressure and ticker, specifically.

A 10-year-long Harvard University study tracked the sleep habits and health of more than 70,000 women between the ages of 45 and 65 who had no previous heart trouble. At the end of the 10-year period, 934 of these women suffered from coronary heart disease and 271 died from it. The 5 percent of the women who slept less than five hours per night were nearly 40 percent more likely to suffer from heart disease than women who slept an average of eight hours. On the flip side, the women who slept more than nine hours per night were 37 percent more likely to have heart trouble. Studies have returned similar results in men. So the key is to try and stay within that eight hour range, and you’re doing your heart a favor.

Lower Your Cholesterol

Cholesterol gets a bad rap. There are actually two kinds of cholesterol and one of them, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), is produced in the liver and plays a vital role in the functioning of your body’s cells. The easiest way to say it is that HDL makes your cells waterproof. This ensures that the biochemistry of the inside of the cell is different from the outside. HDL also serves as a guard against cancer and aging and is necessary for proper neurological functioning.

So why would you want to lower your cholesterol? Because the second kind, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), get smaller and smaller until they’re tiny enough to enter the walls of your blood vessels and attach themselves like a bad houseguest. Once enough of the LDL sticks around, it’s called plaque. Over time, the plaque can rupture and block the vessels altogether. Then it’s heart attack time.

You can combat this in a couple of ways. There’s the age-old advice to quit smoking, get on a healthy diet and exercise. Then there’s a drug treatment called statins that can help lower your LDL levels. The American Heart Association recommends that fat not exceed 25 to 30 percent of your daily intake and your cholesterol from food not be more than 300 milligrams. You should also get 25 to 30 grams of fiber into your diet each day and see tip No. 1 for your exercise routine. Statins are the other option. If your doctor finds that your LDL levels are more than 130 grams per deciliter, he may decide to put you on one of the six brands of statin drugs on the market. Whether it’s through diet and exercise, statins or both, lowering your cholesterol is a great way to help you avoid the dangers of a heart attack.

In Homeopathic medical system also very effective medicines for , namely cholesterinum, allium sativa, cratagus, and garcenia.  A good homeopathic physician can suggest the doses.

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