An American has a heart attack every 40 seconds! However, tens of thousands of Americans survive heart attacks each year. Let’s look at how to prevent a heart attack.
The CDC’s latest statistics show that every year approximately 735,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these people, 525,000 have their first heart attacks, and 210,000 of them have already had another heart attack. (1)
Recommended: Discover the #1 Supplement to Support Your Heart Health
What can someone do to prevent a heart attack?
Here are some lifestyle choices that anyone can make to have a healthier heart and hopefully avoid a future heart attack:
1. Regular dentist appointments
Your mouth has bacteria that can be detrimental to your blood vessels and your heart. Daily brushing, flossing, and having dental cleanings every six months will help prevent heart disease.
2. Manage your numbers
If you have hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, or diabetes, you should pay attention to your numbers and do everything possible to move them to healthier numbers. (hint: most of the tips in this article will help your numbers)
3. Check for sleep apnea
Sleep apnea affects more than 18 million people and increases your risk for high blood pressure. If you are getting restless sleep or your partner complains about your snoring, you should do a sleep study to see if you have sleep apnea.
4. Lose weight/reduce belly fat
People that are overweight are more at risk for heart disease. Excess belly fat or a sizeable waist-to-hip ratio is also unhealthy for your heart. So come up with some weight loss goals and consult with your doctor and a nutritionist for more help in putting together a personal plan. Additional ideas: complete a daily food/drink tracking sheet for 30 days and find an accountability partner to check in with every day.
5. Heart-healthy diet
Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, move to low-fat dairy options, and cut out those unhealthy fats, soda, and refined sugar foods. The American Heart Association has other heart-healthy diet recommendations on their website. (2)
6. Control stress
High stress is a contributing factor to heart attacks. Find a relaxation method that will help you de-stress like yoga, meditation, massage, or dedicated time to unwind and relax after work. If you have too much on your plate, delegate to other people, or ask for help.
7. Quit smoking/avoid secondhand smoke
Unless you are living under a rock, you should be aware that smoking isn’t healthy. So if you are a smoker and you want to avoid a heart attack, you should quit smoking ASAP. Everyone should also avoid secondhand smoke due to its harmful effects.
8. Exercise, exercise, exercise
We can’t emphasize this enough! A sedentary lifestyle is not healthy for your heart. You should have a goal to do 30 minutes of rigorous cardio (brisk walking, cycling, swimming) a minimum of five times per week. If you have a desk job, be sure that you take breaks to walk around for a few minutes every hour. A bonus to exercising is increased endorphins to boost your mood and potential weight loss if you’re overweight, which will benefit your heart.
If you suspect that you might be experiencing a heart attack, acting quickly can significantly improve your chances of survival. Calling 911 is the quickest way to get emergency care. If you are in a public building, there may be a defibrillator on-site. Defibrillators have easy-to-use instructions for anyone to use while you are waiting for an ambulance if available take aspirin as soon as possible, which will slow down the clotting of your blood.
9. Take supplements
There are nutritional supplement products that you can take that will help you have a healthier heart. L-arginine Plus® is one of these products.
L-arginine Plus® was formulated as the most effective l-arginine supplement available. This powder drink mix is made with 5,110mg of l-arginine and 1,010mg of l-citrulline to naturally and safely boost nitric oxide within the body.
This formula was made specifically to support healthy blood pressure but offers a variety of benefits from healthy blood pressure support to healthy cholesterol support and more.
To learn more about L-arginine Plus®, visit here.