How to Prevent a Heart Attack: 5 Things You Can Do

Updated on 1 June 2023

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A heart attack is a serious condition that occurs suddenly with some impending symptoms that require immediate medical intervention.

Myocardial infarction, most commonly known as a heart attack, is mostly a case of progressive coronary artery disease. In the case of coronary artery diseases, the arteries supplying blood to the heart are blocked due to deposits of fat, which causes the arteries to become narrow, leading to a condition called Atherosclerosis.

Symptoms of Heart Attack

There are some pronounced symptoms of heart attack occurs:

Chest pain or tightness
Unexplained pain in the arm or shoulders, in the back, neck, or in the jaw
Shortness of breath
Weakness, dizziness, and fainting

A heart attack might also be accompanied by vomiting or nausea. If you suspect someone is having a heart attack, you should call an ambulance at the earliest and be ready to give CPR if trained.

How to Prevent a Heart Attack?

The symptoms of a heart attack are largely similar. Identifying the signs on time will help prevent extreme damage to the blood vessels. However, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, so we should take care to reduce our risks of getting affected by a heart attack.

The risk of heart attack can be reduced by avoiding the risk factors. These risk factors include smoking, stress, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle. You have to make some lifestyle changes in order to control the risk factors contributing to heart attack or stroke.

Quit tobacco use.
Curtail your alcohol consumption.
Eat a healthy diet comprising vegetables, nuts, and fruits. You can also include a diet of fish and poultry, but you should avoid red meat, dairy products, and processed food as much as possible.
Exercise regularly.
Control your blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol with prescribed medications.

You should go for regular screening tests for heart and vascular diseases to measure your blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), pulse rate, etc. In case of any query, you should always consult your doctor for applicable prevention of heart attack plan.