Knowing the risk factors for heart disease could reduce your chances of having a heart attack.

Risk Factors For Heart Disease That Can't Be Changed

Heredity

You have a greater chance of having heart disease if a close relative has had it, especially brothers, sisters, or parents. Your chances increase significantly if more than one close relative has had heart disease, and even more if they were under 50!

Sex

Men have a greater chance of having heart disease than women. This is partially due to the fact that men carry their body fat closer to their heart. The risk of a women having heart disease increases after menopause, due to the decrease in estrogen levels.

Age

If you are over 65 you have a greater chance of having a heart attack

Risk Factors For Heart Disease That Can Be Changed

Smoking

If you smoke cigarettes you are twice as likely to have a heart attack. This is the greatest risk factor for fatal heart attacks. This could be due to a number of factors but one of the major ones is that smoking makes you blood cholesterol stickier, which makes it easier to stick to the walls of the arteries. this in turn increases blood pressure.

High Blood Cholesterol

As mentioned previously, as your cholesterol rises so does your blood pressure. Your diet is crucial in the maintenance of cholesterol. Eat good cholesterol (HDL) and limit bad cholesterol (LDL)

High Blood Pressure

This is usually termed 'the silent killer' because there are usually no early warning signs. As you get older it is wise to have your blood pressure checked regularly, especially if you are inactive, smoke, and have a poor diet. 

Physical Inactivity

Physical inactivity makes a person more susceptable to heart disease. Walking 20 minutes per day is enough to significantly reduce your risk of heart attack.

Other Contributing Factors

Diabetes

Statistics show that 80% of people with diabetes die of some form of heart disease. We will see this figure reduce as more diabetics are educated on the benefits of exercise.

Obesity

Even if you don't have any other risk factors, if you are obese or overweight you will have a high chance of getting some form of heart disease

Individual Response To Stress

If you don't repond well to stress (ie, get overly angry, etc) you have a greater chance of having a heart attack.