Avoiding A Heart Attack

So far there have been 3 people close to me that have had a heart attack. Surprisingly one of those people were in their late 30s an age I consider quite young to be having a heart attack. I don't consider myself at a high risk for a heart attack. However, after seeing what my friend went through at 38, the pain, recovery, job loss, and medical bills, I've decided to do more investigation on the risks of having a heart attack.

You literally can do searches on having a heart attack and get millions of results. I decided to focus my search on prevention, mainly preventive screening.

With any preventive measures you should consult with a medical professional. These are the steps my nurse practitioner told me to focus on:

• If you smoke...Quit. If you don't smoke don't start
  
• Eat a healthy diet. Cut down on foods that are high in salt and saturated fat to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
  
• Control your sugar intake if you have diabetes.
• If your overweight, lose weight
  
• Exercise. Try to workout to at least 30 min. of aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week.
• Control your blood pressure if you have hypertension.