Many doctors will tell you when they talk to their patient about changing his or her life style, their response will be something like “Heart disease runs in my family so there is nothing I can do about it.”
Of course, family history is a factor but a recent study concluded that changing to a heart-healthy lifestyle can overcome what’s in your genes.
A recent study involved 20,771 men between ages 45 and 70. When the study began, none of the men had a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Over the 11-year period of the study 1,361 of the men suffered heart attacks. They were most likely to be those with poor diets, little exercise, smoked and drank to much alcohol.
The least likely to suffer a heart attack followed 5 healthy habits:
- Eating a healthy diet.
- Drinking moderately.
- Never smoked.
- Excercised moderately (such as walking or biking) 40 minutes a day and vigorously at least one hour per week.
- Maintained a healthy waistline (about 37.4 inches or less).
The researchers concluded that 4 out of 5 heart attacks could be prevented by sticking to these 5 healthy habits.