Simple Hacks to Reduce the Risk of a Heart Attack

It is the desire of every person to reduce the risks of a heart attack. For this reason, Dr. Rashid Shah, a cardiovascular physician in Frisco, TX, helps men and women identify their risk factors by detecting, diagnosing, and treating any heart condition that can increase heart failure chances. By understanding the heart attack risk factors, you can manage them and reduce the chances of a heart attack. Dr. Shah encourages the following simple hacks to reduce the chances of experiencing a heart attack.

Take Your Heart Medicine Accurately

Research has indicated that some people who die due to a heart attack didn’t take their heart medication as instructed by their doctor. Although some people fail to take their medications accurately due to cost, fear of side effects, and even forgetfulness, the best thing to do is to talk with your doctor about anything limiting you from taking your medications. Your doctor is in a position to help you and offer alternatives.

Eat Well and Exercise a Little Each Day

It can be good to make some efforts to follow a healthy diet routine as it can lower your heart attack risk. Avoid foods with high cholesterol levels and fill your plate with various fruits, whole grains, lean meats, and fish.

Moderate exercise can also lower your risk of heart attack by up to 50%. You can aim for about 30 minutes of aerobic exercises for at least five days a week and strength training for the other two days. If this is too much, you can try a 15-minute walk twice a day. However, your doctor can advise you accordingly.

Drink Little Alcohol

If you drink alcohol, the good news is that any type of alcohol is helpful to your heart but only in little amounts. Excessive alcohol drinking increases your risks for a heart attack and other severe complications such as a stroke and atrial fibrillation. Therefore, alcohol can only reduce the risk of a heart attack if you limit your intake as instructed by your doctor.

A Little Chocolate Can Help

Research has found that eating chocolate can lower the risk of stroke by about 30 percent, diabetes by about 30 percent, and heart disease by about 40 percent. Although the exact amount of chocolate to take to lower your heart attack risk is not yet determined, consuming chocolate in large quantities can increase your weight to increase heart disease risks. Therefore, it’s better to keep chocolate consumption levels low.

Quit Smoking

If you don’t smoke, your heart disease risks are less compared to those who smoke. Therefore, if you smoke, you need to learn how to stop it as it increases your heart attack risk. However, it is even more serious as you don’t have to be the one smoking. Being exposed to second-hand smoke is also dangerous. Therefore, you need also to be careful and avoid people or areas that can give you access to smoke.

Pay Attention to Your Symptoms and Speak to Your Doctor

Some of the heart attack symptoms include fatigue, sudden dizziness, shortness of breath, cold sweat, tightness, and pain in the chest, among others. Although these may vary, don’t just hope that they will go away, see your doctor as soon as possible as they have more to offer to manage the condition.

Reducing the risk of a heart attack requires a combined effort between you and your doctor. Dr. Shah has more to offer to lower your risk of a heart attack, including guiding you on effectively applying the above hacks. Just schedule a heart health consultation and learn how you can reduce the heart attack risk.