According to the CDC, heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in the United States. They report that in 2016, there were 647,457 deaths due to heart disease. Cancer was a close second with 599,108 deaths, followed by accidents-unintentional injuries (169,936 deaths), chronic lower respiratory disease (160,201 deaths), stroke (146,383 deaths), Alzheimer’s (121,404 deaths), diabetes (83,564 deaths), influenza and pneumonia (55,672 deaths), kidney disease (50,633 deaths) and suicide (47,173 deaths).

Heart attacks make up a large part of the deaths due to heart disease. A heart attack happens when the blood supply to any part of the heart is reduced or blocked to the point where the heart tissue begins to die.

According to the CDC, nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a heart attack every year. About 73% of those yearly heart attacks are first heart attacks. Did you know that about 20% of all heart attacks are ‘silent’ heart attacks? A silent heart attack is one where the person is unaware of the heart attack or the damage being done to their heart.

For younger adults, men are more likely to have a heart attack, but as people age, women become more at risk of having a heart attack than they did earlier is life.

Did you know that even though a man and woman’s heart look the same, there are generalized differences related to gender?

As a rule, a woman’s heart is generally smaller than that of a man. Additionally, the chambers in a woman’s heart are smaller and the walls between the chambers are thinner. Consequently, women’s hearts beat faster but push less blood than a men’s hearts. When a woman gets stressed, her heart beats fasters, pumping more blood, but when a man gets stressed, the arteries in the heart constrict resulting in raising his blood pressure.

However, there are steps that both men and women can take that can help reduce their risk of having a heart attack.

1. Reduce Stress. In both men and women, chronic stress causes increased stress hormones, such as cortisol, released into the system. Higher levels of cortisol have been tied to an increase risk of heart attack and stroke.
2. Monitor Sleep. It’s important to get a healthy amount of sleep, 7-8 hours, but it’s also important to monitor the type or quality of sleep. People with sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, could be causing heart damage without realizing it. Loud snoring can be a sign of a sleep disorder. If you wake up tired on a regular basis, you may have a sleep disorder and it could be causing heart damage.
3. Ditching Bad Fats. Saturated or trans fats result in higher levels of LDL cholesterol, which then builds up in arteries, leading to heart disease. Like it or not, one of the main sources of saturated or trans fats is fatty meats – beef, pork and lamb. It is also found in the skin of poultry. When cooking, it is best to use extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil and safflower oil.
4. Eat Tomatoes. Tomatoes are loaded with lycopene, which is a strong antioxidant. Antioxidants help fight heart disease.
5. Manage Health. Get regular checkups, monitor blood pressure and blood sugar or anything else that may be a health risk.
6. Activity. Make sure you take time to be active or exercise. Walk, jog, swim, play sports or buy a treadmill or some other exercising unit.

These are basic things that can be done by virtually everyone and will help reduce your risk of having a heart attack. Help reduce the staggering statistics given above and don’t be a statistic yourself.