As well as being linked to a range of other chronic-illnesses, smoking can also have a highly-detrimental impact on heart-health. Studies have revealed that those who smoke regularly are 200-300 times more at risk of suffering a serious cardiac event, than those who do not have a habit. Even being exposed to second-hand smoke can place you at risk of experiencing heart-disease, so it’s always best avoided.
Weight is also widely recognised as a factor that increases risk of heart-disease, and un-healthy weights are often produced by a combination of a lack of exercise with a poor, high-fat diet. Getting regular exercise and eating healthily are essential to all aspects of your health and wellbeing and should be integrated into your lifestyle whenever possible. Unhealthy lifestyles can also lead to other problems such as high-blood pressure which can increase the risk of heart-disease, and other chronic conditions such as stroke and diabetes. Of course, people can sometimes suffer from high-blood pressure, despite having healthy-lifestyles and there are a number of treatments available that can help to reduce it – safely and quickly.
Generally, the best means of lowering the risk of developing heart-disease is by a combination of preventative factors. From a hereditary perspective, it’s advisable to consider the prevalence of heart related illnesses in your family and from a lifestyle perspective; it’s wise to eat healthily and exercise regularly.
Heart-disease is one of the biggest killers on the planet and everyone is potentially vulnerable to it. Therefore, it could be worth-while to carry out personal risk-assessments from time-to-time, so you can get a sense of how likely you are to experience it, and seek medical advice if you have any concerns.