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Life After a Heart Attack
A heart attack can be a life-altering event, but getting the right information and medications may help heart attack survivors prevent another heart attack and live a full, rewarding life.
Heart attack survivors often avoid physical activity, in part, because they fear they’re not healthy enough for this. Talk to your doctor, and with the doctor’s OK, most people can get moving! The Heartfelt for Life: Strengthening Your Heart program offers activities and lifestyle tips that can help you learn how to achieve and maintain heart health.
What Is a Heart Attack?
A heart attack happens when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is severely reduced or stopped. Often, the flow of blood decreases due to gradual narrowing of the arteries leading to the heart; blood flow also can suddenly stop if a blood clot forms.
How Common Are Heart Attacks?
- Each year in the United States, about 865,000 people will suffer from both new and recurrent heart attacks
- Within six years of a first heart attack, about 18 percent of men and 35 percent of women of any ethnic background will have another heart attack
What Risk Factors Can Lead to a Heart Attack?
Certain factors can increase the risk of a heart attack, including:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Smoking cigarettes
- High levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
- Family history of heart attack
- Having a previous heart attack
- Alcohol
- Lack of physical activity
- Obesity
- Stress
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