Serious as a Heart Attack

A heart attack is what always happens to the other person, right? Wrong. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) kills 325,000 people a year - or nearly 900 per day. It could just as easily be you or me as anyone else. Do you know what some of the risk factors for heart attack are? Do you know the symptoms of a heart attack? Risk factors for heart attack which are manageable include:

* Stress
* High blood pressure
* High cholesterol
* Cigarette smoking
* Excess weight
* Drug or alcohol abuse
* High fat diet
* Sedentary lifestyle

Some risk factors cannot be changed. However, the knowledge that they often lead to heart disease may prompt an individual to make healthier lifestyle choices. Some of these factors include:

* Diabetes
* Advancing age
* Congenital heart disorders
* High cholesterol
* High blood pressure
* Previous heart attack or diagnosis of coronary artery disease, heart disease or congestive heart failure

Now here's a little nugget of information which totally caught my eye (since I live in Colorado):

States with a high proportion of cardiac arrests, in descending order, include: Wisconsin, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Montana and Vermont. Hawaii has the lowest age-adjusted sudden cardiac arrest rate; Mississippi has the highest.

If you would like to know if you are at risk, you can use this great tool provided by St. Jude Medical. It only takes a few minutes and could possibly open your eyes to changes you should make in your life to lower your risk for heart attack.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest, St. Jude Medical