It’s hard to find someone in the United States who hasn’t been impacted by a heart attack, whether they had a loved one deal with the issue or had a heart attack themselves.
Roughly 805,000 people in the country have a heart attack each year. And according to the American Heart Association, 1 in 5 heart attack survivors end up in the hospital with another heart attack within five years.
While the possibility of another heart attack is scary, there are behaviors and habits that can help curb your heart attack risk. Below, doctors share the daily and near-daily habits heart attack survivors should follow to keep their hearts strong:
1. Be active
Whether you’ve had a heart attack or not, Dr. George Sokos, the chair of WVU Heart and Vascular Institute-Cardiology in West Virginia, said he encourages people to move their bodies, but an ideal fitness plan varies from person to person. For some, it may be taking a daily walk. For others, it may be a more strenuous, endurance-building exercise.
“And that’s OK for some of our patients, but not everyone is going to be able to do that,” Sokos said.
To figure out your best exercise regimen post-heart attack and when it’s safe to work out, Sokos recommends going to cardiac rehab, a service that is offered to most patients after heart attacks. In rehab, you’ll learn what is safe for you personally so you don’t put too much stress on your heart after a cardiac event.
Whatever fitness plan is determined for you, Sokos noted that it’s crucial that you stay active so your heart stays healthy.
2. Follow a heart-healthy diet
Following a heart-healthy diet is crucial for everyone, and especially for those who have experienced a heart attack.
Like exercise, the ideal diet depends on the person, but the American Heart Association tends to recommend prioritizing foods like fruits and veggies, whole grains such as brown rice, oatmeal and quinoa, legumes, seafood, nuts and lean meats.
When you follow a heart-healthy diet, it also benefits your cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels and body weight, which are all also risk factors for cardiovascular problems, noted Dr. Matthew Saybolt, the medical director of the structural heart disease program at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Sokos added that while you should strive to have the best diet possible, it cannot always be perfect. Instead, just try to do what you can to limit fatty or ultra-processed foods that contribute to heart attack risk.
3. Take the medications you’re prescribed
Certain health conditions put you at risk of having a heart attack. These include having high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, according to the Mayo Clinic.
There are medications available for many heart attack risk factors. Saybolt stressed that it’s important for patients to go on (or stay on) any medications that can help make your heart stronger and reduce your likelihood of another cardiac event.
“There’s a variety of pills that we give people that have been proven to lower cholesterol, prevent scar tissue from building up in the heart, prevent heart failure from happening,” Saybolt explained.
“All these newer medications for weight loss now that we have are fantastic. Obesity is obviously an epidemic that we struggle with, and we have some of these newer medications that help people with weight loss, and they end up being protective, heart-wise as well,” Sokos said.
4. Quit smoking
Smoking causes inflammation in the body, and “a lot of inflammation injures arteries and leads to continued blood clotting,” Saybolt explained. And blood clots can lead to heart attacks.
“We really want and need people to refrain from smoking,” Sokos said. “If you combine smoking with any other risk factor … it really makes everything worse.”
Quitting smoking isn’t an easy feat ― smoking is an addiction, Sokos stressed. To effectively quit, work with your doctors who can help connect you with resources so you can stop.
5. Stay up-to-date with your care
“Once you have a heart attack, you’re a lifelong patient because our mission is always going to be about doing everything possible so it doesn’t happen again,” Saybolt said.
Sokos noted that, early on, most people do stay in touch with their care teams and follow their doctor’s recommendations, but patients sometimes fall out of these habits over time. “And sometimes, either out of fear or anxiety, they don’t follow-up,” Sokos added.
It can certainly be tough to stick to strict exercise regimens or get back into a medication habit, but it’s important to do so so your heart can stay as strong as possible as you go through life.
“I don’t think we emphasize that enough — it’s really a team, and the team is a patient, a physician and the rest of the care team, but we can’t do anything for patients if the patients aren’t involved,” Sokos said. “We want our patients to be involved and educated and have the knowledge of care for themselves.”
You also shouldn’t be too hard on yourself if you do suffer from health issues. Saybolt noted that a lot of these conditions and problems are just natural aging.
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“I like to think of the organs as parts, and they can wear out even in people who live a very healthy life,” Saybolt said. “When things happen to them in their 70s and 80s and 90s, I tell them, ‘Don’t despair, some of this is natural aging.’ And fortunately, we live in a world of solutions.”