In Costa Rica, One Person Each Hour Dies Of A Heart Attack
A healthy heart is vital for living life to the full, regardless of age or gender. In Costa Rica, on average, one person dies each hour due to a heart attack.

Yesterday was World Heart Day. And the objective was to educate the public about the importance of maintaining a healthy heart and cardiovascular disease that kills 17 million around the world each year.

Controlling the major cardiovascular risk factors, by choosing a healthy diet, being physically active and by not smoking can prevent heart attacks and strokes and may help the heart to age more slowly. That's why this year's World Heart Day, under the theme "How Young is Your Heart?", encouraged people around the world to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to help maintain a young heart for life.

According to the Word Heart Federation (WHF), in 2005 more than 13 million died from myocardial infarcion, a disease that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted, causing death of heart tissue, and cardiovascular disease.

Although many believe the contrary, 80% of the deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and not only in rich countries.

Another myth is that heart disease is an old person's disease. Fact is that Children are at increasing risk, for example, through tobacco smoking (active and passive), overweight, obesity and lack of physical activity. More than one-third of these deaths occur in middle-aged adults. Globally, cardiovascular diseases account for as many deaths in young and middle-aged adults as HIV/AIDS.

The positive is that 80% of the heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases are preventable. With positive action at population and individual level, the death and disability resulting from heart disease can be reduced by more than 50%.

Another myth is that only men are seriously affected. In fact, deaths among women due to heart disease are eighteen times higher than breast cancer.

You can help prevent a heart attack by knowing about your risk factors for heart attack and taking action to lower your risks. You can lower your risk of having a heart attack.

To prevent a heart attack, you will most likely have to make lifestyle changes. Eat a healthy diet to prevent or reduce high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, and maintain a healthy weight. If you smoke, quit. Exercise.
And lose weight if you are overweight or obese.

In addition to making lifestyle changes, you can help prevent heart attacks by treating conditions you have that make a heart attack more likely: high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar (diabetes).

Consider a low-dose aspirin. The recommended regimen — a baby aspirin (81 milligrams) daily or half a regular aspirin (160 milligrams) very other day—can lower the risk of heart attack by about one-third by reducing the ability of platelets in the blood to stick together and thus form a clot. However, Aspirin can have side effects and isn't right for everyone, so be sure to consult with your physician first.

Stay active. Exercise helps the heart work more efficiently, reducing blood pressure, raising HDL cholesterol, decreasing the tendency of blood to form clots, moderating stress, helping the body use insulin, and helping people maintain a healthy weight. Sedentary people who begin a regular program of exercise reduce their risk of a heart attack by 35 to 55%. Low-intensity activities, such as gardening or walking, if done regularly and over the long term, can decrease the risk of heart attack.

Consider a drink a day. There's a growing consensus that light to moderate alcohol consumption — that is, two drinks or less a day for a man, one drink for a woman (a drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits) can help prevent heart attacks. However, drinking more than that can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as cirrhosis, cancer, and accidents.