We often believe that if we are healthy, we will be safe from major health issues, such as cardiovascular diseases. Well, if this is true, then healthy people must not have any risk of a heart attack. However, that is not the case in reality.
Can healthy people still have heart attacks?
In a February 10 Instagram post. Dr Jeremy London, a board-certified US heart surgeon with over 25 years of experience, revealed whether healthy people can still have heart attacks. The answer is a bit deeper than you think.
In the video, when asked if healthy people can have heart attacks, the heart surgeon stressed that heart disease, like many processes, is a matter of statistics and probability. According to him, the definition of healthy can be very subjective; however, from a medical point of view, one needs to dig deeper.
‘Dig a little deeper…’
He explained, “It depends on how you define healthy. It can be very surface-level, like how I look in the mirror, or whether I’m eating right or exercising. But you can’t window-shop your health. Sometimes, you have to go to the store and feel the fabric. You have to dig a little deeper.”
But the question is how to know if you are at risk of having a heart attack even when you feel healthy and practise lifestyle habits that ensure the same. The heart surgeon stated that you need to keep track of:
- your ApoB
- your overall metabolic health
- and even your genetics, because you can’t run from your genes.
He added, “It’s not infrequent that a patient will come in and say, ‘I ate right, I exercised, and I still had the heart attack. I shouldn’t have done any of that stuff.’ Well, no. Doing all that allows you to recover more easily from a heart attack. The key is to dig deeper so you can redefine healthy as you move forward.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than four out of five CVD (cardiovascular diseases) deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, and one third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of age. Therefore, it is important that you take care of your health, especially your heart.
