How to prevent a heart attack

Telegraph

16-05-2025

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan understands the importance of the most vital organ in our body only too well. When she was in her 20s and embarking on her career in medicine, her mother died from a heart attack at only 42. It came out of nowhere, as she had no known history of heart disease. 'I always knew I wanted to be a doctor,' she says, 'but that day inspired me to specialise in the heart.'
Dr Babu-Narayan is now a consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital, and associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
'Mum died with new symptoms. But that was 30 years ago – and a lot has changed,' she says. 'I like to think that she would have survived nowadays with the treatments we have.'
She is vocal in her belief that we can take steps to manage our heart health. 'You cannot change your family history of coronary disease,' she says, 'but we can use it as a motivation to make the changes that can save lives – to try to stop a heart attack from happening in the first place.'
Why is heart health important?
More than half of us will have some kind of circulatory problem in our lifetime and now a new study from Our Future Health – which is set to be the UK's biggest health study – has found that over 50 per cent of people have high cholesterol and one in four have high blood pressure, putting them at risk of future heart problems and other serious diseases including stroke, diabetes and dementia.
Dr Raghib Ali OBE, the chief medical officer at Our Future Health, said: 'High blood pressure and high cholesterol are key risk factors for two of the biggest causes of death and disability: heart attacks and stroke.'
But it's not all doom and gloom. In the 1960s, more than seven out of 10 heart attacks were fatal, according to the BHF. Today, more than seven out of 10 people survive. And there are measures everyone can take to lower their risks of serious heart disease.
What is heart disease?
One in six people a day in the world die of coronary heart disease – the clogging up of the coronary arteries that limit the supply of blood to your heart. 'It is the most common heart problem in the UK,' says Dr Babu-Narayan. 'The coronary arteries are the blood vessels that carry nourishing blood to your living hard tissue, and if fatty material builds up inside those arteries, the arteries can't carry as much blood to the heart.
'If that happens, you may develop angina or, worse, a heart attack. With angina there could be chest discomfort, pressure or pain when you're doing something energetic, which gets better after you rest for a few minutes.' Either way, it's important to see your GP as soon as possible.
Dr Babu-Narayan says that the build-up of fatty material (atherosclerosis) inside your arteries can start to happen decades earlier and silently progress before you ever have symptoms. If arteries that carry blood to the brain get similarly clogged up, it can lead to a stroke.
A heart attack – officially known as myocardial infarction or MI – is caused by a sudden loss of blood flow to part of the heart muscle. Without enough blood and oxygen, your heart can be seriously damaged, so you or whoever is with you needs to dial 999 fast if there are warning signs.
Atrial fibrillation (AF), illustrated below, is the most prevalent heart rhythm problem, causing an irregular or fast heartbeat. It is generally not life-threatening – many people live normal healthy lives with this condition – but it often needs treatment and can increase the risk of stroke five-fold, according to Heart Research UK. Cases have increased by up to 72 per cent over the last two decades.