❤️ Protecting Your Heart: What Really Matters

Most people think heart disease is all about bad luck or bad genes.

It’s true — some things are out of our control. We can’t change our age, or who our parents are. Men over 45 and women after menopause are naturally at higher risk, and some backgrounds — like Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, South Asian, or Pacific Islander heritage — carry extra risk.

But here’s the good part: most of the heart risk (in most people) comes from things you can change.

A huge international study found that nine everyday factors explain over 90% of the risk of a heart attack. In other words, your daily choices usually matter more than your DNA.

🩺 What Raises the Risk

When cholesterol (especially “bad” LDL) builds up in the blood, it slowly clogs arteries like rust in a pipe.

Smoking — or even vaping — adds fuel to that process, damaging the artery walls.

Stress, extra body weight (especially around the waist), high blood pressure, and high blood sugar make the strain even worse.

Add a poor diet, too much alcohol, or not enough movement, and your heart has to fight uphill every day.

🧠 What You Can Do

Because plaque buildup in the coronary arteries is a very slow, progressive process over many years, usually decades, prevention is much easier if it starts early.

Even small changes in cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight early on in life (from say 30 years of age) can slow or even stop the process before it causes a problem.

Heart attacks do happen, but they really shouldn’t. If you know your numbers from age 30, and take action if needed, a heart attack 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60 years down the track can be prevented.

🧮 Understanding Your Personal Risk

We can’t predict the future, but we can estimate it very accurately with tools like QRISK3.

It looks at your age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking history, diabetes, and family background to show your risk over your lifetime and the next 10 years.

Low risk – Less than 10% 10-year risk or lifetime risk under 39%. Focus on healthy habits.

Target LDL: below 3.0 mmol/L.

Moderate risk – 10-20% 10-year risk or lifetime risk over 39%. Strong lifestyle focus; sometimes medication is required.

Target LDL: below 2.5 mmol/L.

High risk – Over 20% 10-year risk. Medications such as statins (and often blood-pressure tablets) are recommended in addition to lifestyle measures.

Target LDL: below 1.8 mmol/L.

Sometimes we discover extra hidden risks — like a genetic tendency to high lipoprotein(a), very low “good” HDL cholesterol, or calcium seen on a CT scan. These findings can move you into a higher risk group even if you feel well.

✅ The Take-Home Message

You can’t control your age or genes, but you can control how hard your heart has to work.

Know your numbers — cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar.

Don’t smoke. Keep active. Eat plenty of plants and less processed food.

Manage stress. Sleep well.

And if your risk is moderate or high, use medications like statins as tools to protect your arteries.

Every small choice adds up — and your future self will thank you for it. ❤️