Overview.
By living a healthy lifestyle, you can help keep your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels normal and lower your risk for heart disease and heart attack. Heart disease describes a range of conditions that affect your heart. Heart diseases include:

Symptoms of heart disease in your blood vessels.
A buildup of fatty plaques in your arteries, or atherosclerosis can damage your blood vessels and heart. Plaque buildup causes narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina), or stroke.
Coronary artery disease symptoms may be different for men and women. For instance, men are more likely to have chest pain. Women are more likely to have other signs and symptoms along with chest discomforts, such as shortness of breath, nausea, and extreme fatigue.
You can choose healthy habits to help prevent heart disease.
Certain types of heart disease, such as heart defects, can’t be prevented. However, the same lifestyle changes that can improve your heart disease can help you prevent it, including:
- Don’t smoke.
- Control other health conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week.
- Eat a diet that’s low in salt and saturated fat.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Reduce and manage stress.
- Practice good hygiene.