February is American Heart Month, and the American Heart Association plans is working on raising awareness of heart health.
Heart disease is now the number one killer of men and women, and what's worse the heart hospital says twice as many American women die of heart disease than all the cancers put together.
But there are risk factors that are controllable, the American Heart Association introduced what's called the Simple 7.
They are seven heart health factors including: getting active, controlling cholesterol, eating better, managing blood pressure, losing weight, reducing blood sugar, and stopping smoking.
So even though age and genes do play a role, the steps are intended to lower your risk.
"As our society becomes more fast paced, we don't have time to exercise, we don't have time to eat healthy, we are seeing children at an alarming young age of being obese, and so the trend is continuing, so it's getting larger and larger to where we're seeing it's not uncommon to see a 40 year old come in with a massive heart attack," said Leanna Tijerina, an American Heart Association Board Member.
If you want to see your risk factors, you can go to any of the websites linked at the bottom of this article, free of charge. It takes about seven minutes, and you can find out your risk for a heart attack.
And don't forget, Friday is National Wear Red day to draw attention to the cause.
