Wear your HEART on your sleeve

Everything you need to know to keep your ticker healthy

- Zoe Snell

February is an important month for the heart, not just because of Valentine’s Day, but because it’s Heart Health Research Month. In honour of this, cardiologist Ashleigh Dind explains everything you need to know about keeping your ticker in tip-top condition.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

It’s often thought that if you feel healthy, you won’t develop heart disease. While most people who develop heart disease have traditional risk factors like high blood pressure or raised cholesterol, about 20 per cent of people who experience the most serious type of heart attack don’t have any traditional risk factors at all! Everyone can benefit from being assessed for these risk factors even if they feel well and have a healthy lifestyle. We all need to be aware that heart disease can happen to anyone.

WHO’S MOST AT RISK