Living Heart Healthy

February is national heart month. It's a great time to learn more about ways to battle heart disease and learn how to live a heart-healthy life.

You've probably heard the saying, "an apple doesn't fall far from the tree." That means things happen in families; and when it comes to heart problems that's definitely true.

Many things go into the "great" equation of life that determines whether you're going to end up with heart disease or not. Among those are your diet, whether you smoke, and your blood pressure. These are things you can change for the better. But one of the ones you can't change is your genetics or family history, and those can have an even bigger influence.

Trying to figure out who is going to have a heart attack before it happens is tough, but there is one big thing you can do to help yourself out --- look at how your family members are doing. And looking closely at "their" health can have a huge impact on "your" health. As a matter of fact, experts predict that if all middle aged adults who have a family history of heart disease were tested themselves, then up to 40% of premature heart attacks could be avoided.

What this essentially tells us is that if a family member has a heart attack, then other family members are at a higher risk themselves. And the closer they are to you, the greater your chance. That means that mother, father, sister and brother have the most impact on your heart health. So if one of those has had a heart problem, then your chances go up even more. And that means you need to be even more careful with your heart health.