Having close blood relatives with heart disease can make you more likely to get heart disease. As per science, your genes shouldn't scare you and if you take care of the risk factors, you take care of the disease.
If you have a family health history of heart disease, collect information on your relatives with heart disease, including what age they were diagnosed. This is especially important if you have a parent, brother, or sister with heart disease. Share this information with your doctor so you can work together on steps to lower your chances of getting heart disease.
Your doctor may include regular checkups and basic screening tests -- which include blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol checks -- starting in your 20s. Your doctor will also decide on more advanced testing when your family history points to a specific genetic condition.
Your lifestyle should include:
- Eating a healthy diet
- Being physically active
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Not smoking
- Decreasing alcohol consumption
- Timely blood cholesterol checks up
- Controlling blood pressure
- Controlling blood sugar
- Having regular screening tests recommended by your doctor
- Use medication if needed to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes
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