to this it is also likely that people with a family history of heart disease share a common lifestyle that may increase their risk and further augment the genetically inherited issues thus if your parents or anyone in your closest family circle has battled heart disease it is pertinent that you are strictly avoiding unhealthy lifestyle choices such as smoking cigarettes getting proper exercise and eating a balanced diet the hereditary risk associated with heart disease gets further clear if we are to look at indian cricket administrator commentator and former national cricket team captain sourav gangulys case earlier this year in january he suffered a mild heart attack and had to undergo an immediate primary angioplasty to clear a blocked coronary artery this incident shocked a lot of us because a fit sportsperson like ganguly getting a heart attack was not expected and it was only later when he spoke about the issue that we learnt that his genes played a major role in triggering his heart condition he says you dont expect a fairly young and fit person like me to have a heartrelated ailment but heres the thing there are just too many factors that can affect our hearts health one of them could be family history of heart ailments as it was in my case he further asserted how the episode was a clarion call to lead a healthy lifestyle exercise regularly follow an antioxidantrich diet get adequate rest and undergo regular health checkups considering we cannot do anything about the genetic risk associated with heart disease it is imperative to observe treat and control any other lifestyle risks that we might be exposed to and that includes our diet choosing the right oil for cooking essential for your heart health foods rich in hearthealthy fats like nuts seeds avocado olives and vegetable oils help reduce harmful cholesterol levels lowdensity lipoprotein ldl in the blood your choice of oil is a vital step towards ensuring that you continue to have a healthy heart physical inactivity one of the clearest risk factors for cardiovascular disease is lack of exercise and inadequate physical activity owing to modern day sedentary habits heart disease has become a silent killer across the world an inactive lifestyle increases the likelihood of developing several heart disease risk factors like obesity high blood pressure high blood cholesterol etc even for people who do not have other risk factors lack of exercise can take a significant toll on heart health a simple act of exercise for an hour daily can melt away stress lower your blood pressure strengthen your heart muscle and help you maintain a healthy weight stress modern life requires us to juggle multiple roles and responsibilities with too many things to manage we are often stressed out and do not find enough time to relax and unwind while it might not look like its affecting your health on an everyday basis stress is one of the biggest risk points for heart