While a family history of heart disease is a risk factor for heart attack, there is very little one can do to reduce this inherited risk. Fortunately, most risk factors for heart disease are under our control. These risk factors are: tobacco smoke, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes. All of these risk factors can be changed, treated or modified to reduce one's overall risk of developing heart disease.

Cigarette smoking tops the list of risk factors for heart disease and heart attack. There is such a significant correlation between cigarette smoking and heart disease that the Surgeon General has called it "the most important of the known modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease in the United States."

Angina pectoris is the medical term for chest pain due to coronary heart disease. This is a condition in which the heart muscle doesn't receive enough blood, resulting in pain in the chest. Angina is a symptom of a condition called myocardial ischemia. Ischemia occurs when the heart muscle (myocardium) doesn't get as much blood (hence as much oxygen) as it needs for a given level of work.

The heart pumps blood throughout the body via blood vessels called arteries. Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of these vessels. The pressure is greatest when the heart contracts or beats. This is called the "systolic pressure." While the heart is filling up, the pressure falls, which is called the "diastolic pressure." These are the two numbers in a blood pressure reading: the top number is the systolic pressure and the bottom number is the diastolic pressure.

High blood pressure or hypertension can lead to problems such as heart attack, kidney failure, stroke, and enlargement of the heart. This is why it is so important that you know your blood pressure and have it checked periodically.

Many medications known as antihypertensives are available to lower high blood pressure. Some, called diuretics,rid the body of excess fluids and salt(sodium). Others, called beta blockers, reduce the heart rate and the heart's output of blood.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle which includes regular exercise, eating foods low in salt or sodium, drinking alcohol only in moderation, and preventing obesity.

Most hypertension is considered "essential" meaning that is there is no cause other than perhaps heredity. There is no cure, but essential hypertension can be treated with medication. The secondary causes of hypertension include: kidney problems, kidney artery narrowing, hormone imbalance, birth control pills, pregnancy, and tumors of the adrenal gland.

Blood pressure is easily and accurately monitored by a sphygmomanometer or blood pressure cuff. The cuff is wrapped around the arm and inflated to stop the blood from being pumped into the artery. Then the cuff is slowly deflated and when the first sound of the blood hitting the vessel wall is heard, this is noted as the systolic pressure. The beat of the blood continues until there is no resistance to flow from the cuff and there is no further sound made from the blood traveling in the artery. This is then noted as the diastolic pressure.

Anyone can develop hypertension. Some groups are more likely to have high blood pressure than others. For example, African-Americans are more likely to be hypertensive than other groups, and their blood pressure is more difficult to control. Age also increases your likelihood of developing hypertension. So, by age 65, there is a 50-50 chance of having hypertension. Other factors which contribute to the risk of hypertension include obesity, smoking, and family history of hypertension.