Take Care of Your Heart

Learning more about cardiovascular health, risk factors and heart attack warning signs is a gift to your heart that could save your life!

St. Luke's and Your Heart

St. Luke's is proud to have a full spectrum of Heart and Cardiovascular Care. Stay informed and keep your heart healthy with our classes and screenings, Heart Health Quiz, and the information about preventing heart conditions.

Heart Attack Warning Signs

Know the Signs and Get Help Right Away

A heart attack is an urgent message from your heart that it’s starved for oxygen. When a clot blocks a heart vessel, oxygen-rich blood can’t reach your heart. Then heart muscle begins to die and symptoms of a heart attack begin. The sooner you get to the hospital, the sooner treatment can start to help save your life and your heart muscle.

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.  

• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.  

• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort. 

• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness.

Note for women: Like men, women most commonly have chest pain or discomfort as a heart attack symptom. But women are somewhat more likely than men to have some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea, and vomiting, back pain, or jaw pain. 

Reduce Your Risk

Change Your Habits, Protect Your Heart

• Maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in the body's cells. Two ways to lower your cholesterol without medication are to exercise 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week and eat a diet low in saturated and trans fats, as well as total fat. Fats should make up only 25 to 28 percent of your total daily calories.

• Lower high blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, your heart has to work harder than normal. When this occurs over time, the heart can enlarge and arteries can become scarred and hardened. Work with your doctor to treat high blood pressure with medication and changes in your diet and lifestyle.

• Quit smoking. Smoking increases the risk for heart disease by speeding the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), reducing your HDL ("good") cholesterol, and raising your blood pressure. Kicking the habit is one of the best things you can do for your heart and health.

• Maintain a healthy weight, with a body mass index between 18.5 and 25. Your risk for heart disease increases if you're overweight. Obesity raises cholesterol levels and can lead to diabetes, another risk factor for heart disease.

• Manage diabetes. People with diabetes are two to four times more likely than other people to have a heart attack. If you have diabetes, check your blood sugar levels regularly and work to keep them within healthy limits through diet, exercise, and medications.

Do You Know the Signs and Symptoms of a Heart Attack?

Understand the risk factors and the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. Do you know what to do if you or someone you love has a heart attack?