You Can't Change Your Age, But You Can Change Everything Else: Your Guide to Heart Disease Risk

Heart disease might feel inevitable, but the reality is far more hopeful. While you can't turn back the clock or rewrite your DNA, the majority of cardiovascular risk factors are completely within your control—and making changes to these modifiable factors can dramatically reduce your chances of developing heart problems.

What Heart Disease Risk Factors Can't You Change?

Some cardiovascular risk factors are simply part of who you are. Your age naturally increases heart disease risk, with men over 55 and women after menopause facing higher odds. Family history also plays a role—men have elevated risk if a parent or sibling was diagnosed before age 55, while women face increased risk if family members were diagnosed before age 65.

Ethnicity is another non-modifiable factor, with Indigenous Peoples and people of African or Asian descent experiencing higher rates of heart disease. While these factors matter, they represent only a portion of your overall risk profile.

Which Risk Factors Can You Actually Control?

The encouraging news is that most heart disease risk factors fall into the modifiable category. People who don't exercise regularly have twice the risk for heart disease compared to those who stay active. When you don't move enough, your heart and blood vessels weaken, blood pressure rises, and unhealthy weight gain becomes more likely.

The modifiable risk factors that significantly impact your cardiovascular health include:

• Physical Inactivity: Regular movement strengthens your heart and blood vessels while helping control blood pressure and weight
• Tobacco Use: The chemicals in tobacco smoke directly damage your heart and blood vessels, with carbon monoxide specifically harming your arteries
• Poor Diet: Your food choices directly affect blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels if you have diabetes
• Excessive Alcohol: Drinking more than one to two standard drinks per week increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers
• High Blood Pressure: Hypertension makes your heart work harder, damages blood vessels, and can cause dangerous plaque buildup
• High Cholesterol: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol creates plaque on artery walls, while high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good" cholesterol helps protect your heart

How Do Stress and Mental Health Affect Your Heart?

Your emotional well-being directly impacts your cardiovascular system in ways many people don't realize. Chronic stress causes your body to raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which over time can lead to heart disease. Both anxiety and depression are associated with increased heart disease risk—anxiety can lead to high blood pressure and elevated heart rates, while depression increases the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and blood clots.

High blood glucose levels, whether from prediabetes or diabetes, also put you at higher risk for heart disease by promoting plaque buildup and rupture in the arteries. Managing these conditions through healthy eating and daily activity becomes crucial for heart protection.

The Ottawa Heart Institute has launched an ambitious initiative called One Million Canadian Hearts, designed to screen one million Canadians for cardiovascular disease risk factors. This pioneering program aims to identify and address modifiable risk factors before they lead to serious heart problems.

The key takeaway is empowering: while you can't change your age, family history, or ethnicity, you have significant control over the lifestyle factors that most strongly influence your heart disease risk. Simple changes like increasing daily movement, improving your diet, managing stress, and avoiding tobacco can make a substantial difference in your cardiovascular health outcomes.