When plaque builds up in your coronary arteries, it causes Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), the most common form of heart disease in the United States. When it comes to CAD, there are risk factors you can try to control, but also ones you can’t, such as your age, gender, race and family and personal cardiac history.

The risk factors you can control include:

  • Your cholesterol and blood pressure
  • Whether you smoke
  • Your weight and physical activity level
  • How you control and manage diabetes, if you have it

You can maintain or improve your heart health, no matter how healthy your heart may be, by:

  • Eating a healthy diet, manage your weight and exercise regularly
  • Managing your blood pressure and cholesterol
  • Avoiding or quitting smoking
  • Managing prediabetes and diabetes, if you have it
  • Controlling stress and limiting alcohol
  • Taking medications as prescribed
  • Visiting your doctor regularly