How to reduce your risk of cardiac arrest

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It might sound romantic, but you really don’t want to suffer cardiac arrest. You can reduce your risk if you follow a healthy diet and even drink the occasional glass of champagne, Bryan Hubbard reports

Singers warble romantically about their hearts suddenly falling still—but it’s a real thing, and it’s known as cardiac arrest. It’s not a heart attack; that happens when blood flow is blocked and the heart muscle is damaged.

Cardiac arrest, the third most common cause of death in industrialized nations, occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating for no apparent reason. A heart attack is a problem of circulation; cardiac arrest is electrical.

More than 600,000 people in the US and 40,000 in the UK suffer sudden cardiac arrest every year. Nearly half of US cases but only a quarter of UK cases happen in the hospital, which doubles the victim’s chance of survival.

But what causes it, and is there anything we can do to prevent it?

Researchers from Fudan University in China have analyzed 56 risk factors—including diet, lifestyle choices and environmental pollutants—and they reckon up to 63 percent of cases could be avoided if people adopted healthier habits.

They looked at data on more than 500,000 middle-aged people, 3,147 of whom suffered a cardiac arrest during the 14 years of the study.

Some of their findings were surprising, like that white wine and champagne seem to have a protective effect, reducing the risk by around 30 percent. And others were more expected, such as the benefits of exercising, eating a healthy diet, not smoking and losing weight.

Poor sleep quality and unemployment were also risk factors—but so too were psychological issues such as feeling “fed up” or depressed. But, as with all matters of the heart, it’s complicated.¹

Factors that affect the risk of cardiac arrest

Reducing the risk

Things to do	% risk reduction
10+ minutes a day of vigorous physical activity	32
Spending less time on the computer	15
Drinking red wine	30
Drinking white wine/champagne	29
Taking glucosamine supplements	20
Leisure activities	16
Being close to more green spaces	14
Eating more poultry	16
Strong hand grip	39

Increasing the risk

Things to avoid	% risk increase
Watching too much TV	37
Sleeping more or less than 7 hours	27
Struggling to get out of bed in the morning	36
Smoking	212
Eating cereal	29
Not eating enough fruits/vegetables	37
Feeling fed up	28
Isolation, loneliness	30
Regular depression	25
Lack of interest in things	36
Worrying over embarrassing incident	15
Exposure to air pollutants	17
Excess waist circumference	62
Raised pulse rate	20
High BMI score	36
Overweight	33
Poor education	35
Unemployment	224