There are a number of myths about heart care and more specifically about heart attack that really need to be dispelled once and for all. We obviously want to stay clear of heart ailments so we carry with us a number of beliefs about things that we consider will either keep us safe from or make us more prone to a heart attack.  But many of these may be misguiding or downright wrong. So let us do away with the unnecessary fears and learn what will actually help our hearts.

Below are some common misconceptions about heart attacks:

Most of doctors these days in the heightened reality of nutrition and well being stress the fact that those who are overweight, eat out a lot, or do not exercise and lead a sedentary lifestyle are more susceptible to heart attacks. While they are not wrong, those who are thin, do regular exercise and eat a proper healthy diet are not safe from heart attacks either.  This is because cholesterol deposits which are the most common cause of clogging of arteries can be present in thin people too.  Physical appearance can many times mask an underlying health problem.

Moreover heart problems and heart attacks are also genetic. So if you have a history of heart issues in your family you are more likely to have a hereditary link. There are also factors like diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure that put you at a risk, no matter your weight. Gender and age also matter. So in spite of how healthy you look or feel, get a check up to ascertain your heart’s health!

While we are pretty used to watching men, in the typical hollywood movies, clutching their chests and falling down from what is apparently a heart attack, it usually isn’t so obvious in real life. The classic symptoms of a heart attack include a heavy feeling in the chest that may be painful. But the heaviness or pain may spread to the left arm, neck, or jaw. Another often ignored symptom is indigestion or heart burn, it may just be something you ate or it could be a heart attack.

Symptoms include:

Chest painPressure, heaviness or tightness in the chestPain or pressure in the neck or jawPain or pressure in one or both arms (especially the left)Shortness of breathSweatingNauseaPain or throbbing between the shoulder blades

Many people suffer from heart attacks but assume it is only heartburn or fatigue. When it comes to your heart, it’s important to consult a doctor rather than to self diagnose!

Most of us believe that if we were having a heart attack, it would involve having chest pain. But as mentioned above recognizing a heart attack isn’t that easy. The classic signs include chest pain but it needn’t really cause chest pain. According to CNN, 40 to 60 percent of all heart attacks are unrecognized by their victims. If you’re having some sort of unusual discomfort in your back, chest or upper arms, whether or not it is in the middle of your back or the middle of your chest, don’t wait until your heart stops, call an ambulance. Never drive yourself to the hospital if you think you are having a heart attack as you might kill yourself and others doing so.

Since women in movies do not clutch at their hearts and collapse to the floor it is assumed that women do not suffer from heart attacks. True, women are less prone to heart attacks before menopause due to the presence of estrogen, which protects them from heart attacks, but post menopause women are just as prone to heart attacks as men are.  In fact, probably moreso.

According to statistics: [courtesy Women's Heart Foundation]

Worldwide, 8.6 million women die from heart diseases each year (including heart attacks), accounting for a third of all deaths in women.Women are twice as likely as men to die within the first few weeks after suffering a heart attack.38% of women and 25% of men die within one year of a first recognized heart attack.

Women do not usually experience the commonly expected chest pain as men do when they suffer from heart attacks. 71% of women experience early warning signs of heart attack with sudden onset of extreme weakness that feels like the flu – often with no chest pain at all. Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain at all. Even if they do experience mild chest discomfort they simply do not perceive it to be a heart attack like men do. So they must get any abnormal pain checked out.

Here are some of the symptoms of female heart attack:

Shortness of breathWeaknessUnusual fatigueNauseaDizzinessAbdominal discomfort that may seem like indigestion

Medical professionals are challenged to respond to women’s milder symptoms, due to insufficient information and often times when women present in the emergency room with a heart attack they are initially misdiagnosed.

If you have a pain in your chest, you  must not sit around and wait to see if it goes away. If you’re having significant chest discomfort, shortness of breath, or any other symptoms that suggest a heart attack, call a 911 or any clinic’s emergency number. If you delay treatment when you are having a heart attack you could cause irreparable damage to your heart and it could also prove to be fatal.

It is possible to die of fright, or for that matter grief, anger, joy, or just about any other intense emotion. Though usually victims are older and likely to be in unstable health conditions, even younger people could be so affected. It is possible for a terrifying event to trigger a fatal heart attack.

Multiple scientific studies show that important mind and body connections exist for health in general and cardiovascular health in particular. Your levels of stress and wellbeing are extremely important for your cardiovascular health. Higher stress levels or negative emotions like anger or depression could burden your heart pumping due to release of certain hormones in our blood stream like adrenalin. You should therefore look for ways and means to reduce stress and negative emotions in your lives.

Though predominantly those who are older are more prone to having a heart attack, it is possible to start developing coronary artery disease as a teenager especially these days with fast food and junk food being a primary source of nutrition for many young people. People in their 20s and 30s have suffered from heart attacks. A heart-healthy lifestyle needs to begin in the childhood, so that kids don’t develop bad habits that they carry to adulthood. Parents should encourage their kids to exercise, limit time spent in front of the television or computer screen, and partake healthy, well-balanced meals.

Children, who are obese, have high blood pressure or a family history of heart disease are at a higher risk. Also, although rare, some children (usually due to genetic differences) can have unusually high cholesterol and thus an increased risk for heart disease.

Another problem today is the kind of lifestyle that we live. Especially the young working population today lives an unbalanced life with no exercise, a lot of junk food and high stress levels. Not to mention overexposure to technology and the sedentary lifestyle it promotes that is proving to harm our lives. For the young it is especially necessary to have regular checkups and a conscious effort to maintain a well balanced life.

The whole field of protection before sex is “red-hot cool right now,” said Sharon L. Hillier, a gynecology professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s medical school and principal investigator of the Microbicide Trials Network. “People are really energized.”

Although the gel offered only about 40 percent protection against the virus, it was the first form of protection that women could use without men knowing, which is crucial because so many men around the world absolutely refuse — sometimes violently — to wear condoms when having sex with their wives or girlfriends.

Other clinical trials will report their results in 2011 and 2012 and, if all goes well, researchers hope to have a product or two ready to enter the market by 2013.

The first may not be a gel, however.

In the next few months, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, an advocacy group for AIDS prevention, “we’re going to see a cascade of results” from trials of what is called “oral pre-exposure prophylaxis,” or “oral prep” for short. In them, men and women who are not infected with the AIDS virus but who regularly engage in high-risk sex, like anal sex without condoms or sex for money with strangers, take a daily dose of one or two of the antiretroviral drugs normally taken by infected people. If many fewer of those subjects become infected than subjects taking a placebo, a second breakthrough will have been achieved.

Should that happen, regulatory authorities may approve pills faster than a gel, because they have already been found safe and effective for treatment.

But that doesn’t mean a gel isn’t still worth pursuing, said Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, a professor of epidemiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and a leader of the microbicide trial for which results were released in July.

Gels have advantages. The drug in them stays in the vaginal tissue, so it is unlikely that anyone who gets infected anyway would develop a drug-resistant form of the virus. And unlike pills, gels also protect against herpes.

Also, as several experts pointed out, women like having choices in birth control: some prefer a daily pill, some prefer condoms, or IUDs, or shots that last three months, or skin implants that last three years. Presumably, they will also want choices in AIDS prevention.

“The simple truth is: one size does not fit all,” Dr. Karim said.

Because 95 percent of gay American men and 40 percent of heterosexual American women have had anal sex at least once during their lifetimes, according to surveys, rectal versions of the gel are being developed. Tests of new, less viscous formulations that are less likely to draw water into the rectum, making use unpleasant, will begin soon, said Dr. Ian McGowan, another leader of microbicide trials at the University of Pittsburgh’s medical school.

Gay and bisexual black and Hispanic men, who are now the highest AIDS risk groups in the United States, will be recruited soon in Boston, Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico to see if they find the gels acceptable, he said.

But first it is crucial to make sure gels don’t inflame the rectal lining, which is more fragile than the vagina’s. Since H.I.V. zeros in on activated immune cells, inflammation increases infection risk. Brief tests of irritation and acceptability will be done on people advised to remain celibate during the tests, he added. Larger trials, in which thousands of men and women regularly practicing anal sex are given gel or placebo will not begin for two to three more years.

“The rectal microbicide field is about 10 years behind the vaginal one,” Dr. McGowan said.

That is partly due to misconceptions.

“When you mention rectal microbicides, a lot of people say ‘Oh, come on,’ because they think you have to protect the whole colon, and it’s meters long,” Dr. McGowan said. In fact, researchers believe protecting only the last six to eight inches will suffice.

A 2008 British study showed that rectal tenofovir gel was very protective in monkeys that were then given anal doses of the virus that causes simian AIDS.

Farther over the horizon, another method is being tested for possible deployment by 2015 or so. Next year, a trial will begin of a vaginal ring containing a new antiretroviral drug, dapivirine. Dapivirine was never approved as a pill because the body doesn’t absorb it well, but it can build up in vaginal tissue. Also, it is so concentrated that a month’s worth fits in a ring that allows a tiny amount to trickle out each day.

Blair, the 6-foot-8, 575-pound representative for the heart attack Grill, died at the age of 29 from pneumonia.

A former Arizona State high school wrestling champion and College football player, Blair was the star of many heart attack Grill commercials. make fun at his weight.

The heart attack Grill, based in Phoenix, Arizona, serving burgers, such as four-Marin "quadruple bypass Burger and French fries," snails in lard called "flatliner Fries."

Blair may have contracted pneumonia after a Bout of flu. While not part of any official cause of death,--research has linked obesity to poor immune system function. the reduction of the Agency's ability to fight the infections.

Founder Jon Basso has expressed remorse and sorrow during Blair's passing, to call a "creative genius", which was set to star in "the heart attack Grill: the music," another commercial for the restaurant.

Other heart attack Grill menu options include shake butterfat-touted as "the world's content"-candy, soda, beer, cigarettes and the "smaller" Single, double, and triple bypass hamburgers.