Stress contributes greatly to heart attacks. Stress raises the blood pressure which leads to heart problems as well.
Diet and high cholesterol levels are also a problem.
We tend to look for guarantees in life where there are none. Life for most people is not a trade off, if I do this, I will live a long life. All you can do is take care of yourself the best way you know.
Fitness doesn't equal health. There are many things we put in our body that just do bad things to us over time. I guess it's just a matter of chance on what does us in. I know fat/obese people who are living into their 70s, and I know fit people who have died far too soon.
A long time ago i read an article about how exercise lowers your age. Their reasoning was "old age" is an effect of cells not regenerating properly, and exercise uses up that resource in order to heal us. I have no idea how true that is, but interesting. I still believe it's a matter of circumstance.
Improvements on diet, eating tomatoes, reducing animal fat, add a bit of olive oil in the salad, drinking a wine of red glass everyday, exercise but not too much, plenty of rest, afternoon naps (siestas) are all helpful in reducing the risks.
because they are humans and some humans have heart attacks; I have also heard that teachers have heart attacks
Could also be that there diet isn't healthy
stress
This is an across styles question. I have met a few martial arts instructors, none of whom were obese either, in various styles, who have had heart attacks. The question is why? Did they possibly neglect cardio? One said he knows his diet was bad, another felt he was teaching too much even though he was still very fit and proficient.
What's happening? Is this a rarity or a common occurrence? How can we guard against and prevent this? Is age a factor? Weight? Stress? Or are we at the mercy of our genes? What can martial artists, particularly instructors, do to prevent heart attacks?
