--- description: A study of Swedish men shows just how beneficial healthy living is for the heart title: Healthy Behaviors Can Prevent 4 Out of 5 Heart Attacks image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Heart Disease](/tag/heart-disease/) ## Heart Disease Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Healthy Behaviors Can Prevent 4 Out of 5 Heart Attacks by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 22, 2014 7:30 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 22, 2014 7:30 PM CUT We all know the basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle–maintaining a good diet and waist size, exercising, not smoking and drinking alcohol in moderation. But how healthy will they get you, exactly? A [new study](http://www.cardiosource.org/News-Media/Media-Center/News-Releases/2014/09/9-22-14-JACC-Lifestyle-and-MI.aspx "undefined") published Monday in the _Journal of the American College of Cardiology_ quantifies the effects of a healthy lifestyle and finds that practicing these behaviors can prevent four out of five coronary events in men. Researchers looked at a study population of 20,721 healthy Swedish men between the ages of 45 to 79 and followed them for more than a decade, asking them about their lifestyle choices and behaviors from levels of physical activity to their smoking status. Men didn’t have to stick to every healthy behavior to see results: Every good habit was associated with a reduced risk for heart attack. Eating a low-risk diet plus drinking alcohol in moderation was associated with a 35% reduced risk of heart attack compared to those in the high-risk group. When men combined even more behaviors, the protective effects soared. Men who don’t smoke and walked or cycled at least 40 minutes a day, exercised at least one hour a week, had a waist circumference under 37.4 inches, drank moderately, and ate a diet of fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, reduced-fat dairy products, fish and whole grains had an 86% lower risk of heart attack than those with high-risk behaviors. It’s not all good news, of course. Only 1% of men in the study–and about the same amount of the U.S. population–keeps this kind of heart-healthy regime. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3414629/healthy-lifestyles-heart-attacks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3414629/healthy-lifestyles-heart-attacks/"},"headline":"Healthy Behaviors Can Prevent 4 Out of 5 Heart Attacks","datePublished":"2014-09-22T19:30:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:19:26.048Z","description":"A study of Swedish men shows just how beneficial healthy living is for the heart","url":"https://time.com/3414629/healthy-lifestyles-heart-attacks/","keywords":["Heart Disease","Exercise","Men","Diet & Nutrition","heart health","heart attacks"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3414629/healthy-lifestyles-heart-attacks/","name":"Healthy Behaviors Can Prevent 4 Out of 5 Heart Attacks"}}]}] ```