"Heart attacks" (mycardial infarction or death of heart muscle) really don't have much to do with fitness and braycardia other than allowing you more cardiac reserve to survive. They are more related to high blood pressure, cholesterol, family history (ahh, your genes), smoking, and diabetes. That is why it is important to know what your lipid (cholesterol, the good, the bad and the total) levels are, whether or not you are a diabetic, your family history and your blood pressure. Smoking cessation is extremely important here also.
In my practice, I ask all patients (and I only take care of pilots) if they know their cholesterol. If they have not had one checked in 5 years, I recommend getting one. If the Total cholesterol is above 200, or the HDL cholesterol is less than 40, or the LDL cholesterol above 100, I recommend treatment with a statin (Lipitor, Zocor, Lescol, Mevacor, Pravachol, Crestor, Vytorin) to change these numbers. There have been good studies to demonstrate that if there is a cholesterol plaque (buildup) in the arteries, it can be disolved with these drugs. Once the plaques have been around for many years, calcium gets deposited in the plaque and the plaque can no longer be disolved. Diet works so-so and is not too effective in lowering cholesterol.
One more word about the cholesterol numbers, the laboratories will show that an LDL of 139 is normal but the National Institutes of Health say optimal levels are below 100.
