Half of all heart disease is caused by just five modifiable risk factors.
Most people don’t know what they are, let alone how to change them. But the message from the latest scientific research is clear: if you act now, the rewards are extraordinary.
At Epic Life, we believe in controlling the variables you can control. Here is the data on why these five factors matter and the actionable, science-backed advice on how to fix them.
Addressing 5 key lifestyle factors will slash your heart disease risk
The science: a global wake-up call
A major new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked 2 million people across 39 countries. The findings were definitive:
Just five modifiable risk factors account for 50% of all heart disease.
This means that half of all cardiovascular cases are entirely preventable.
The five factors
These are the biological drivers that determine your future heart health. They are common, but crucially, they are trackable and changeable:
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Diabetes
Smoking
Being underweight, overweight or obese
The upside: gain a decade of healthy life
The study didn't just highlight the risks; it quantified the reward. If you reach age 50 without any of these five risk factors, the impact on your longevity is profound:
Women lived 14.5 years longer without premature death.
Men lived 11.8 years longer without premature death.
Both groups gained over a decade free from heart disease.
That represents a 66% increase in healthy lifespan for women and 58% for men, compared to those living with all five risk factors.
The data suggests that the most impactful midlife changes were reducing high blood pressure (for more years free of heart disease) and quitting smoking (for more years free of early death).
Epic wins: science-backed protocols to reduce your risk
Knowing the risk is the first step. Fixing it is the second. Use these science-backed strategies to target the five biggest drivers of heart disease.
1. Isometric exercise for blood pressure
Hold steady for a big drop. Isometric exercise (like static wall squats) has been shown to lower systolic blood pressure by over 8 mm Hg on average, outperforming cardio, resistance training, and HIIT. It is a counterintuitive win: what raises your blood pressure in the moment leads to a significant drop in the long run.
2. Eat smart to lower LDL cholesterol
Food as medicine. Foods like oats, barley, avocado, turmeric, almonds, and flaxseeds can lower your LDL cholesterol. A global review of over 100 trials found that making the right food choices can cut "bad" cholesterol as effectively as some pharmaceutical medications.
3. The Mediterranean diet advantage
Control diabetes with diet. Following a Mediterranean diet—based on eating mostly vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts, olive oil, and fish, while limiting red meat, sugar, and processed foods—cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 23%. It also significantly improved blood sugar control and overall cardiovascular health.
4. Be a positive quitter
Psychology beats willpower. Smokers who used simple daily positive psychology habits (like writing down three good things or expressing gratitude) had 2.75x higher odds of staying smoke-free over time than those who didn’t.
5. The habits of healthy weight
Sustainability over starvation. A 15-year study tracking over 1,100 young adults found that the people most likely to maintain a healthy weight avoided extreme weight control behaviours (like skipping meals) and reported higher body satisfaction. They were also less likely to have close friends or partners who obsessed over dieting.
References
Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium. Global Effect of Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Lifetime Estimates. New England Journal of Medicine. 2025 Mar 30.
Edwards JJ, Deenmamode AH, Griffiths M, Arnold O, Cooper NJ, Wiles JD, O'Driscoll JM. Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British journal of sports medicine. 2023 Oct 1;57(20):1317-26.
Schoeneck M, Iggman D. The effects of foods on LDL cholesterol levels: A systematic review of the accumulated evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. 2021 May 6;31(5):1325-38.
Esposito K, Maiorino MI, Bellastella G, Chiodini P, Panagiotakos D, Giugliano D. A journey into a Mediterranean diet and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review with meta-analyses. BMJ open. 2015 Aug 1;5(8):e008222.
Kahler CW, Spillane NS, Day AM, Cioe PA, Parks A, Leventhal AM, Brown RA. Positive psychotherapy for smoking cessation: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2015 Feb 2;17(11):1385-92.
Larson N, Chen Y, Wall M, Winkler MR, Goldschmidt AB, Neumark-Sztainer D. Personal, behavioral, and environmental predictors of healthy weight maintenance during the transition to adulthood. Preventive medicine. 2018 Aug 1;113:80-90.
