When someone as fit as Ratona Harr, a spin class instructor, has a heart attack, it’s a wake-up call for everyone.

Harr was leading a class when she started to feel pressure in her chest, the American Heart Association reports. Her symptoms continued and escalated until she was taken to the hospital where a cardiologist found her left anterior descending artery completely blocked.

You can live an extremely healthy lifestyle and still have a heart attack.

“You can’t say, ‘You don’t look like you have heart disease.’ That doesn’t really mean anything,” said Ann Davis, MD, cardiologist with Endeavor Health and Midwest Cardiovascular Institute. “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Choosing not to smoke, being physically fit and eating healthy lowers your risk for heart disease, but you can’t ignore your genes, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Another famous fitness guru, Jim Fixx, best-selling author of books on running who promoted a healthy lifestyle, died of a heart attack while running in 1984. He was 52 and had a family history of heart problems.

“Sometimes the first symptom is sudden cardiac death,” said Dr. Davis.

There is something you can do to avoid that outcome.

A heart scan is the safest and most accurate screening tool for detecting the early buildup of calcium in the coronary arteries, the most common cause of heart disease. This simple, painless and potentially lifesaving test takes just 15 minutes.

“There’s no IV and you don’t take your clothes off,” said Dr. Davis. “There have been more times than I’d like to admit that people just go in and they’re totally asymptomatic. Everything is supposed to be terrific. Then you do the heart scan and it shows an extremely high calcium score.

“Sometimes they’ve gone on to bypass surgery. None of them would have known they had heart disease.”

Walking around not knowing if your heart is on the verge of an attack is unsettling. The good news is, with tests like a heart scan, you can find out before an attack ever happens.

Get regular physicals, get lab tests done. If you feel any symptoms of disease, address them.

“It’s not scary if you can do something about it,” said Dr. Davis. “You have the power to be proactive in prevention.”

Take the next step

Want to learn more about what you’ve read or find care? Click a button below.