Heart disease kills more women each year than all types of cancers and in fact kills more men and women combined than all other causes of death in the world. A sad fact is that heart disease is the most preventable cause of death, provided people know how to prevent it. There are a number of lifestyle factors that need to be considered in order to protect yourself from heart disease and heart attack. Living an unhealthy lifestyle by smoking, drinking excessively, eating the wrong kinds of foods and not getting regular exercise could substantially increase your risk for heart disease.