Heart attacks damage the heart muscle, often with deadly results. In up to 50 percent of the people who have heart attacks, the attack is the first sign that they have coronary heart disease. Fortunately, nonfatal heart attacks outnumber fatal heart attacks by two to one. You can improve your chances of surviving a heart attack by understanding and reducing your risk for an attack, recognizing the symptoms, and knowing when to get help. Anyone who has already had a heart attack is a prime target for another one.
Heart attacks can strike at any time of day, during any type of activity.
However, they often follow a pattern. Due to the daily ebb and flow of hormones that affect the arteries and the state of the heart, heart attacks are most common in the morning. Many people feel extreme pressure, as if someone piled a load of bricks on their midsection. Others describe the pain as burning or knifelike. Pain isn't the only symptom of a heart attack.