Drain admits that stress may have contributed to his poor health, so he cut back on his work schedule and finally retired two years ago. “I tried to change my life in a quiet way instead of changing everything at once, which could have resulted in failure,” he says.

Over the next few years, Drain lost four and a half stone. “I started doing light circuit training at a local fitness center, especially for people undergoing rehabilitation for heart disease,” he says. “Everyone else there was in their 60s and 70s. It was a little surreal.”

Drake consulted a nutritionist, cut down on the amount of paste and made some simple changes. “I replaced fried rice with rice and started eating more fish,” he says.

Having the support of his wife, Jane, was also important to his recovery. “She was really supportive,” he says. “I’m 62 now, and she’s still the mother hen. We both have a hand in setting my health goals.”

His other friends were not so lucky. “I have friends who have died from heart attacks and strokes,” he says. “They were often single men who didn’t have the best lifestyle.”

Friends of DJ Steve Wright have suggested that his solitary lifestyle may have contributed to his death. Mr Wright and his American wife Cindy Robinson divorced in 1999, but he is said to have been heartbroken by her death during the pandemic almost four years ago.

While historical metaphors for heart attacks tend to involve an overweight, middle-aged man clutching his chest, medical professionals’ views on heart disease are increasingly evolving.

Amitava Banerjee is Professor of Clinical Data Science, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at UCL and Barts Health, and Spokesperson for the British Cardiovascular Society. “Past data suggests that men are more likely to have more factors contributing to cardiovascular disease,” he says.

“However, this may be partially due to the fact that typical symptoms, such as mid-chest pain, appear earlier in men than women. Therefore, they are not diagnosed further. In fact, I’ve spent much of my professional life advocating that we need to recognize that heart disease is not just a men’s disease.”

Many agree that heart disease in women requires increasingly precise attention because It is not considered a “female problem” – and female symptoms may differ from classic male symptoms. For example, women are more likely to suffer from nausea.

According to Banerjee, risk factors for heart disease are common for both men and women. “We’ve all heard about high cholesterol and high blood pressure. These are risk factors we should be aware of,” he says. He is also concerned about the rise in type 2 diabetes and obesity as the population ages.