How Movies Got Heart Attacks All Wrong — And What You Should Really Watch For

Learn about how the depiction of heart attacks in movies and television shows is incorrect and dangerous, and what signs you need to actually look for to save your life.

By Stephanie Edwards
Jul 15, 2025 12:00 PMJul 15, 2025 1:00 PM
man having heart attack on a bench
(Image Credit: TetianaKtv/Shutterstock)

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We’re all familiar with the scene: a person frantically clutching at their chest, reacting to a sudden, searing pain before dramatically collapsing on the ground, suffering from a heart attack.

When thinking about what a heart attack looks like, this is what many people picture thanks to the influence of television and movies. Unfortunately, according to a new study in Heart & Lung, most heart attacks that occur in real life don’t look like they do on screen, and this expectation often costs people their lives.

“We did ourselves a disservice in the 1980s and 1990s with what’s known as ‘The Hollywood Heart Attack.’ That’s unfortunately not real life,” said Ann Eckhardt, a nursing professor and researcher at the University of Texas at Arlington, in a press release. “It’s not always intense. Sometimes it’s just discomfort that doesn’t feel quite right, so people tend to wait to see a doctor. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to have negative consequences after your heart attack.”

Luckily, Eckhardt and her team are working to dispel the myth of “The Hollywood Heart Attack” and other misconceptions around coronary heart disease.


Read More: New Therapy Could Help Heart Tissue Heal After Heart Attack


Debunking the Hollywood Heart Attack

To debunk the myths surrounding heart attacks, Eckhardt and her team first needed to understand where these myths come from. To do so, she developed the “Chest Pain Conception Questionnaire” and tasked 597 everyday people with completing the questionnaire to learn more about their understanding of cardiac events.

One of the major myths highlighted by the questionnaire was the Hollywood Heart Attack. An overwhelming number of respondents — 75 percent — admitted that movies and television are where they got their information about heart attacks and their symptoms. For the everyday person, heart attacks are expected to be dramatic, painful, and quick. Realistically, heart attacks can be extremely mild, happen over hours or even days, and can be accompanied by little or no pain at all.

“We often tell people chest pain is a symptom of a heart attack, but what we don’t tell them is what they might actually feel. For a lot of people, it’s not pain in the traditional sense. It’s more discomfort, pressure, tightness. They just don’t feel quite right, but they can’t really put their finger on it,” said Eckhardt in the press release.

What Does A Heart Attack Really Feel Like?

According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S., with someone suffering from a heart attack every 40 seconds. For those surveyed in the new study, most believed a heart attack would present itself through sudden, overwhelming chest pain on the left side of their body.

In truth, heart attack symptoms can be quite varied from person to person. They can include chest pain and discomfort, but can also cause discomfort in other areas like the arms, jaw, and stomach. Shortness of breath is another common sign of a heart attack, which can occur even if chest pain is not present. Additional symptoms may also occur, in addition to or in the absence of chest pain. These symptoms include cold sweats, nausea, tiredness, and lightheadedness.

According to researchers, the most important thing to understand about heart attacks is that they can be prevented. But, they are only preventable if you know the right signs to look for and don’t expect the grand, dramatic show we’re used to seeing on the big screen.

“The longer you wait, the more likely it is you’ll have irreversible damage to the heart,” said Eckhardt in the press release. “So, if we can determine what people think a heart attack will be like, perhaps we can help the medical community better triage and ask questions.”

This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.


Read More: Broken Heart Syndrome Is Both Prevalent and Deadly in the U.S.


Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:


As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.

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