A study attributes the recent dramatic drop in heart attack deaths in the UK to lifestyle changes. This articles contains what I think is an astonishing statistic:

Statistics show that over the 1980s and 90s, deaths from heart disease fell by half in England and Wales. The new study, which is based on the cumulative data from past research, found that there were 68,230 fewer heart disease deaths in 2000 than in 1981.

This, the study authors estimate, added nearly a million years, in total, to the lives of English and Welsh adults between the ages of 25 and 84.

It makes sense when you think about it but it's still an amazing number.