Women and Heart Disease

Women and Heart Disease Heart disease affects everyone. Women are starting to take center stage as the risk of heart disease for them is being examined more closely. If you are a woman, learn how heart disease affects you.

The number one killer of women is not breast cancer but is heart disease. Time Magazine reports that 1 out of every 3 women will die from heart disease. More women than men are succumbing to this terrible fate. Why? For one, not enough is known about how women are affected by heart disease. Secondly, women are not always educated on the signs and symptoms of a heart attack that can save their lives.

Heart Attack Signs in Women

When we think of heart attacks, we envision the numbness in the arm. This is a symptom that is most often seen in men but may not be present in women. Women with risk factors for heart disease may show signs that are very different:

Chest pain
Shortness of breath
Stomach pain, jaw, back or neck pain
Nausea
Dizziness or light-headedness

But the signs of a heart attack don’t develop overnight. The risk factors have probably been present for a long time before the heart attack happened.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Heart attack is not the only result of a poorly functioning heart. There is congestive heart failure and coronary heart disease. Both can lead to death.

Women have the same controllable risks as men:

Obesity
Smoking
Poor diet
Sedentary lifestyle
Diabetes
High blood pressure

They also have some uncontrollable risk factors:

Age (risk increases after 55)
Post Menopause
Family History

We will deal with the controllable risks. If you are blessed, you will get older and you will experience menopause. But, dealing with the things you can control can make the uncontrollable factors less of a problem.

Any risk factor is too much. Just because you are slim, doesn’t mean that you are healthy. Lowering risks can start as early as your twenties especially if you have a family history.

Being aware of your health profile goes a long way to helping you know which risk factors you have and what to do about them. Before you reach for the medicine, try the natural approach.

Change your eating habits – Choose more fruits and vegetables. Fatty food may not put weight on you in your twenties, but it is still doing a number on your arteries.
Change your birth control method – Birth control pills carry with it a risk of blood clots. If you smoke the risk is greater. Clots can lead to heart attacks. Ask your gynecologist about an IUD, patch or shots.
Get active – Burn calories each day with about 30 minutes of moderate activity.

This is just a start, but getting a jump on your health can keep you from becoming a statistic.

Hope you are enjoying the Healthy Heart Series.
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