Having Heart

By Candy

Eight million American women live with heart disease – the killer of six times as many women as breast cancer. It’s obviously fatal, but we still have questions. What exactly constitutes heart disease? How can we prevent something if we are not sure exactly what it is? How is heart disease different for women?

Well, first things first: the American Heart Association defines heart disease as a disease or condition that puts your heart at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Examples are arrhythmia, high cholesterol, previous heart attack (because it increases cardiovascular disease risk by two to four times), diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, peripheral artery disease and congenital defects (defects that one is born with). It is crucial to note that many of these conditions are entirely preventable—meaning that we have the power to alter the frightening statistics by making good lifestyle choices.

How?

Get active. Meaning get your heart pumping for 30 minutes everyday, quit smoking, watch your weight (especially the weight around your midsection) and though it is generally acknowledged that red wine is good for your heart, the belief limits the intake to one glass– binge drinking regularly can actually raise your blood pressure and increase risk.

Ask your doctor and know your numbers. Have blood tests for cholesterol: HDL and LDL, blood lipids and triglycerides and get your blood pressure checked.

Be aware of how heart disease is different for women. Here are some facts courtesy of Heart Healthy Women http://www.hearthealthywomen.org:

• Findings from the Women’s Health Study show that daily aspirin does not prevent first heart attacks in healthy women as it does in men?

• Women are more likely than men to have a heart attack without chest pain?

• After a heart attack, women are more likely to die in the hospital than men?

• Smoking may increase a woman’s risk of heart disease more so than a man’s because it lowers levels of the female hormone estrogen?

• Women in high-powered jobs have an increased risk of heart disease compared with women who have little control over their work; the opposite is true for men?

• Unlike men with heart disease, some women – particularly younger women – who have a heart attack do not have high levels of fatty plaque clogging their arteries?

So know your risks, know your stats and protect yourself.