Heartbeat: Go Red for Women’s Heart Health

Because of February’s meaning starting this year, you should follow the pink ribbon and get informed about how heart disease can be prevented. In the six years following a heart attack, women are twice as likely to have a second event as compared to men with similar disease.

Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke – Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines.

The truth: Women with heart disease are under-treated and underserved.

The most common explanation for this is the decline in estrogen levels after menopause.

Some risk factors unfortunately can not be controlled, such as age, gender, and genetics. Other than genetic history, most risk factors for heart disease and stroke can be mitigated with healthy lifestyle choices.

Get Up Off the Couch – step, march, dance or jog in place or take a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes most days of the week – you can even do it while watching TV! Reasons for delaying medical care include lack of awareness.

Choosing to work on just one of these topics can reduce your risk of heart disease and take you one step closer to a healthy heart. It is important to let your healthcare provider know if you are having any of these episodes. The most vulnerable women, though, are African-American and Hispanic.

According to the Mayo Clinic, visceral fat lives in belly fat and is linked to cardiovascular disease. Lastly, Hispanic women develop heart disease 10 years younger than non-Hispanic women.

The truth: Heart disease does not discriminate. “I have the honor of sharing what I believe to be a real game changer to Porter’s commitment to fighting heart disease”.

Diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart failure up to eightfold, depending on how well the diabetes is managed. But in most cases, heart disease is preventable. The goal is to keep the HDL high and the LDL low. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery. Blood pressure checks as well as total cholesterol, lipid panel and glucose screenings are offered. When it comes to heart disease, prevention is the key. So, it’s in our best interest to do what we can to prevent cardiovascular problems by placing our attention on the factors that we can control. “If you feel that you are having a symptom that you’ve never felt, something that feels unusually intense, those are warning signs that you may be having a heart attack”. St. Mary’s provides screening for every baby born to ensure early identification of most congenital heart defects.

Rather than trying to achieve a perfectly healthy lifestyle with no treats or indulgences, think of your heart health as a piggy bank. “If you look at all the cancers, combined, heart disease still kills more ladies than all the cancers”.