Only you can love your heart.
While you can’t change some of
your risk factors for heart disease,
such as age, race and heredity,
you can do a lot to reduce or
control others, such as high
blood pressure and cholesterol,
smoking, obesity and physical
inactivity and diabetes.
Before taking action to prevent
controllable factors, women
must arm themselves with
accurate information and
dismiss the following myths:
HEART DISEASE IS
A MAN’S PROBLEM.
Heart disease is an epidemic in
women, as well as in men. The
main difference between the sexes
is not whether women are as likely
to get coronary heart disease, but
when it is likely to occur. Heart
disease typically takes almost a
decade longer to show up in women
than in men. In women, it usually
occurs after age 50, at a time when
they are often concerned with other
health problems such as cancer,
arthritis or osteoporosis. These diseases
tend to draw attention away from
the very real threat of heart disease.
WOMEN HAVE AN
INNATE PROTECTION
AGAINST HEART ATTACKS.
As a rule, women have higher HDL
(“good”) cholesterol levels than men
do. Young and middle-aged women
tend to have lower total cholesterol
levels than men of the same age.
However, as women approach
menopause, things change. LDL
(“bad”) cholesterol and total cholesterol
levels start to rise. Loss of natural
estrogen may contribute to
cardiovascular disease risk after
menopause.
WOMEN SHOULD BE MORE
CONCERNED ABOUT OTHER
HEALTH PROBLEMS, SUCH AS
CANCER OR OSTEOPOROSIS,
THAN HEART DISEASE.
Cancer and other chronic diseases
prevalent in women deserve
research and attention. However,
cardiovascular disease ranks far
ahead of them as a cause of death.
Heart and blood vessel diseases kill
almost twice as many females each
year as all forms of cancer combined.
IF A HEART ATTACK DOESN’T
KILL YOU, YOU’LL RECOVER
AND BE FINE.
It’s true that more men have heart
attacks than women and have them
earlier in life. But women have lower
chances of surviving them because
they are older when heart attacks
occur. Studies show that 38 percent
of women die within a year of a heart
attack compared with 25 percent
of men. During the first six years
following a heart attack, the rate
of having a second attack is 35 percent
for women compared with 18 percent
for men.
STROKE RANDOMLY HITS WITHOUT
WARNING. THERE’S NOTHING YOU
CAN DO TO PREVENT IT.
A lifetime’s worth of bad habits, such
as not controlling your weight, being
physically inactive, and not controlling
your blood pressure or cholesterol
levels, can contribute to the risk of
stroke. You can reduce your risk by
controlling high blood pressure and
cholesterol, not smoking cigarettes,
having regular medical checkups and
learning the warning signs of stroke
so you can recognize a stroke in
progress and get prompt medical
attention if a stroke occurs.
Immediate medical attention can
often reduce disability from stroke.
Knowledge is power and the truth
can set you free to take action. With
the facts in hand, talk to your health
care provider about heart disease
and stroke risk factors you need to be
wary of. Together, you can develop
an effective heart disease prevention
plan. It’s an important part of loving
your heart.
