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Heartline Magazine April - June 2005
Women and heart disease
Knowledge is power, so learn your
risks
Women face six major risk factors for heart disease that you
can prevent, control or treat: high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol,
tobacco smoke, physical inactivity, obesity or overweight, and diabetes.
• High blood pressure…the silent killer.
It’s called the silent killer because it usually has no
symptoms. High blood pressure forces your heart to work harder than normal,
which makes it and your arteries more likely to be injured. That raises your
risk of heart attack and stroke. Chances of high blood pressure increase if you
have a family history of high blood pressure, are 20 pounds or more over a
healthy weight, or have reached the age of menopause.
• High blood cholesterol…risky numbers.
Cholesterol, a fat-like substance, can build up with other
substances in the inner walls of arteries. Plaque forms and can narrow these
blood vessels. Plaque that ruptures causes blood clots. If a clot blocks a blood
vessel to the heart, it causes a heart attack. If it blocks a vessel to the
brain, it causes a stroke. High blood cholesterol has no symptoms. If you need
to lower your LDL (the “bad” cholesterol), create a diet low in saturated fat
and cholesterol, and an exercise plan.
• Tobacco smoke…no ifs, ands or butts
Tobacco kills. In fact, smoking is the single most
preventable cause of death. Women who smoke are more likely to die from heart
disease or stroke. The solution may not be easy, but it’s your personal choice.
If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start.
• Physical inactivity…start moving
Regular inactivity increases your risk for heart disease or
stroke. But about 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week can
help reduce your heart disease risk by controlling blood cholesterol, diabetes
and obesity and also help to lower high blood pressure.
• Obesity and overweight…lighten your risks.
If you have too much body fat – especially a lot at your
waist – your risk increases for high
blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, high triglycerides,
diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Women with excess body fat have a higher
risk of heart disease if they don’t have other risk factors.
• Diabetes…control it for life.
Most of the food we eat turns into glucose, or sugar, for
our bodies to use as energy. The pancreas, an organ near the stomach, makes a
hormone called insulin to help glucose enter our bodies’ cells. When you have
diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use its own
insulin as well as it should, or both. This causes your blood glucose (“blood
sugar”) levels to become too high.
Two-thirds to three-fourths of people with diabetes die of
some form of heart or blood vessel disease.
Adapted from American Heart
Association’s “Go Red For Women”
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