Women's Heart Disease: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Heart Disease

Women's heart disease describes key physical conditions that compromise a woman's heart leading to strokes, heart attacks, and even death. On average, women's heart disease is a more common condition than heart disease is among men with Black and Latina women being at even greater risk than White women due to higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and a lack of physical exercise among these populations. Women's heart disease is, in fact, the most common cause of death among women. Research suggests that women don't often attribute physical symptoms of women's heart disease to a serious condition and even wait too long after experiencing symptoms to seek medical attention. Scientists believe this may account for the reasons that more women die from heart disease than men do.

Some of the symptoms of women's heart disease may include:

• Chest pain/discomfort (including tightness, heaviness, or pressure)
• Heart palpitations
• Neck, back or jaw pain
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Fatigue
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Numbness
• Pain in limbs
• Fainting
• Indigestion
• Weakness

Pre-heart attack symptoms, also known as prodromal symptoms have been reported in female heart attack patients for as long as two years before a heart attack or as little as one week before. These symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Sleep disturbances
• Anxiety
• Chest pain
• Shoulder pain
• Upper back pain
• Neck pain
• Indigestion

• Obesity
• High cholesterol
• Smoking (including daily exposure to secondhand smoke)
• High blood pressure
• Stress
• Lack of physical exercise
• Diabetes

• Age (as women mature, the risk of women's heart disease is heightened)
• Family history
• Prior history of heart attacks or strokes

Routine physical checkups can also help reduce the risk of women's heart disease as they can assist in early warnings if blood pressure, cholesterol, or weight is reaching dangerous levels, or if there is a threat of diabetes.

More than anything else, however, healthy lifestyle adjustments can greatly reduce heart attack risk factors among women. Those who take the issue of women's heart disease seriously should seek holistic health approaches that balance the mind, the body, and the spirit in attempts to keep disease, physical deterioration and stress levels at a minimum.

The following are a few healthy choices that every woman can make to prevent the risk of heart attack:

• Anti-oxidant rich diet - Foods that are high in anti-oxidants help fight high cholesterol, which leads to heart disease. Some of these foods include strawberries, blueberries, acai berries, green tea, and white tea. Anti-oxidant rich foods also help reduce the risk of cancer.
• Diets rich in vitamins and minerals contained in fruits and vegetables - At least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day can help reduce the risk of heart disease in women.
• Daily exercise - A minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day can strengthen the heart and improve blood circulation. Daily exercise also helps reduce weight gain and aids in weight loss, both of which contribute to heart disease in women.
• Reduce stress - Yoga, meditation, counseling, prayer and other relaxation techniques help women decompress and manage daily stress. Women lead busy lives and are often overburdened with caring for family and friends while at the same time neglecting themselves. Actively working to release stress is a tremendous help in reducing the heart attack risk in some women.

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  Resources:

  http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4786

  http://www.womensheart.org/content/HeartDisease/heart_disease_risk_quiz.asp

  http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/heartdisease/risk/287.html

  http://www.sistertosister.org/

  http://www.holistic-online.com/remedies/Heart/heart_home.htm

  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heartdiseaseinwomen.html

  http://www.womensheart.org/content/HeartDisease/gender_differences.asp

  http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/

  
  
  

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