Valentine’s Day is Coming… But This Isn’t About THAT Heart
Posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009
If you tuned in this morning to any of the news programs, you are already aware that today is the day we don our red dresses, blouses, or lipstick and “Go Red For Women“. The American Heart Association’s movement was formed to educate the public about the “silent killer” of women in America, heart disease, and in the process help save women’s lives.
But, you say, isn’t heart disease a fat old man disease? The latest statistics make that a remarkably deadly assumption. The truth is, 1 in 4 women dies of heart disease, while 1 in 30 dies of breast cancer. We spend a great deal of time thinking about our breast health. Shouldn’t we take some time to consider our risk factor for heart disease?
Frankly, I’m amazed at these statistics. Unfortunately, 80 percent of women ages 40 – 60 have at least one, if not more, risk factors for heart disease. If you have more than one risk factor it dramatically increases your chance of developing heart disease because the effects worsen when they gang up. So, what are the risk factors?
High blood pressure
High blood cholesterol
Diabetes
Smoking
Being overweight
Being physically inactive
Having a family history of early heart disease
Age (55 or older for women)
A scary fact, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, is that by just having ONE of these risk factors DOUBLES your chance of developing heart disease.
The first six risk factors are, generally speaking, factors that you can do something about. If you haven’t quit smoking yet, do so. If your blood pressure is continually high, talk to your doctor. Have your cholesterol checked. Lose weight, exercise, eat right… all those things we know.
Your family history and your age, of course, can’t be helped. One other risk that is not in our control is for women who have gone through early menopause, either naturally or due to a hysterectomy. These women are twice as likely to develop heart disease as women of the same age who have not yet gone through menopause.
With all this information, we American women are still not taking care of ourselves like we should. More statistics: American women ages 18 and older, 17.3% are smokers, 51.6% are overweight, 27% have high blood pressure, 35% have high cholesterol, and a remarkable 53% of us don’t exercise regularly.
February is the American Heart Association’s “American Heart Month”. So, in observance, I’m challenging my dear readers (and myself!) to begin today and do whatever it takes to remove at least one risk factor from our lives. By next year at this time, let’s cross off as many risk factors from our list as we possibly can. I want to be around for a long time… how about you?
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