Heart Healthy Living

Take the next five minutes for you.
Perhaps the most important thing you can do for those you love is to take the next five minutes learning the good news about women and heart disease – you can reduce your risk and learn the early warning signs. Heart disease can be prevented, and even small changes in your lifestyle make a big difference in keeping you healthy and safe.

The Facts  |  Know and Reduce Your Risk  |  Symptoms  |  Services & Resources

The Facts

Heart Disease Facts:

• Heart disease isn’t a man’s problem – it’s everyone’s problem
• Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women is the United States
• One in two women in the United States dies of heart disease or stroke, while one in 30 dies of breast cancer
• Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined

Know and Reduce Your Risks

Your age, family history and lifestyle all have a role in determining your risk for heart disease.  The good news is that by understanding your risk, you can take the necessary steps to reduce it.

Risk Factors:

• Smoking
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Overweight
• Family history

Having even one risk factor for heart disease is cause for concern, because each factor greatly increases your risk.  Having more than one risk factor is especially dangerous.

Reduce your risk now.

1. Stop smoking (link to Quit Smoking).  Women who smoke are two to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smokers.  The more you smoke, the higher your risk.
2. Control your blood pressure.  Monitor your blood pressure regularly.  Take any prescribed medication and make the healthy lifestyle changes you need to keep blood pressure under control.
3. Maintain a healthy weight.  Begin by losing weight if you need to, and then keep it off.  Eat a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables.  Limit alcohol.  Make physical activity a regular part of your day.

Symptoms

No matter how hard some women work at preventing heart disease, a heart attack may strike.  The most important things you need to know are the early warning signs.

Symptoms include:

• Chest discomfort.  This may be a feeling of tightness, fullness, squeezing or pressure in the center of your chest.  It usually stays for more than a few minutes or comes and goes.
• Pressure or pain that spreads to the upper back, shoulders, neck, jaw or arms
• Dizziness or nausea
• Clammy sweats, heart flutters or paleness
• Unexplained feelings of anxiety, fatigue or weakness, especially during activity
• Stomach or abdominal pain
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

You may experience only one of these symptoms, or all of them at once, and it still signals a heart attack.  Do not wait to see if the symptoms go away, and do not assume that “it’s nothing.”  If you are having these complaints act immediately.

• Call 911 for an ambulance or have someone drive you to the nearest hospital emergency room.  Tell the emergency staff that you are having heart attack symptoms.
• Chew and swallow one regular full-strength aspirin with water as soon as possible.  This can help prevent blood clotting.
• Insist that you be given a prompt cardiac evaluation, even if the hospital staff -thinks your problem isn’t heart-related.  You know the risks and you know the symptoms.

Resources

American Heart Association - Go Red For Women Campaign
National Institutes of Health - Heart Truth