Aug

30

Women’s Health: A Healthy Heart

Posted by maureen

August 30, 2007 |

Contrary to popular believe breast cancer is not the number one cause of death in women its heart disease. Women often put the family’s health before their own and they are more likely to die from a heart attack than a man. The older a woman gets, the more likely she is to get heart disease. But women of all ages should be concerned about heart disease. All women should take steps to prevent heart disease. Two valuable resources in taking charge of your health are the American Heart Association (AHA) prevention guidelines and the Reynolds Risk score:

Revisions to the AHA prevention guidelines released in 2004:

  • Increase physical activity and consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and restrict their alcohol and sodium intake;
  • Quit smoking and seek counseling, nicotine replacement or other forms of smoking cessation therapy;
  • Exercise 60 to 90 minutes most or all days of the week at levels equivalent to brisk walking;
  • Reduce saturated fat intake to less than 7% of calories if possible;
  • Eat oily fish or another source of omega-3 fatty acids at least twice weekly;
  • Do not take hormone replacement therapy and selective estrogen receptor modulators to prevent heart disease;
  • Do not take folic acid, vitamin E, C and beta-carotene for primary or secondary prevention of heart disease; and
  • Take low-dose aspirin therapy if they are ages 65 or older regardless of heart disease risk status, if benefits likely will outweigh other risks.

Risk Calculator

The Reynolds Risk Score helps you figure out your risk for heart disease. Up to now estimates of women’s risk relied on decades-old men-focused studies. The Reynolds Risk Score is designed just for women based on newer women- focused research.

Your score is calculated using seven risk factors.

  • Age.
  • Whether or not you smoke.
  • Whether either of your parents had a heart attack before age 60.
  • Systolic blood pressure (the top number)
  • Total cholesterol level
  • Level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) a substance that appears to play a role in heart disease.

To check out your 10-year of heart attack or stroke visit this site and plug in the numbers.
It’s important to take charge of your heart health!


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Marye on August 31, 2007 12:00 am

    excellent information, as usual!

  2. wedding supplies on August 31, 2007 9:08 pm

    this is really good advice at any age. It’s also common sense when you get down to it. It’s funny how we seem to miss that

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