As we discussed last week, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in this country. It causes 1/3 of women’s deaths each year approximately one woman every minute dies of heart disease. So what can you do to protect yourself from heart disease?
Know Your Risk Factors
Eighty percent of women from the ages of 40 to 60 have one or more risk factors for heart disease—which dramatically increases your chance of developing a problem.
And it’s not just women over forty. Heart disease can begin as early as the teen years, and women in their 20s and 30s need to take action sooner rather than later to avoid worse complications later on.
Also, among U.S. women ages 18 and older, 17 percent are smokers. Sixty-four percent of women ages 20 and older are overweight, 27 percent have high blood pressure, and 45 percent have high cholesterol. These are all major risk factors for developing heart disease
Lower Your Risk
In addition to the risk factors above, you may have a genetic tendency toward heart disease, which is something you can’t control. But there are several lifestyle changes any woman can make to reduce the risk of heart disease:
- Quit smoking—or don’t start!
- Exercise 30 to 60 minutes a day most days; exercise for 60 to 90 minutes at a time if you need to lose weight.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat a diet that’s low in saturated fat, cholesterol and salt.
- Take prescribed medications appropriately, including blood pressure medications, blood thinners and aspirin.
- Manage other conditions that can contribute to heart disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
And remember, even if you exercise regularly and eat right, you may still have heart disease or a contributing factor. Maintain a good relationship with your doctor and make sure you visit regularly and discuss your family history and your current state of health honestly.
If necessary, work with your doctor to help yourself quit smoking, lose weight or eat better. It’s never too late to work toward a healthier life for yourself!
When you are a patient at Chouchani, Sayegh and Bagnarello, we care about your overall health and would be glad to help you find the solutions you need to lower your risk of heart disease.
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This month, you’ll see hearts everywhere in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Have you ever stopped to consider whether you’re taking care of your own heart? While February 14th only comes once a year, you can boost your own heart’s health 365 days a year with these five tips:
1. Find activities you love
Maybe you’ve always thought that making exercise a regular part of your life means sweating it out for hours at the gym. But activities like walking, dancing in your living room, swimming, bowling and even cleaning the house can count as exercise as long as you’re getting a little out of breath when you’re doing them.
Make a list of all of the active things you like to do and find a way to make at least one of them a part of your day, every day. Once you’ve made those activities into regular habits, try new ones—maybe now you’d feel more confident joining an exercise or dance class.
2. Remember the power of 10
You may think you don’t have time to exercise, but you can get heart-health benefits from just 10-minute bouts of activity. For example, ten minutes of walking three times a day has been shown to lower blood pressure more effectively than a one 30-minute stretch of walking. Try a simple schedule of walking once before work, once over lunch and once after dinner, and you’ve just squeezed in a good amount of exercise!
3. Add something other than cardio
When you think of heart-healthy exercise, you probably think of aerobic or cardiovascular activities like jogging. But strength training, like lifting weights or doing push-ups and lunges can improve the health of your ticker, too. When you lift weights at a moderate intensity, you’ll raise your heart rate—you’ll be working both your muscular system and your cardiovascular system. And when you make your muscles stronger, you make your entire body stronger. So try to do some resistance training a few times a week.
4. Find ways to lower your stress level
Stress plays a critical role in heart health, and exercise is great at kicking stress to the curb. Workouts like yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi are especially good for de-stressing and improving the mind-body connection. If you’re not ready to try those activities, try meditation or just a relaxing hot bath with some soft music playing. It’s important to give your heart a break from the stresses of your regular lifestyle.
5. Eat healthy foods
Of course you have to fuel yourself right to power yourself through your day and your workouts. Eating a diet that’s rich in fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats is key. Colorful foods like pomegranates, blueberries, tomatoes, and spinach are rich in heart-healthy antioxidants, while fatty fish like salmon, sardines, or rainbow trout twice a week provide omega-3 fatty acids, which help decrease your blood pressure.
At Chouchani, Sayegh and Bagnarello, we promote a patient’s total health. If you’d like to find out more about our OB-GYN practice in Buffalo, call us anytime or visit our website at wny-obgyn.com.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net.
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As we discussed last week, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in this country. It causes 1/3 of women’s deaths each year approximately one woman every minute dies of heart disease. So what can you do to protect yourself from heart disease?