By Iris Farrou
08 Mar, 2021
Heart health
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Though we may be more concerned with heart attacks in general, it is important to remember it is just one condition associated with the umbrella of heart diseases, which may also include coronary artery disease, valve disease, or rhythm problems—among others.
Causes and Symptoms
The cause of a heart disease may depend on one or more of the following risk factors:
- Diabetes: Women with diabetes have higher chances of developing heart disease than men. Additionally, because diabetes changes the way one perceives pain, it also increases the chances of a silent heart attack.
- Stress and depression: In addition to making it difficult overall to have a healthy lifestyle, stress has been found to affect women at a higher percentage than men when it comes to heart health.
- Smoking and inactivity: Undeniably the causes of myriad health problems, smoking and lack of physical activity directly influence heart health in women negatively.
- Menopause: A cause for concern after menopause is the low estrogen levels, which may lead to heart disease in smaller blood vessels.
- Pregnancy complications: Women’s long-term risk of high blood pressure and diabetes may be augmented if such health conditions make themselves present during pregnancy.
- Family history: History of early heart disease appears to be a higher risk factor in women than in men.
Symptoms of heart disease should be taken seriously, and be followed up with consultation with a medical professional, especially as they may resemble day-to-day symptoms of fatigue:
- Pain in the neck, jaw, or throat
- Sharp chest pain or discomfort, but also dull and heavy pain
- Pain in the back or upper abdomen
- Nausea, vomiting, and fatigue
- Indigestion and heartburn
- Chest palpitations
- Shortness of breath and swelling of the feet and ankles
Misdiagnosis
The two main reasons for misdiagnosed heart disease in women is that it is typically thought of as a male problem—despite it being the number one cause of death of American women—and that the symptoms are sometimes dismissed as something less serious.
A study conducted in 2018 found that 62% of women reported more than three symptoms that were not associated with the chest area or with chest pain, compared to 54.8% of men. Additionally, 53% of women in the study confessed to their doctors or health providers dismissing the symptoms as not associated with heart disease. Only 36.7% of men in the study reported their health provider treating their symptoms as something less.
Health Tips
Maintaining your overall health is important in preventing heart disease, but you may want to pay more particular attention to alcohol consumption and smoking, as well as add regular exercise to your routine. Managing and lowering stress levels and depression is also optimal, as is a diet that assists your overall health.
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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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