Heart Health, A Top Priority For Women

About 500,000 women’s lives per year are claimed by cardiovascular disease. This is more than the number of lives lost to the next six (6) causes of death combined!

Heart disease in women is less well understood, and does not always happen just to women who are overweight and/or older.

Heart attacks do not always start as a sudden, intense pain in the chest, just like in the “movies”. Most heart attacks start as a discomfort in the middle of the chest, which may actually go and then come back.

It may feel like an uncomfortable pressure, squeezing pain, or sense of fullness. There may be discomfort in other areas of the upper body, such as the upper back, one or both arms, neck or stomach. Shortness of breath may occur with or without chest pain.

Although women do experience chest pain as the most common symptom of a heart attack, they are also more likely to experience some of the other common symptoms, such as shortness of breath, pain in the neck or jaw, or nausea and vomiting.

What To Do

Do not wait longer than a few minutes if you or someone else with you experiences these symptoms. Call 9-1-1.

Calling 9-1-1 is almost always the fastest way to get lifesaving treatment. Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive — up to an hour sooner than if someone gets to the hospital by car. The staff are also trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped. Patients with chest pain who arrive by ambulance usually receive faster treatment at the hospital.*

Staying Healthy

•   Keep your weight down

•  Keep your blood pressure under control–if you are an adult and your blood pressure is over 140/90 mmHg you have high blood pressure and are at risk

•  One third of the adult American population has high blood pressure, and one third of them do not know they have it.

•  Exercise Regularly–20 to 30 minutes at least 3 times a week is the minimum, five times a week is even better.

•  Keep your cholesterol under control by eating healthy

•  Keep your blood sugar under control–uncontrolled diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease

Although women think a lot about breast cancer, it’s time to think about the biggest risk of all–heart disease! lower my cholesterol and lower my risk.

Article by: Sylvia Seamands, MD

http://www.womenshealthshoppe.com

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Diseases are best fought when those in the high-risk bracket understand as to what are the risk factors involved. It is true that you cannot avoid the genetic factor but you can still keep the situation in your control by making a few changes in your current approach to life and living.

bad cholesterol is supposed to be a major culprit in case of heart diseases. It is a type of a lipid, a soft, fat-like substance. Atherosclerotic plaque, which can cause blockage of blood flow in the arteries and can also cause heart attack, can develop due to excess of cholesterol. Popular by the name of ‘Bad’ cholesterol, LDL cholesterol gets deposited on the walls of arteries and is transported to different sites throughout the body where new hormones are developed and cell membranes are repaired. On the other hand the ‘Good’ cholesterol called HDL cholesterol, carries cholesterol to the liver where the alteration process is done, after which it is removed from the body.

According to the physicians, the blood pressure level of a normal person is less than 130 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure and less than 85 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure. Every individual should get his blood pressure checked at least once in every two years so as to know the status, and if any increase is found, the treatment should be started forthwith. If your blood pressure level is little higher than normal then get it checked once a year, and take good care if it is very high and then get multiple measurements to check out whether it remains that high all the time or fluctuates. Immediate medical attention is a must in such cases.

If you are suffering from diabetes, which is a chronic disease of insulin deficiency or resistance, then you are more prone to heart disease. On the other hand if you are suffering from type 2 diabetes then you can easily avoid it by losing your weight either through exercise or by taking balanced nutrition.

If you smoke, stop smoking immediately because it affects your lungs very badly, and not just heart diseases, it may also lead to many other problems.

A daily 30 minutes physical exercise or fast walking can keep you away from heart diseases and can also be helpful in controlling obesity.

Minimize your daily alcohol intake to three ounces or less. It would definitely be a healthy step. Include fresh fruits and vegetables, sufficient amount of potassium, calcium and magnesium in your daily diet. Avoid saturated fats and cholesterol to keep your heart healthy. Just a little care and a little awareness is all it takes to keep heart diseases at bay.

Ashish Jain
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/diabetes-blood-pressure-and-bad-cholesterol-cause-heart-ailment-119984.html

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Heart attacks kill almost 700000 men and women each year in the United States. Signs of a heart attack usually include chest discomfort. Symptoms of a heart attack can be different in a man than the heart attack symptoms in a woman. Heart attacks should be suspected if you experience pressure or pain in your chest, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness or anxiety.

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Typically, when the word cholesterol is mentioned people automatically assume something bad but cholesterol can be both good and bad.

Because cholesterol can be both good and bad it’s important to learn what it is and how it affects your health, as well as what you can do in regards to treatment if the need be. In a nutshell, there are two types of cholesterol - LDL and HDL.

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol is carried in the blood stream. HDL cholesterol is considered good because it protects our heart from strokes and other cardiovascular diseases. As a result, low levels of HDL increase the risk of heart attack. The optimal level of good cholesterol is about 40mg/dL.

On the other hand, bad cholesterol, also known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is considered bad because if present in excessive quantities has a tendency to clog in the arteries which increases the chances of heat attacks or other heart related diseases.

When excessive amounts are present in an individuals blood it has a tendency to build up on the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart and brain and together, with other substances it forms form plaque. Plaque is a thick, hard deposit that clogs arteries which results in a condition known as atherosclerosis.

The optimal level of bad cholesterol is 200mg/dL or less. Higher amounts tend to increase the chance of heart problems due to an increased change of clogged arteries.

Another important factor regarding optimal cholesterol health is triglycerides. Triglycerides, which are a form of fat, are also produced by the body but they are also come certain types of food. The reason triglycerides are important is because individuals with high triglycerides tend to also have high total cholesterol levels - high LDL or bad cholesterol and low HDL or good cholesterol levels.

Because cholesterol levels change it’s important to get them checked fairly regularly. Proper cholesterol levels are a major part of optimum health and so it’s important to understand where you stand. Do you have too much of the bad, too little of the good, are both out of whack or ideally, are both good cholesterol and bad cholesterol in check.

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Shelby Ryan
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/cholesterol-a-better-understanding-of-the-good-and-the-bad-92793.html

Advice on how to lower your LDL Cholesterol by controlling what…

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