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A Woman’s Heart, What Do You Mean I'm at Risk for Heart Disease? (Part 2)

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In A Woman’s Heart #2, I was saddened to learn that I already had two risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease. Even the presence of one risk factor increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Since one in every two women in the U.S. die of cardiovascular related disease, I was not happy to see that I am already at risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

Both of my existing risk factors fell into the category of things beyond my control – age, postmenopausal, family history and ethnicity. In addition to the things we can’t control, there are a number of risk factors that we can control with respect to developing cardiovascular disease. Ladies, shall we continue and see what other surprises await us?

Smoking – Sorry, ladies, about this one. Smoking increases your risk not only of heart attack but stroke and lung cancer as well. If you like to smoke, you really should consider quitting. Quitting smoking will decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease by half.
High blood pressure – High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and kidney disease. Anything above 140/90 is considered high. It was surprising to me to learn that pre-hypertension (120-139/80-89) also raises your risk of cardiovascular disease.
High Cholesterol – Uh oh… Ladies, I’m totally busted on this one. My cholesterol has been high since they first tested it in my 20s! (I wonder if that means I have a double risk?) You have two forms of cholesterol:
o1) “Bad” cholesterol (LDL – low density lipoprotein) which leads to blockages and may cause a heart attack. If the LDL number is above 160, it’s too high.
o2) “Good” cholesterol (HDL - high-density lipoprotein). If your HDL is less than 40, you are at an increased risk of heart disease. An HDL of more than 60 increases the amount of protection against cardiovascular disease.

Your total cholesterol combined should be less than 200. I think I’ll give myself two checkmarks on this one. I failed!!!
Weight – (I am beginning to not like these risk factors!!! How about you?) Why does everything always come back to your weight? If you are overweight, you are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease even if you have no other risk factors!!! Ouch! Are you reading this? Don’t get me wrong sisters, I’m preaching to the choir on this one. Obesity also increases our risk of stroke, gallbladder problems, diabetes, arthritis, breathing problems, breast cancer, and colon cancer – ENOUGH! I got the picture. I have another checkmark and need to lose weight!
Physical Inactivity – Chasing our children (unless it’s around the track at school) really isn’t what the doctors mean by physical activity. They’re looking for us to get our bodies and hearts moving. After all, the heart is a muscle that must be exercised just like anything else in our body. If you’re 20, you probably don’t have this risk factor. For many of us, the demands of home, family, children, little league, PTA, caring for older parents, jobs, etc., that only increase with age can really interfere with our ability to maintain a regular, acceptable physical activity level.
Diabetes – If you have diabetes, you unfortunately have another risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease.
Waist Size – Is your waist more than 35 inches? If so, we have another winner on the path to developing cardiovascular disease.

So what does all this mean? If you answered “yes” to even one question above, then you are at risk for developing cardiovascular disease. If you have more than one risk factor, your chances of being the “one” out of two just went up significantly. In my case, I have the following: family history (both on mother’s and father’s side of the family), post menopausal, high cholesterol, weight and waist size. Wow! I do not like the picture that I’m seeing! Even though the picture is not attractive, I’m not without hope. Research indicates that we can lower our risk of developing cardiovascular disease by as much as 82% simply by changing our lifestyle and eliminating the risk factors. There is, however, a catch. It’s not enough to simply address one risk factor. You need to address ALL of your risk factors!

So what are the next steps to a healthy heart? I recommend discussing your risk factors with your physician and creating a personal (implementable) plan of action to reduce your risk. I think that I should start by putting the ice cream in the back of the freezer and the celery sticks in the front of the fridge!

Until next time, here’s wishing you a healthy heart.

Sources
The Heart Truth for Women, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov//educational/hearttruth/downloads/pdf/factsheet-actionplan.pdf

National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease: Know Your Risk Factors, http://www.womenheart.org/supportForWomen/prevention/riskfactors.cfm, Source: The Heart Truth Campaign. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The National Institutes of Health.

Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-disease/DS01120

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

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