Celebrate Heart Month With Heart Truth

Posted: February 6th, 2010 | Filed under: Heart Disease Prevention | Tags: Heart Disease, HeartStaple, One ECG, Risk Factor, Women |

The Heart Truth: Healthy Weight Pledge

Heart Disease Doesn’t Care What You Wear—It’s the #1 Killer of Women.®

To make women more aware of the danger of heart disease, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and partner organizations are sponsoring a national campaign called The Heart Truth®. The campaign’s goal is to give women a personal and urgent wakeup call about their risk of heart disease.

Did you know that 1 in every 4 women in America die of heart disease.

Prevention of heart diseae is easy,if you can take control of your risk factors.

Risk factors are conditions or habits that make a person more likely to develop a disease. They also can increase the chances that an existing disease will get worse. Important risk factors for heart disease that you can do something about are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight, physical inactivity, and diabetes. Research shows that more than 95 percent of those who die from heart disease have at least one of these major risk factors. Some risk factors, such as age and family history of early heart disease, can’t be changed. For women, age becomes a risk factor at 55. Women who have gone through early menopause,either naturally or because they have had a hysterectomy, are twice as likely to develop heart disease as women of the same age who have not yet gone through menopause. Another reason for the increasing risk is that middle age is a time when women tend to develop other risk factors for heart disease. Family history of early heart disease is another risk factor that can’t be changed. If your father or brother had a heart attack before age 55, or if your mother or sister had one before age 65, you are more likely to get heart disease yourself. While certain risk factors cannot be changed, it is important to realize that you do have control over many others.

Regardless of your age, background, or health status, you can lower your risk of heart disease—and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Protecting your heart can be as simple as taking a brisk walk,whipping up a good vegetable soup, or getting the support you need to maintain a healthy weight.

Source:National Heart,Lung and Blood Institute-National Institute of Health-US.Gov