Care for your heart

By this point in our lives, all of us have heard about the Go Red for Women campaign that raises money for women & heart disease. But, why? Because there are 42 million American women (that's almost the population of Ukraine) who live with heart disease, and some didn't even know it until it was too late. Why? Because similarly to high blood pressure, heart disease is a silent killer. Many are unaware of the threats they face.



Here are some statistics that even I didn't know about until doing some research on American Heart Month.

• Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America. As many as a third of women die from heart-related issues.
  
• More than 200,000 women die from heart disease every year. That's 5 times as many as die from breast cancer.
• Smoking increases your risk for heart disease at least two to three times.
• Diabetes increases this risk 2.5 times. Obesity, and being overweight weighs in as well.
• Women are less likely than men to receive appropriate care after a heart attack, because it's commonly misdiagnosed as stress or a panic attack. Women are such drama queens and hypochondriacs, they can't possibly be having heart attacks.
• Women make up only 27% of all heart health clinical studies in the US.
• Prevention and early detection is key.

Know your risks

These are some of the things that put you at a greater risk for heart problems:

• Family history
• Age (55+)
• Race/Ethnicity (any non-white women, really. But, more specifically: African American, Native American, South Asian, and Hispanic)
• Being overweight and/or physically inactive
  
• Smoking
• High blood pressure or high cholesterol

Check with your doctor if you think that you may be at risk.