You may hear a lot about cancer and other health problems that plague people. However, focusing on your heart health is especially important as a woman. There are things you can do to help make your risk for heart disease decrease, but you have to take heart health seriously. As you work toward improving your heart health, keep the following things in mind.
Heart Disease is the Leading Cause of Death
According to ASEA, at least one in every three deaths in the United States has cardiovascular disease listed as an underlying cause. Heart attacks and heart disease cause problems that you may not be able to recover from and heart disease affects both men and women. You also don't want to assume that heart problems only happen to a certain age group. Anyone can be affected. Though heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women, many people don't take it as seriously as other conditions. Make sure that you are educated on how you can prevent and treat heart disease so you don’t become one of heart disease’s latest victims.
It’s Hard to Fix
It is a challenge to take care of your heart health consistently, but it's much easier to take a proactive approach as opposed to waiting until something goes wrong. Though there are surgeries and procedures that can be done to help improve your heart after a heart attack or other problem, they aren't easy. According to Medtronic, heart surgery is a major procedure that doesn't always work and is extremely risky. Putting in a pacemaker to help your heart doesn't always work, and people who have heart problems once will likely struggle with them for the rest of their lives. It's better to put in the time daily eating well, exercising, and going in for check-ups rather than trying to handle things once they go bad.
The Information Is Available
It can be confusing to know what is best for our hearts when there seems to be conflicting data. However, recent research has shed light on so much that we know there are definitive ways to take care of our hearts. Since this information is available, every woman should be aware of it, especially since, according to the Texas Heart Institute, women are more than 50 percent more likely to die from a heart attack than men are.
The symptoms of heart disease may not always be clear for women since they are often different from those for men and this often causes them to not seek the right treatment soon enough. Many women might not realize when they are having a heart attack, for example. While men tend to feel the typical pain in the left part of their chest, women tend to feel a burning sensation in their abdomen or lightheadedness and dismiss these symptoms. It’s important as a woman to be educated about these symptoms so you can protect yourself from the worst consequences of heart disease.
Preventive care is the best kind, and it's important to be concerned about your heart health at every stage of your life. It's difficult to live a full life if your heart is compromised.
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