Heart disease and heart attacks, were sterotypically, "men's diseases." How many movies have shown the father of the bride dying of a massive heart attack at the wedding; or the executive suffering a sudden, heart-driven death after losing the big contract?
The American Heart Asscoiation has tried to make heart disease more relevant for women, and, according to Gregg Fonarow, Director of the Cardiomopathy center at UCLA (quoted in USA Today, Feb. 15th), "Every minute there's a death due to cardiovascular disease in women. This constitutes 422,000 deaths a year-more than cancer, respiratory disease, Alzheimer's and accidents combined."
The AHA has been publishing guidelines for women since 2004. In the 2011 report, they have included personal and socio-economic factors, to make it less clinical and more "real" for women.
The guidelines recommend that women:
*Avoid smoking and second-hand smoke.
*Get 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of vigourous exercise.
*Establish a risk-reduction routine if they are diagnosed with heart disease or have a heart "event": ie: exercise or dietary change!
*Achieve a healthy body weight.
*Eat a diet with a lot of fruits and vegetables; whole-grain, high-fiber foods; oily fish, at least twice a week; and low in saturated and trans-fats, cholesterol and sugar.(Eating sensibly, basically!).
* Get omega-3 fatty acids, either through fish or capsules.
All of this is very sound, basic advice, for men or women, in my opinion. Leave that last slice of pizza for the kids, and walk through that next episode of your favorite show!
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