From A 2003 survey of 204 women with heart disease found that many considered their condition "a man's disease." Not so. Cardiovascular disease, which causes heart attacks, stroke, and heart failure, is actually the leading cause of death in women. One in 10 women ages 45-64 and one in five women ages 65 or older has some form of heart disease. So follow these gender-based tips:
- Remember who comes first: you. A New York Presbyterian Hospital study found that women rate poor self-esteem as the primary reason for not making changes to improve their cardiovascular health.
Remember: If you're not around, it won't matter what you used to do for others! - Meditate or simply go into a dark, quiet room for 20 minutes when you get home from work. Stress harms the heart directly and also indirectly -- by preventing you from making lifestyle changes that could help your heart. And in a woman's life, the stress of work is simply compounded by the stress of home. Give yourself a time-out period between your two worlds -- it will do you a whole heart-healthy heaping bit of good.
- Ask your doctor to give you a treadmill exercise test -- not an electrocardiogram. A study of nearly 3,000 women found treadmill exercise tests clearly identified women at risk for death from heart disease. The study also found a measure of decreased blood flow on electrocardiogram readings called ST-segment depression, used to diagnose hidden heart disease in men, didn't accurately identify women with hidden heart disease.
- Listen to your body. Don't assume that if you're not having crushing chest pain you're not having a heart attack. Symptoms of a heart attack in women can include extreme weakness or a feeling similar to indigestion. So pay attention to your body. Surveys of women who have had heart attacks find they may exhibit some unique symptoms in the month before the attack, such as feeling unusually fatigued, having problems sleeping, having indigestion, and weakness in their arms.