{"id":1215,"date":"2015-02-23T20:45:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T01:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2015-02-23T20:45:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T01:45:36","slug":"heart-disease-in-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/heart-disease-in-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Disease in Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

What You Don\u2019t Know About Heart Health Can Hurt You<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If you are a young mom, heart disease is the furthest thing from your mind. You have your kids and your husband to look after. You have work. You don\u2019t have time to look after yourself. \"cardiovascular-disease\"<\/a>Besides, you may think that heart disease in women doesn\u2019t really apply to you. Perhaps it\u2019s time to review some of your assumptions.<\/p>\n

Heart Disease Is For Men – Wrong<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The misconception that heart disease is primarily a man\u2019s concern arises because estrogen helps protect women from heart disease prior to menopause. However, after menopause women\u2019s heart attack rates exceed men\u2019s. Overall, women account for over half of all heart attack deaths in this country, and if a woman has a heart attack before age 50, it is twice as likely to be fatal for her than for a man.<\/p>\n

Women Should Be More Concerned About Breast Cancer Than About Heart Disease – Wrong<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"graph-heart-disease\"<\/a>While I would never advise a woman not to take precautions to avoid breast cancer, you should know that your lifetime risk of developing heart disease is 6-fold greater than your lifetime risk of developing cancer. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women over 40 years old. For 25% of heart attack victims their first symptom is sudden death! And many other will never experience the same quality of life again.<\/p>\n

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Women Don\u2019t Need To Worry About Heart Disease Until After Menopause – Wrong<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

It is true the likelihood of having a heart attack increases significantly after menopause. That is because menopause dramatically increases a number of risk factors associated with heart disease such as increases in LDL cholesterol, blood clot formation, blood pressure, and inflammation. However, within 10 years after the onset of perimenopause (usually around age 45) your risk of a heart attack will skyrocket past that of a man of the same age. That means in those 10 years all of the not-so-good things you have been doing to your heart since age 20 catch up with you!<\/strong><\/p>\n

What Can You Do?<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t wait until after menopause. Start your heart health program today. Here is what the experts recommend.<\/p>\n