Heart Disease & Women: Do You Know The Symptoms? National Wear Red Day
February 5, 2010 by Tracy
Filed under Mom's Health & Wellness, Tracy Talks
I don’t really remember my grandma but what memories I do have are filled with joy and happiness.
Unfortunately, my grandmother died suddenly of a massive heart attack at the age of 58 when I was only 10 years old. As hard as it was to lose my grandmother, I think of how awful it was for my mother to lose her own mother, at such a young age. My mom is 63 years young and I can’t bear to think of not having her in my life. She’s my best friend! but tomorrow is promised to no one and heart disease runs in families. I’m at a point in my life where I think of these things quite a bit.
It’s a scary statistic but 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease – It’s the NUMBER ONE killer of women and it’s often silent and kills more women than all cancers combined.
Today – Friday, February 5, 2010 is National Wear Red Day
in honor of Heart Health Awareness for Women.
We need to be aware of the signs & symptoms of heart disease in women.
We need to be aware of the lifestyle changes that can help increase our health.
But to do that….
We need to make our health a priority! We need to make, keep & follow up with our doctor appointments!
It’s no longer a choice….it’s a MUST, especially for me, especially because I want to be around longer than 15 years from now!! (I’m 43)
So, I jumped on the chance when I was asked to share information about Go Red For Women’s National Wear Red Day!
Today, I’ll be wearing my red proudly but for the rest of this month (and because February is Heart Health Month) I’ll be sharing information, tips & hints; exercises & recipes that will help you save your life by changing your lifestyle!
Here are a few resources to help get you started:
Go Red For Women’s Heart Check Up
Information about Heart Attacks & Strokes
The awesome people at American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women have graciously donated a gift pack as a giveaway to promote National 
Wear Red Day.
Wanna know what you have to do to win it?
Simply this:
In the comments section, please share with us:
- How heart disease has affected you and/or your family
- What you’re going to do, starting now, to change your lifestyle & live healthier (we want you to be around a long, long time)
- How we can help hold you accountable to your decisions.
and don’t forget to visit the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women site.
You’ll have until midnight, next Friday, February 12, 2010 to leave your comment. Saturday morning (whenever I get up) I’ll choose a winning comment via random.org and notify the winner. If the winner doesn’t respond within 3 days, another winner will be drawn.
Even though today is National Wear Red Day – it IS Heart Health Month so keep an eye out because I’ll be sharing information, tips & hints; exercises & recipes that will help you save your life by changing your lifestyle!
**I received the identical gift package that is being given away and will be paying for the shipping of the winner’s gift package myself.**
More From Tracy
I’m with you Tracy – I want to be around a lot longer than 15 or 20 years from now. We’ve got a LOT of life left to live so even though I personally haven’t been affected by heart disease in my family there are other illnesses that DO run in my family that I want to take every precaution I can to fend off.
Exercise is the best thing we can all do for ourselves and our families to make sure we’re around for a long time!
My family has a genetic heart condition; one that all the men die as a result before the age of 50, and the women are the carriers of the gene, and their hearts often fail before the age of 70. My uncle died at 48. My grandmother died at 63. My mom has been in the hospital so many times with her heart issue.
It’s important to me to stop this as much as I can for me – and for my daughters. So as of today… more exercise to strengthen my heart. I’m drinking more water.
How can you help? Tweet me to ask if I am honoring myself!
Count me in Tracy! I come from a long line of old ladies but I am more overweight than any of them were at my age! Time for me to get in gear. Here’s what I want to try to do:
Walk at least 5 days a week.
).
Get a better pedometer,wear it and challenge myself to increase my step count every day.
Get more sleep. I think sleep affects our health in so many ways and I need to get more of it (And reduce the # of times I crash working on my laptop
Shannon has a great idea – Tweets and IM’s to remind me to keep myself a priority.
Thankfully Heart Disease hasn’t impacted my family directly – but it has taken two of my friends.
My decision is to get some exercise every single day, even if it’s only 15 minutes. I keep waiting until I have an hour – and then feel badly when I don’t get to exercise. So, instead, I’m doing 15 minutes a few times each day. Heck, anyone can find 15 minutes, right?
How can you help? Kick my butt!
Thanks for share this!
I’ve been very fortunate not to have heart disease run in my side of the family, but my husband’s father had had several heart attacks and I’m concerned for my five daughters.
We have just recently started an regular exercise program for the whole family. Everyone walks on the treadmill or goes for a walk several times a day and we have loads of fun using the Wii Fit.
I agree with Shannon! Tweet to keep us accountable.
My mom passed away when she was 85 years old. Several years before she had angioplasty and a stint placed in a nearly blocked artery. My father died when he was 62 years old of a massive heart attack. They had a very healthy diet but they were both smokers and I am very anti-smoking.
The American Heart Association states
Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease that you can modify or control. Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”
Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. It accounts for more than 440,000 of the more than 2.4 million annual deaths. Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing several chronic disorders. These include fatty buildups in arteries, several types of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung problems). Atherosclerosis (buildup of fatty substances in the arteries) is a chief contributor to the high number of deaths from smoking. Many studies detail the evidence that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.
The last time my cholesterol was checked the level was well-below 200. I have never smoked but my mid-section has gradually increased as a few pounds are added each year. I’ve decided to loose those extra pounds this year so count me in.
Thankfully we haven’t been affected by any heart problems in our family.
We are watching what we eat and exercising routinely.
I am with the other, tweet me to hold me accountable.
Admittedly the women in my family have not heart problems, it affects the men on my husband’s side of the family … so this is one of those things I have overlooked in my medical records. Shame on me for being neglectful of such a serious thing.
We do look for heart healthy options, because my husband’s medical diet requires it, but I never considered how that is really a better thing for ME and the rest of the family. Total duh moment there.
I think this is the part where I’m supposed to hit myself in the head and drink a V8 fruity drink.
Lately I’ve seen a lot of information on heart disease concerning Women. My dad had congestive heart failure but that’s not why he died, it was the accumulation of chemically based medicines that attacked his liver.
I made a commitment 30 days ago to take all starches, sodas, candy and the like out of my food consumption. Surprisingly so, it hasn’t been bad. I don’t miss those things at all! For me it’s all about feeling great and being healthy now now that I’m self conscious about what I eat and when.
One of the reasons for doing it, the heart. Thanks for sharing this info Tracy. I concur with everyone else about keeping us accountable via Twitter