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Just in time for National Heart Health month, a new study has been released about women and their risk for heart disease. Are you at risk?
Do you know what your resting heart rate is? I know mine and it's high, it has always been high. It doesn't matter what my blood pressure is, my heart rate is high. When my blood pressure is high, my heart rate is high. And when my blood pressure is low, my heart rate is still high. I even take a medication to lower my heart rate, and my resting heart rate is still never lower than 90 (it's usually over 100). So you can imagine how I felt after reading about a study linking women with high resting heart rates to an increased risk for heart attack.
From WebMD...
A woman's resting pulse rate is a good predictor of her heart attack risk regardless of other risk factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, researchers say.
A team of scientists analyzed records of 129,135 postmenopausal women who had no history of heart problems. Their pulse rates were measured at the start of the study. The researchers found that during almost eight years of follow-up, women with the highest heart rates -- at or above 76 beats per minute -- were much more likely to suffer a heart attack than the women with the lowest resting pulse rates, 62 beats per minute or less.
Even more scary...
The relationship between resting heart rate and coronary risk was stronger in women less than 65 years old than in women over 65.
I don't drink, I don't smoke, I'm eating right and losing weight...But there's still a good chance a heart attack is in my future. That really sucks. I guess the only good thing about knowing you are at a greater risk for a heart attack, is that you can choose to be aware and more attentive to possible signs and symptoms.
- Chest pain - may include back pain and/or deep aching and throbbing in one or both arms
- Breathlessness and/or inability to catch your breath when waking up
- Clammy sweating
- Dizziness — unexplained lightheadedness and possible blackouts
- Anxiety — unusual nervousness, feelings of impending doom
- Edema — fluid retention and swelling in the ankles or lower legs
- Fluttering, rapid heartbeats or palpitations
- Nausea or gas
- Feeling of heaviness, such as pressure-like pain between the breasts that may radiate to the left arm or shoulder
Women experience symptoms that are often different from men...
Research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicated that women often experience different physical symptoms of heart attack than men. These symptoms can be felt as long as a month or more before the actual cardiac event. In a study of 515 women, 95 percent said they knew something was different a month or more before experiencing a heart attack. The most common symptoms were fatigue (70.6 percent), sleep disturbance (47.8 percent) and shortness of breath (42.1 percent). Fewer than 30 percent of women reported experiencing chest pain or discomfort prior to their heart attack, and even though 43 percent reported having no chest pain during the attack, most doctors continue to consider chest pain the most important symptom in both women and men. Women in the study also reported experiencing indigestion and anxiety prior to having a heart attack. During the actual heart attack, the most common symptoms reported by women were shortness of breath and weakness.
From Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom...
As someone who has been very personally affected by heart disease, I do my best to live a heart healthy lifestyle and be an advocate for the American Heart Association and its programs. Are you familiar with the Go Red for Women campaign? It’s a great program designed to help inform and empower women to live heart healthy lifestyles, know their risk factors, and understand the symptoms of a heart attack.
Here are some simple steps to love your heart, courtesy of the AHA:
This is from a post I did on women and heart disease...
You should know that…Women are at a very high risk for heart disease and heart attacks. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65. American women are 4 to 6 times more likely to die of heart disease than of breast cancer. Women
