From Awareness to Action: Promoting Heart Health Among Women

For decades, the heart health landscape has been overwhelmingly focused on men's cardiovascular needs, while women's unique symptoms and risk factors were alarmingly overlooked. Over 60 million women in the US live with some form of heart disease, and a shocking 90 percent have at least one risk factor. Yet, many lack the awareness, education, and guidance to safeguard their hearts proactively. Proactively managing your heart health is an essential first step in this lifesaving fight. Through awareness, education, and personalized care, we are determined to eliminate the misconceptions surrounding women's heart health and enhance the lives of countless women across the nation.

Understanding Your Risk for Heart Disease

Heart disease is an overlooked yet devastating epidemic impacting women across America. Contrary to popular belief, cardiovascular disease is not just a man's problem - it is THE leading cause of death among women, outpacing all forms of cancer combined. These aren't just statistics; they represent our mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends whose lives are profoundly impacted by heart disease.

What makes heart disease particularly insidious for women is the presence of gender-specific risk factors that are often misunderstood or overlooked entirely. Hormonal changes during pregnancy, menopause, and other life stages can significantly influence a woman's heart health. Additionally, certain types of birth control or hormone replacement therapies may also increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. These unique circumstances mean that protocols focused on male cardiovascular health don't always translate effectively. It's crucial for women to understand these nuances and be their own best advocates.

Knowing your numbers is a fundamental first step. Knowing your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and body mass index (BMI) provides a blueprint for assessing overall heart health. Lifestyle changes can control many heart disease risk factors, but you can't improve what you don't measure. Additionally, understanding your family history sheds light on potential genetic predispositions, allowing for more informed prevention and screening strategies. An honest awareness of your personal and familial risk profile empowers you to take proactive steps toward safeguarding your heart for the long haul.

Recognize the Symptoms of Heart Attack in Women

Heart attack symptoms in women can be more ambiguous and can develop gradually over days or weeks before a heart attack occurs. These symptoms may include:

1. Chest pain or discomfort: This can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain in the center or left side of the chest. It may come and go.
2. Pain in the arm(s), back, neck, or jaw: Women often experience pain radiating to the upper back, shoulder blades, neck, or jaw.
3. Shortness of breath: This may occur with or without chest discomfort.
4. Nausea or vomiting: Feeling sick to the stomach is a common symptom in women.
5. Fatigue: Unusual or unexplained fatigue can be an early warning sign.
6. Cold sweats: Breaking out in a cold, clammy sweat is common.
7. Lightheadedness or dizziness: Women may feel faint or dizzy with a heart attack.
8. Sleep disturbances: Difficulty sleeping, insomnia, or sleep apnea can precede a heart attack.

Dispelling Misconceptions About Heart Disease

• Myth: Heart disease is a man's disease.

Fact: Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year - more than all forms of cancer combined. (Go Red for Women)

• Myth: Women don't have to worry about heart disease until after menopause.

Fact: While a woman's risk does increase after menopause, heart disease can strike at any age. High blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and other risk factors affect women of all ages.

• Myth: Women experience the same classic heart attack symptoms as men.

Fact: Women often experience different, more subtle heart attack symptoms like nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, and back or jaw pain that may go unrecognized as heart-related.

• Myth: Breast cancer is more deadly for women than heart disease.

Fact: Heart disease kills six times as many women each year as breast cancer. (Harvard Health)

• Myth: Women don't need to worry about heart disease if they're physically active and slim.

Fact: Being thin doesn't make you immune - heart disease risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and family history can affect anyone.

• Myth: Heart disease is just an inevitable part of aging for women.
  Fact: Heart disease is largely preventable by making lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, exercising regularly, and eating a heart-healthy diet low in salt, sugar, and saturated fats.

Campaigns and Initiatives

In a landscape where heart disease remains the leading cause of death for women, widespread campaigns and initiatives are crucial for shedding light on this all-too-often overlooked issue. By raising awareness around gender-specific risk factors, debunking dangerous myths, and providing education on recognizing the subtle warning signs, these efforts equip women with the knowledge needed to prioritize their cardiovascular well-being.

The Go Red for Women campaign is an initiative launched by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to raise awareness about the prevalence and risks of heart disease among women. By adopting the red dress as a bold national symbol, Go Red aimed to dispel the misconception that heart disease mostly affects men. Through nationwide events, educational resources for women and healthcare providers, community programs, and online tools like the Go Red Heart CheckUp risk assessment, the campaign has engaged millions of women to understand their personal heart health risks and motivate lifestyle changes. 

With corporate sponsorships enabling expanded outreach, Go Red for Women represents a powerful movement uniting and empowering women nationwide to combat the #1 cause of death for women.

Getting Involved

Beyond just understanding your personal risk factors, it's vital for women to raise their voices and take action to spread awareness about this preventable yet overlooked health crisis. Leveraging platforms like social media allows every woman to become an advocate, sharing lifesaving information and championing the importance of preventive care through their networks. Simple actions like posting with hashtags like #GoRedForWomen, sharing educational resources, and promoting heart-healthy lifestyle tips can exponentially amplify these crucial messages.

At the community level, women can look for local outreach events focused on women's heart health or consider organizing their own speaking events, health fairs, or group exercise activities. Bringing coworkers together for workplace initiatives like lunchtime seminars with health experts or team fitness challenges creates a supportive environment for prioritizing self-care. Employers can also get involved by providing on-site screening opportunities and promoting awareness campaigns internally.

For those seeking to make a larger impact, supporting research efforts is paramount to advancing science's understanding of how heart disease uniquely affects women. Donating to reputable organizations like the American Heart Association enables funding for groundbreaking studies examining risk factors specific to women. Participating in clinical trials allows researchers to collect valuable data, while advocacy efforts urging policymakers and organizations to increase funding for women's heart health research help drive progress. Every voice and action, no matter how small, brings this critical issue higher on the public health agenda.

Prioritize Your Personal Cardiovascular Wellness

Taking a proactive approach is key for women to reduce their risk of heart disease. First and foremost, this means scheduling regular check-ups and undergoing preventive screenings like blood pressure, cholesterol, and BMI measurements. Being an engaged patient by tracking these health markers over time and discussing them with your doctor allows for early intervention if warning signs arise. Many heart disease risk factors can be modified through lifestyle changes before they progress into serious cardiovascular issues.

Adopting heart-healthy habits such as maintaining a balanced, nutritious diet low in saturated fats, sodium, and added sugars while high in fiber, fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins should be a priority. Incorporating regular physical activity, whether through a structured exercise routine or simply increasing daily movement, strengthens the cardiovascular system. Managing stress levels through relaxation techniques, counseling, or meditation is also crucial, as chronic stress negatively impacts both mental health and heart health. 

Promptly reporting concerning symptoms to medical professionals, rather than brushing them off, enables timely diagnosis and treatment, which can be the difference between life and death. Being an empowered patient means persistently advocating for your own cardiovascular well-being.

Join the HER Heart Movement

Southwest Cardiovascular Associates is dedicated to providing important resources for our patients regarding their heart health. Our HER Heart program is led by a distinguished team of cardiovascular specialists and acknowledges the intricate interplay between gender-specific factors and heart health. 

Our practitioners possess a profound understanding of how variables specific to women — including complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia or eclampsia — can impact a woman's cardiovascular wellness, enabling them to deliver tailored care that addresses each individual's unique needs. Heart disease is not a battle women should fight alone. Taking charge of your cardiovascular well-being today leads to a stronger, healthier heart and an empowered life.