Women's Heart Health: What can you do to lower your risk?

By: Amanda Goodman | Eyewitness News 9
Published: February 21, 2012

GREENVILLE, N.C. - We hear numbers, statistics, and percentages on a daily basis.

It gets pretty overwhelming.

February is Women’s Heart Health month, so 9 On Your Side wanted to break it all down for you; the numbers, the stats, the myths, because it could help save your life.

Most women hang out in groups of three or four.

With that in mind, let’s say you’re out to dinner with two of your friends. One of you will develop cardiovascular disease.

Another friend joins you mid-way through the meal. Out of you four, heart disease will kill one of you.

Bottomline, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women.

The reason? We’re ignoring our symptoms.

“Pain in the jaw, down the arms, shoulder blades, fatigue, shortness of breath,” explained Dr. Noel Peterson, East Carolina Heart Institute.

Most women will experience these symptoms one month before a heart attack. The most common warning signs are unusual fatigue, sleep problems, shortness of breath, indigestion and anxiety.

“We think because we are the nurturer, the caregiver, that we don’t have to take care of ourselves, but we do. Because nobody is going to do it for us. You need to know your warning signs, know your numbers,” said Laura Lavin, Mended Hearts Group.

There we go with numbers again, but knowing our numbers could be the difference between life and death.

“Most of the major risk factors are high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, our diet, our exercise regimen, and lack of physical activity, said Peterson.

And don’t forget your abdominal circumference. Fancy way of saying how many inches your waist is.

So get out the measuring tape, ladies. If your waist is bigger than 35 inches, you are at a higher risk of heart disease. For men, it’s higher than 40.

So what can we do to lower our risk?

Have your blood pressure checked regularly, along with our blood glucose and cholesterol. Stop smoking now! Start exercising every day. Talk to your doctor about stress reduction. And know your family tree.

Knowing your family history is a key part in preventing cardio vascular disease…but we need to do our part and know all of our numbers.

Dr. Peterson says genetics loads the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.