heart attack •

Women Are More Prone to Heart Problems

February 8, 2016 By Ryan Harris Leave a Comment

"example of cardiovascular resuscitation in case of a heart attack"

Women are more prone to heart problems than men are.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the latest studies women are more prone to heart problems than men are. This is why February is now officially the national heart problems awareness month. Red is the new pink when it comes to health campaigns.

It seems that one in three women die each year in America because of stroke or heart diseases. This means that every 80 seconds or so a woman dies because of heart-related problems that could have been avoided with proper treatment.

Even though approximately forty-four million women in America suffer from cardiovascular diseases, only one in five women is actually aware of the death risk of heart problems and strokes. This is one of the main reasons for which women are dying because of curable illnesses.

But the awful numbers don’t seem to strike the public. Women are still not considering heart problems as their number one health enemy. The problem is that cardiovascular diseases kill more women each year than every type of cancer combined.

The good news is that, as opposed to cancer which usually implies drastic treatment, heart problems can be easily avoided with a few tricks that do not involve falling hair and nausea. By the contrary, adopting a healthier lifestyle that prevents women from developing cardiovascular illnesses will also have “side effects” in the sense that they will not only feel better but actually, look better.

The main risk factors for developing cardiovascular problems are diabetes, smoking, elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and a history of heart illnesses in the family. Besides the family history, all of the other risk factors can be prevented by a healthy diet and regular physical exercise.

Women need to be more educated about the risks of developing heart problems and the symptoms of heart attack. The most common symptoms of it are:

Chest pain, that could also feel like an immense pressure applied in the chest area or a cold sensation that takes over the chest and the arms
Shortness of breath, the individual suffering the heart attack can feel that he or she can no longer breathe properly because the chest is constricted
Nausea and dizziness
Pain radiation to the shoulder, neck and jaw. Sometimes the person that is having the heart attack feels that the pain spreads from the chest to the right arm starting from the shoulder and ending up in the fingers.

But there were reported caused in women which suffered from heart attacks that felt nothing but an impending feeling of doom, anxiety, dread, back pain or symptoms resembling those of the flu.

Women should start worrying more about the dangers of cardiovascular diseases because women are more prone to heart problems than men. Wear red this February and educate yourself on cardiovascular illnesses.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

Why Wear Red on the 5th of February?

February 1, 2016 By Melissa Gansler Leave a Comment

"Go Red for Women Campaign poster for awareness month""

Almost 80 percent of cardiovascular disorders related deaths in women can be prevented.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Women worldwide are asked to Go Red on the first Friday of February. But why wear red on the 5^th of February? Because awareness must be raised in terms of heart diseases that affect women. And because education and prevention could help a large number of women to live healthier and longer lives.

Annually, one in every three women is affected by cardiovascular disease. This translates into about 401,500 annual deaths related to women with cardiovascular disease. According to the doctors, almost 80 percent out of the total number of women cardiac events can be prevented. Still wondering why wear red on the 5^th of February?

Cardiovascular diseases include strokes, heart diseases, heart attacks, elevated blood pressure and various other vascular disorders. Most of them, like heart attacks or strokes, are usually fatal, but they can be easily prevented.

February was named the month of cardiovascular diseases present in women and the initiative Go Red invites women everywhere to wear something red on the 5^th of February. The campaign is meant to raise the awareness of women to health problems related to cardiovascular disorders that can be easily prevented.

Why wear red on the 5^th of February? Because when another woman asks about your clothing choice you can familiarize her with the most important prevention factors that any woman should know and apply if she wants to live a longer, healthier life.

Attend regular checkups, it is important that you monitor your health regularly.
Always know the levels of your cholesterol and blood pressure.
Exercise and diet are extremely important for women of any age and weight.
Exercise for at least 30 minutes in a day. Moderate physical activity, like taking a long walk is good too.
Eat food that is good for your heart like fish, whole-grain, vegetables and fruits (especially flavonoid-rich fruits like berries and citrus fruit).
Quit smoking!
Limit the intake of dietary cholesterol and saturated fats.
Non-pregnant women should limit their drinking to one drink per day.
Limit the intake of sodium, doctors recommend you do not exceed 1,500 mg of salt in a day.
Take your prescribed medication exactly as the doctor recommended you to do.

The warning signs of a heart attack can differ greatly from person to person. This is why it is crucial that everybody knows what the symptoms are. A heart attack that is caught early can pose no danger of death and can be treated by doctors.

The warning sign are:

A sensation of fullness, uncomfortable pressure, pain or squeezing in the center area of the chest that lasts more than a couple of minutes.
Pain spreading to the neck, arms and shoulders. It is not necessary for the pain to be intense. It could manifest as a tightness, pressure, heavy weight or pressure. The location of the pain also varies from the chest, neck, upper abdomen, jaw, inside the arms and the shoulders.
A sensation of chest discomfort linked to nausea, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, sweating and fainting.
Sweaty and/or cold skin, nervousness and anxiety.
Pallor and paleness
Irregular or increased heart rate
A gut feeling of something deeply wrong

Why wear red on the 5^th of February? Because all of the signs described above can be prevented with the measures that are also described in the article. Women should be aware of the dangers of cardiovascular diseases and how to prevent them from developing.

Image source: www.ytimg.com

Smoking is Even More Harmful Than Previously Thought

February 16, 2015 By Matthew Slotkin Leave a Comment

Scientists recently linked 5 diseases and health condition that hadn’t previously been associated to smoking to this unfortunate habit. While the fact that cigarette smoking is linked to lung disease, cancer, artery disease, heart attack or stroke is scientifically supported, some scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine have proved that smoking is also related to increased risks of infection, kidney disease, intestinal disease caused by inadequate blood flow as well as heart and lung illnesses that had not been previously attributed to tobacco.

Scientists studied almost 1 million people and followed them for 10 years in oder to get the most accurate results. And their findings regarding the actual cigarette-related deaths are baffling. Officially it appears that smoking kills around 480,000 people each year in the U.S. But according to Dr. Eric Jacobs, who was a co-author of the study, smoking could actually be killing around 60,000 extra Americans every year (13 % more out of the 480,000 deaths currently attributed to the addictive habit every year).

If these recent findings were applied to the world wide scale, an extra 780,000 across the world could be dying because of smoking each year.

The number of additional deaths potentially linked to cigarette smoking is substantial.

“In our study, many excess deaths among smokers were from disease categories that are not currently established as caused by smoking, and we believe there is strong evidence that many of these deaths may have been caused by smoking,”

Dr. Eric Jacobs said.

An editorial accompanying the study, written by Dr. Graham Golditz, stated that low-income people tend to underestimate the dangers of tobacco use and need more help in order to quit. They have no idea that smoking is worse than previously thought.

By and large the research found that smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to die from one of the established smoking-related diseases, such as: most kinds of heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, pneumonia, tuberculosis, influenza, atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms and other arterial diseases, acute myeloid leukaemia, diabetes, cancers of the lung, colon and rectum, pancreas, kidney, liver, bladder, lip, oral cavity, stomach, larynx and esophagus.

All the above diseases were responsible for deaths among men and women who were still smoking at the end of their lives. Only 17% of deaths female smokers’ deaths and 15% of male smokers’ deaths were traced to other causes than the ones mentioned above.

Widespread misuse of Aspirin in US: Study

January 20, 2015 By Tara Hamilton Leave a Comment

Aspirin is taken as a precaution to prevent heart attack or strokes. However there are many people who do not really need to take aspirin but are often prescribed by doctors and often aspirin ends up doing more harm than good.

Latest reports suggest that over 11% people take aspirin without any real need. The report suggests that when it comes to preventing primary cardiovascular disease, aspirin is heavily abused.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology conducted a study which revealed that 72% people had mixed variables which should have been present when they use aspirin as a CVD preventative. The study included tens of thousands of subjects.

The rampant misuse of aspirin across the US has prompted experts to recommend aspirin only in persons who have significant clot related problem. This actually means persons who have suffered an ischemic stroke or heart attack. It also includes people who are at high risk to suffer from ischemic stroke or a heart attack in the next 10 years.

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