{"id":108766,"date":"2016-02-01T09:47:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T14:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=108766"},"modified":"2016-02-01T10:15:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T15:15:36","slug":"10-ways-women-can-prevent-heart-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/02\/10-ways-women-can-prevent-heart-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways Women Can Prevent Heart Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

February is American Heart Month<\/a>, and later this week,\u00a0National Wear Red Day on Friday, Feb. 5 is designed to help raise awareness about heart disease among women.<\/p>\n

UConn cardiologists Drs. Anjanette Ferris<\/a>, Agnes Kim<\/a>, and Joyce Meng<\/a> say all women need to start taking action today to prevent the development of heart disease and to maintain their overall heart health.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart disease is still the number\u00a0one killer of women in our country,\u201d says\u00a0Ferris, assistant professor of medicine at the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiovascular Center<\/a> at UConn Health<\/a>. \u201cWhile we have made some gains in raising awareness, more than one in three females in their lifetime will be affected by cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of heart disease is still too high, and more needs to be done to prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferris, Kim, and Meng encourage you to wear red on Feb. 5 as a reminder of the importance of women’s\u00a0heart health. Here are their top 10 recommendations for ways a woman can prevent heart disease and maintain heart health:<\/p>\n

Be Aware of Your Body
\n<\/strong>Each year, make sure you go for your annual physical exam. If during the year you ever experience any new or unusual symptoms, or changes in your health, bring them to the attention of your doctor as soon as possible. Keeping open lines of communication with your physician is really important for your health. \u201cIf you are unable to climb a set of stairs like you used to, bring it to your doctor\u2019s attention,\u201d says Meng. \u201cWhen it comes to heart disease women are different than men. When women get heart disease, they are often older and much sicker. This is why it is critical for women to make time to take care of themselves daily to prevent heart disease, and get medically screened annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognize the Warning Signs
\n<\/strong>\u201cNot all women have the typical warning signs of an impending heart attack, such as chest pain or chest discomfort,\u201d says Kim. \u201cWomen can often experience more variable symptoms that are atypical.\u201d Heart attack symptoms in women can include shortness of breath, unusual chest pressure, abdominal discomfort, heartburn, jaw pain, neck pain, arm or shoulder pain, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. Most importantly, if you think you are having symptoms related to a heart attack, don\u2019t hesitate to call 9-1-1 right away.<\/p>\n

Practice a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle
\n<\/strong>\u201cWhile we can\u2019t change our family history and genetics, more than 80 percent of cardiovascular diseases can be prevented with simple, daily lifestyle modifications,\u201d says Ferris. \u201cEach woman needs to work to manage the six modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease and keep them under control.\u201d These risk factors are: high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, and smoking tobacco. \u201cAbsolutely don\u2019t smoke cigarettes,\u201d stresses Kim. \u201cSmoking is one of the leading threats to your cardiac health. It narrows and hardens your arteries, leading to heart attack, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. If you already have heart or vascular disease, the best thing you can do for your health is to quit smoking. There are local and national resources to help you quit, such as the Freedom From Smoking<\/em><\/a> program offered by UConn Health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exercise Daily
\n<\/strong>\u201cExercise is the best medicine,\u201d says Ferris. You must get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each day. This can be achieved simply by brisk walking. \u201cRecent studies suggest that physical inactivity or having a sedentary lifestyle may be almost as bad as smoking tobacco,\u201d adds Kim. \u201cDon\u2019t just sit. Make sure you get up and move each day. Any form of physical activity is good for your heart health.\u201d The UConn Health cardiologists recommend that you walk as much as you can, take the stairs when available, and park farther away from the door of your destination. Also, they advise that you try to set a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day, and track your distance with a pedometer, a smartphone app, or Fitbit technology. To stay committed to daily exercise, says Meng, \u201cThere is no specific exercise prescription, just do whatever you love doing to stay active.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eat Healthy Daily
\n<\/strong>\u201cEach day eat a well balanced diet with lots of colorful fruits and vegetables,\u201d says Meng. \u201cAlso, make sure you are drinking enough water.\u201d She recommends that you make sure to control your portion sizes, and remember to keep everything in moderation, including sweet desserts and alcohol consumption. Also, avoid fried foods often containing trans-fats, and choose foods that are low in saturated fats, simple carbohydrates (sugar), and salt. Kim adds the following recommendations: \u201cAt least half your plate should be made up of vegetables. For protein sources, go for fish, poultry, beans, and legumes. For snacks, eat fruits, nuts, and seeds. In general, avoid processed foods and go for whole, fresh foods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cut Your Sugar
\n<\/strong>Research shows sugar is linked to obesity, which can lead to the development of heart disease. Meng says, \u201cOne of the first questions I ask my patients is: ‘What do you drink?’\u201d She recommends women cut their soda intake and limit sweets. According to Meng, even a lot of juices that appear to be fresh and healthy are high in sugar content. She stresses that everyone should read the labels of their drinks and foods carefully. New 2016 U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that sugar only account for up to 10 percent of your recommended daily 2,000 calorie diet.<\/p>\n

Cut Your Salt
\n<\/strong>Higher salt intake is associated with high blood pressure or hypertension, one of the leading risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The latest U.S. dietary guidelines call for reduced salt in the American diet to under 2,300 milligrams. But salt is present in a great deal of our food, including canned foods, frozen meals, and meats. \u201cTry to choose leaner meats, and avoid processed meats such as cold-cuts that are higher in salt content,\u201d says Meng.<\/p>\n

Better Manage Your Stress
\n<\/strong>According to Kim, continuous stress can increase your risk of heart disease and lead to the narrowing of your arteries. \u201cExercise is the best form of stress management,\u201d she says. \u201cOther methods to manage stress are yoga, meditation, writing in a journal, talking things over with your spouse or friends, and just simply laughing. Laughing actually lowers the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine, enhances your immune system, causes muscle relaxation, and is a great workout for your heart and lungs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Know Your Numbers
\n<\/strong>In addition to knowing your family history of heart disease, Kim says you should know your blood pressure readings and your cholesterol levels, especially HDL (good) and LDL (bad) cholesterol. Hypertension is defined as a blood pressure that is greater than 140\/90 mmHg. However, if you have diabetes, kidney disease, or heart disease, the goal blood pressure is less than 130\/70 mmHg or even lower. If your hypertension or high cholesterol is not well controlled through lifestyle modification, prescription medication may be necessary for you to obtain a healthy blood pressure or cholesterol level.<\/p>\n

Adhere to Your Medication
\n<\/strong>\u201cComplying with your prescribed cardiovascular medication is extremely important to managing your heart health and preventing future cardiac events,\u201d says Meng. \u201cListen to your doctor\u2019s recommendations. If you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, it’s important to lower and maintain them to safe levels with prescribed medication to protect your heart, and prevent the chance of a heart attack and stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three UConn Health cardiologists share top tips for women’s heart health, including cutting salt, adhering to medication, and laughing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":108777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,2231,1868,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-108766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiology","category-health-well-being","category-meds","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 11:16:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108807,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108766\/revisions\/108807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/108777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108766"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=108766"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=108766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}