Heart Month – Shine the Light on Women’s Health
We’re at the end of February, the month of the heart; specifically the beautiful women’s heart, who is more at risk for having heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain. The symptoms of a heart attack are sweating, unusual fatigue, lightheadedness or dizziness, jaw pain, upper back pain, neck & shoulder discomfort, shortness of breath, abdominal discomfort, and nausea or vomiting.
According to The Mayo Clinic, “these symptoms can be more subtle than the obvious crushing chest pain as pressure or tightness. This may be because women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries but also in the smaller arteries that supply blood to the heart – a condition called small vessel heart disease or microvascular disease.”
So as we seal up 2019 heart month, let us take a look at today’s challenges women face in the quest for a healthy heart.
Understand the Symptoms
It could be difficult to realize you are experiencing heart attack symptoms if you’re a woman. Women may describe chest pain as pressure or tightness. Due to lack of knowledge, a woman will likely not seek help.
Challenges for African American Women and Heart Disease
According to womanheart.org, African-American are 35% more likely to die of heart disease than Caucasian women, while Hispanic women face heart disease nearly 10 years earlier than Caucasian women.”
Many factors play into this, of course, lack of knowledge and poverty are the biggest factors. Trusting their health provider with their health is extremely difficult for the black community, given the pressure African-American women are under daily. To beat this, we have to promote the movement and share the knowledge with all of our fellow mothers and sisters.
Heart Disease Prevention
Here are a few suggestions to help women fight against heart disease.
– Stop smoking or don’t ever start.
– Keep your body fit by exercising at least 30 to 60 minutes a day.
– Maintain your body at a healthy weight.
– Watch the diet. Make sure it is low in saturated, cholesterol and salt.
Shine the light on this year’s Heart Month by sharing this with your family and friends. Let’s commit to this movement, and better inform people of the symptoms of heart attacks/diseases.