A Call To Action: Women And Heart Disease

Heart Disease is a general term that refers to one or several diseases of the heart. A Call to Action: Women and Heart Disease is a fairly short program that includes a panel of women physicians (mainly cardiologists) as well as women who have had a bout with heart disease in the past. This program is filled with a lot of information concerning statistics, risk factors as well as methods of prevention. The facts provided can be extremely beneficial to females regardless of their age, as well as all males who have females in their lives.

After watching the segment with the panel of physicians I became aware of several statistics such as heart disease is the #1 killer of women and that one in three women dies from heart disease. The physicians also mentioned that in 2003 500,000 women died from heart disease. This was alarming because before taking this class I thought breast cancer was the #1 killer of women. I feel I also fell into the category of people who believed that heart disease was something only "old people" got, but the physicians clearly state that women under the age of fifty are twice as likely to die from heart disease then a man.

Women are at risk of developing heart disease from a fairly young age. The disease is chronic and usually starts in the teenage years and progresses as women age. The most common symptom for women is extreme fatigue. Other symptoms include perspiration, tightening or pressure in the chest region and pain or numbness in the shoulder, arm or jaw. These are typically the same symptoms that men may experience, but women's symptoms tend to be more subtle and many times are ignored.

The first real step in preventing heart disease is awareness. Having some type of physical activity, a good nutritional diet, not smoking, not being obese and a having a single serving of alcohol per day are five steps physicians recommend every woman partakes in to prevent the damage heart disease may cause.