When you think about someone with heart disease or heart attack, who pops in your mind? For most people they picture an overweight older white man. Frighteningly that is not the picture of the typical victim of heart disease. Instead, we should be picturing a black woman who ‘looks’ healthy.
Check out these statistics from the American Heart Association:
- Cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 50,000 African American women annually.
- Of African American women ages 20 and older, 49 percent have heart diseases.
- Only 1 in 5 African American women believes she is personally at risk.
Let’s Talk About It
How do we protect our sisters, friends, moms? We need to talk about it. Majority of women do not know the signs of a heart attack or that heart disease is their greatest health risk. Instead, women are still more concerned with cancer. Yet, more women die of cardiovascular disease than all cancers combined.
What should you tell your BFFs? The time is now to make some lifestyle changes:
- Don’t smoke – if you smoke, quit
- Manage your blood sugar – ask your provider how to lower it
- Get your blood pressure under control – get under 120 and under 80
- Lower your cholesterol – ask your provider how
- Know your family history – high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. run in your family, tell your provider and take action to protect yourself
- Stay active – move more, aim for 150 minutes of moderate movement per week
- Lose or manage your weight – keep your BMI in the healthy range
- Eat healthy foods – choose baked, not fried and lots of veggies & fruits
There are many things you can do to protect yourself and your heart. Talk with your Hamilton provider about some steps you should be taking to improve your heart health today.
