Go Wear Red in February!
February is the American Heart Association “Go Wear Red” campaign where the organization raises heart disease awareness for women. A lot of us ladies will be wearing out lovely red suits and red dress pins but do we really know how it is important to prevent and fight against this deadly disease.
It is estimated that 43 million women in the U.S. are affected by heart disease unfortunately only one in five women believe heart disease is a great health problem. Is it due to the lack of education about heart disease or is it still being known as a Man’s Disease?
Unfortunately, African American women are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease and nearly half (49 percent) of all non-Hispanic African-American females have some form of heart disease, stroke or other CVD.
American Heart Association states that estimates that the Go Red for Women campaign has already raised awareness and saved more than 627,000 lives since its inception but there is still a grim statistical side on women and heart disease.
American Heart Association statistics are:
One woman dies from heart disease each minute.
Far from being solely a “man’s disease,” female deaths from heart disease have exceeded the death toll for men since 1984.
One in every 31 women will die from breast cancer, while one in every three women will lose their life to heart disease.
Nine out of 10 women now have one or more risk factors for heart disease.
Even though these statistics are not positive there are things every woman can do to reduce her risk for heart trouble.
All women do not have given up and suffer with heart disease but we can fight by healthy eating, exercising, reducing stress and quitting smoking. This does seem a lot to do what can you start as the first steps for lowering your risk of heart disease.
Here are some simple ways that you can do to lower your risk of heart disease.
Reduce the stress in your life and get more exercise. Here are a couple of ways in which exercise releases endorphins, which can calm your frazzled nerves and allow you to de-stress.
Getting the proper amount of sleep completely changes your attitude. So shoot for eight hours a night and don’t be afraid to grab a quick nap if you can.
Try stress free exercises such as yoga, meditation, breathing, tia chi or prayer. Exercise can releases endorphins, which calm your frazzled nerves and allow you to de-stress.
Start doing your cardiovascular exercises which can provides more energy, less depression, improved digestion and regularity.
Eat your nutritious foods such as more fiber foods, cut out high fat, saturated fats and cholesterol. Eat more foods that are high in monounsaturated fats such as olive oil and canola oil and polyunsaturated fats such as safflower, sunflower or corn oil. Start read your food labels (here is a website that shows you how to read your website: www.nhlbi.nih.gov
Now you know how you can have a healthy heart and now it is time to start making changes today. If you would like to have a personal heart healthy lifestyle meal plan, click here to find out how!
For Black History Month, here is a link to webinar where I was a guest panelist for my school American College of Health Sciences. Let me know what you think of the webinar and enjoy! Link - https://achsedu.wistia.com/medias/rpcj70wiyl
