ONE IN THREE AMERICAN WOMEN WILL DIE FROM…


One in three American women will die from… a) Cancer, b) an accident in the home, or c) Heart Disease. If you chose a) Cancer, you are wrong. Potentially, you are dead wrong. Most women would choose a) Cancer, when in fact, since 1984, heart disease has killed more women than men in America.

According to public information from the National Institutes of Health one in three American women will die of heart disease. One in 14 women aged 45-64 has heart disease. This number increases to one in seven for women over the age of 65. Other surveys rate women’s death from heart disease as high as one in two. These are startling statistics for a disease that is largely preventable.

There are some things that you cannot control about your potential for getting heart disease; namely genetic disposition and age. Many of the other contributors to heart disease clearly come from choices that we make on a daily basis. Smoking, eating the wrong foods, and lack of the proper kind of exercise are potentially deadly life-style choices especially after menopause.

So why are we so ill informed about heart disease in women? Perhaps it just doesn’t get enough media attention. Perhaps women are too busy taking care of other people to take care of themselves. Perhaps we are just too lazy to educate ourselves about the causes of heart disease, or even worse, know the causes; yet rationalize our bad behaviors by saying things like “I’ll stop smoking when my stress level eases up”; “It’s too (cold, dangerous, early, late; insert whatever you like into here) to exercise today”; or “I don’t have time to make my own lunch, I’ll just pick up some fast food”

We, as a gender, really need to become more pro-active about tending to our own health. If you smoke – stop. If you don’t get enough of the right kind of exercise – start, slowly at first, but at least get started. Watch your diet. Reduce stress by learning how to manage it.

We need to see our health care professionals on a regular basis. We need to know enough about current health issues in women to be able to ask intelligent questions; and to question our health care professionals when we seem to be getting a stock answers. If you don’t like what you are hearing, seek out a different opinion. Most importantly, be in tune with your body and listen to what it is telling you.