What To Do About More Women Dying of #Heart Disease Than Men?

Originally Posted May 4, 2015

There are five preventative treatments for women to lessen their chances of dying from heart disease.  Are you, or the women you care about doing them?

Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, Director of the Barbra Steisand Women’s Heart Center in Los Angles, as well as the Preventive Cardiac Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, spoke in Winnipeg recently, outlining some of the facts concerning heart health for women.  There is definitely a difference between the signs of heart disease for men and women, plus how to best treat them.

Studies have shown there is a 50% lower death rate amongst women ages 50 – 70 who participate in all five of these lifestyle choices:

1.  Adopt the Mediterranean Diet

2.  No smoking.  There are immediate benefits when you stop smoking.

3.  Non-obese.  It’s okay to be “chubby” if you are fit.  The Body Mass Index can be misleading.  A skinny person can actually be obese if they aren’t fit.  Do your 10,000 steps a day.

4.  30 minutes of exercise a day.  Find what works for you and be consistent.  You need to move for a healthy heart.

5.  One serving of alcohol a day.  It doesn’t even matter what kind.  Only one 6 oz drink of wine a day for women.  Two allowed for men.  With meals.  This gives the lowest risk of mortality.  (Everyone at the luncheon was rushing home to have a glass of wine!)

Thanks to the Harold Buchwald Heart Health Luncheon for hosting this event.  In Winnipeg, the leadership of cardiologists like Dr. Naranjan Dhalla led to this city becoming the home of the “International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences” more than a decade ago.  Women’s heart health issues are getting more attention every year in the research grants that are awarded