American Heart Month is intended to raise awareness of heart disease. One in five deaths annually is caused by heart disease. Every 40 seconds, an American has a heart attack. While we may think of heart disease as a male issue, it is one of the leading causes of death for women. Both men and women of any age can be affected by heart disease, but the risk tends to increase as you age.
While there are some risk factors for heart disease that you can’t change, like family history, there are other ways for everyone to reduce the risk of heart disease:
  • Have your blood pressure checked. Hypertension is often underdiagnosed in women. Remember, high blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease and has no symptoms.
  • Quit using tobacco, including smoking, vaping, and chewing tobacco. Tobacco use is related to multiple diseases, not only cardiovascular disease.
  • Limit how much alcohol you drink. Drinking less alcohol can improve your health and wellbeing.
  • Maintain a healthy weight.
  • Get moving. Aim for 150 minutes of exercise per week. Short doses of activity count towards the 150 minutes.
  • Get checked for diabetes.
Many of these risk factors can be addressed by our partners at TrestleTree Health. Lifestyle coaching can help you with nutrition, weight management, diabetes management, smoking cessation, and more. For more information, contact TrestleTree at 1-866-523-8185 or visit the TrestleTree web page. You can also enroll here.
For more information about heart disease see: