HealthTree Blog

The importance of cardiovascular health for women originally did not receive as much attention as did cardiovascular health for men; however awareness is growing. This is evidenced in the increase in public service announcements and other advertisement campaigns geared toward women.

Part of the reason why cardiovascular health for women may have been given less attention in the past was because men had generally been more prone to heart attack than women. With today’s high pressure society, and increased demands on everyone, however, the incidence of women having heart attacks is increasing.

On the positive side, one reason that cardiovascular health for women has become such a hot topic is because many women are paying more attention to their overall health today. They are doing this by having preventive check-ups, rather than waiting until they have symptoms to visit a doctor.

The increased emphasis on cardiovascular health for women has made it easier for women to recognize heart attack symptoms. Many of the common heart attack symptoms, such as chest pain that may radiate to the neck, jaw, or left arm, shortness of breath, and dizziness are the same as for men.

However, women may not always experience the classic chest pain. Instead, their heart attack symptoms may only manifest themselves in shoulder or arm pain, or even in simply a heightened awareness that “something is not right”. Because of this, women who are experiencing unusual physical feelings which cannot be directly attributed to another problem should consider that they are suffering heart attack symptoms, and take necessary steps.

Further, just like men, women may experience heart attack symptoms, but actually not be having a heart attack. Whether or not they are caused by a heart attack, however, can only be determined by a doctor; therefore, they should not be ignored.
Achieving optimal cardiovascular health in women is the same as it is for men. Women should eat a healthy diet, maintain their weight at a healthy level, and monitor their blood pressure, just as men do.