<img src=/resources/alaska/images/wha/risk_ban1.jpg alt="Providence Women's Heart Advantage">

One of the reasons that heart disease kills so many American women is because many women don’t even know that they have it. While there's no way to be sure, certain factors can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. You can't do anything about unchangeable risk factors like age, family history, race or gender. But you can lower your risk by changing some of your habits and taking medicine if needed.

To find out if you’re at risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), test your Healthy Heart I.Q. An

online quiz about CVD risk factors (traits or habits that make a person more likely to develop a disease) is available from the American Heart Association.

Risks I Can’t Change
• Increasing age
• Heredity (family history) and race
• Prior stroke

Cigarette or Tobacco Use
Smoking is a woman's single biggest risk factor for heart attack. Smokers' risk of heart attack is more than twice that of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking is the biggest risk factor for sudden cardiac death: smokers have two to four times the risk of nonsmokers. Smokers who have a heart attack are more likely to die and die suddenly (within an hour) than are nonsmokers. Available evidence also indicates that chronic exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke, passive smoking) may increase the risk of heart disease.

High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure usually has no symptoms. The only way to know you have it is to measure it. Your blood pressure reading is written as a ratio, such as 130/85. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is defined as readings of 140/90 or greater that stay high for an extended time. More from the American Heart Association.

Have your blood pressure checked often, at least every year.

Exercise and Physical Activity
The best way to condition your heart and lungs is to do vigorous activities like brisk walking, running and swimming for 30-60 minutes, three to four times a week. Regular physical activity improves your cardiovascular fitness and helps reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. You'll feel better and look better, too. You don't have to be an exercise fanatic to lower your risk! New research has shown you can gain health benefits from doing low-to-moderate-intensity physical activity for a total of 30 minutes a day on most days. This means you can add up three 10-minute or two 15-minute periods per day, doing everyday activities like walking, yard work, housework - even dancing! Want to overcome the risk? Get moving!

Obesity and Weight Management
If you are overweight or obese, you have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, even if you have no other risk factors. Obesity is indirectly linked with heart disease and stroke risk mainly because it influences blood pressure, blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels and makes diabetes more likely to develop.

Diabetes
Diabetes seriously increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Even when glucose levels are under control, diabetes seriously increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. More than 80 percent of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel disease. If you have diabetes, it's critically important for you to monitor and control any other risk factors you can.

Stress
Individual response to stress may be a contributing factor. Some scientists have noted a relationship between coronary heart disease risk and a person's life, behavior habits and socioeconomic status. These factors may affect established risk factors. For example, people under stress may overeat, start smoking or smoke more than they otherwise would.

The good news is that many of the risk factors for CVD in women can be controlled with lifestyle changes and/or medication. Call the Providence Heart Line to become a member of Women’s HeartAdvantage.