Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men and women in America. Yet, many women continue to underestimate their risk of developing heart disease
The good news is that heart disease can be prevented. You can significantly lower your risk of heart disease—by as much as 82 percent—by adopting sensible health habits. So, no matter what your age, now is the time to start taking steps to improve your heart health. This goes for your children and other family members, too. Read on to learn how to fight the increasing rates of obesity and inactive lifestyles—major risks for health conditions associated with heart disease.
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Factors That Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease
Heart disease includes heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases. What makes a person more likely to develop heart disease? The following are known risk factors for heart disease:
- Age
- Family history
- Smoking tobacco
- Physical inactivity
- Overweight/obesity
- High blood pressure , also called hypertension
- High LDL, or “bad” cholesterol , and/or low HDL, or “good” cholesterol
- Pre-diabetes or diabetes
Many of these factors tend to cluster—if you have one, you are likely to have others, too. For example, someone who is obese is very likely to develop diabetes, to not be getting enough exercise and to have high cholesterol and blood pressure.
How you respond to stress and drinking too much alcohol can also make you more vulnerable to heart disease.
While some risk factors are beyond your control, such as increasing age and family history of early heart disease, the lifestyle choices you make every day can have a big impact on your risk of heart disease.
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Reference: healthywomen.org