Heart health: why it matters to women

We’re all aware of the importance of taking good care of our heart health, but it can be difficult to know how.

The heart is an organ responsible of circulating blood in the body. It is made up of muscles that pumps blood every time we breath.

When the heart is not well taken care of, it develops an abnormal behaviour, which results to heart diseases and failure.

Heart disease is the one that affects the heart, blood vessels and the circulatory system in general. According to mayoclinic, heart disease may often be thought of as a problem for men, heart disease is the most common cause of death for both women and men, claiming at least 17.9 million lives every year, globally. One challenge is that some heart disease symptoms in women may be different from those in men. Fortunately, women can take steps to understand their unique symptoms of heart disease and to begin to reduce their risk of heart disease.

Risk factors

Women face a higher threat of heart disease in Tanzania and most of them are not aware of the risks, says Dr Pedro Pallangyo based at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), in an interview with Your Health.

Majority of the heart disease cases they have been receiving recently, involve more women than men. “Poor lifestyle marks the beginning of heart diseases,” says Dr Pallangyo.

There are many risk factors which contribute to the heart diseases for women such as genetic predisposition, smoking, excessive alcohol intake, overweight and old age.

“Women who are at a higher risk of being attacked by a heart disease, are either in their reproductive age or elderly,” he says.

Dr Pallangyo explains the risk factors in depth and how they can lead to heart disease as follows.

1. Obesity

Obesity or overweight is becoming more dangerous for women especially in reproductive age because of the many factors that goes along with pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding leads to overeating more than normal, hence the consequence of adding too much weight.

Overweight women are at a higher risk because their blood circulation is low. It also means their cholesterol level is high, which blocks the blood to circulate normally.

2. Lack of exercise

Many women do not have the habit of doing regular exercises. Exercise helps open blood vessel which circulate blood in the body, it also lowers blood pressure and keeps body fit. Eventually helps fight against diseases. It also helps lose weight and improve cholesterol level which is the main risk for the heart diseases. Exercise helps to strengthen heart muscles and become more efficienct in pumping blood better to the rest of the body.

3. Unbalanced diet

Eating a balanced diet has many advantages to the body. One of them is to build body immunity, which helps the body fight against diseases, also eating the right portion of food helps prevent body from adding weight. Balanced diet includes eating healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and other natural foods. Bad eating habits may result to excessive weight gain which cause obesity and high blood pressure.

4. Heredity

When members of a family pass traits from one generation to another through genes, that process is called heredity.

Genetic factors likely play some role in high blood pressure, heart disease, and other related conditions. However, it is also likely that people with a family history of heart disease share common environments and other potential factors that increase their risk.

The risk for heart disease can increase even more when heredity combines with unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking cigarettes and eating an unhealthy diet.

5. Smoking

Women who smoke have a high risk for heart diseases than the ones who don’t smoke. To quit smoking, is the one of the safest ways to avoid heart diseases. Chemicals from tobacco affect blood vessels, it also blocks the arteries which circulate blood in the body which can result to heart diseases.

6. Pregnancy complications

High blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy can increase a woman’s long term risk of heart diseases. Also other non-communicable diseases like diabetes can increase the development of heart diseases in mother.

7. Diabetes

Data from Heart National Association from 2012 shows that 65 per cent of people with diabetes will die from heart disease or stroke. Women with diabetes are at the highest risk of being attacked by heart disease.

Dr Pallangyo suggests that in order to avoid or minimise risk of heart disease among women, it is better to deal with all the risks that are aforementioned.

Prevention is better than cure

Dr Pallangyo suggests that little lifestyle changes can spurt to bigger and better health outcomes.

He says, “Exercise should be necessary for every individual, exercise is important to the body, it fights against diseases, it helps lose weight and makes the body active.”

He further emphasises on the right portioning of meals and balanced meals. “Eating healthy, balanced and right portion of food is essential in order to avoid obesity and all diseases that comes along. Food is good for the health but if it is not eaten well, it becomes toxic, dangerous and poisonous for the body,” he advises.