American Heart Month
February is National Heart Month and during this month we’ll see advertisements on TV, in magazines, and online reminding us of the warning signs of a heart attack. While many symptoms are the same for both men and women, there are a few warning signs that are much more common for women than men. Your health, or that of a loved one, depends on you knowing these signs.
Warning Signs
American Heart Association’s warning signs of a heart attack:
For men…
- • Chest pain or discomfort which can also feel like pressure or squeezing
- • Chest pain that comes and goes
- • Pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck, or jaw
- • Shortness of breath
- • Experiencing nausea or stomach pain
- • Becoming lightheaded
- • Becoming clammy or breaking out into a sweat
For women…
- • Chest pain or discomfort which can also feel like pressure or squeezing
- • Chest pain that comes and goes
- • Pain or discomfort in the arms, back, or neck
- • Jaw pain – more common for women
- • Shortness of breath – more common for women
- • Experiencing nausea and vomiting – more common for women
- • Becoming lightheaded
- • Becoming clammy or breaking out into a sweat
Addressing Heart Health
There are many different ways to take stock of your heart health:
- • Know your family medical history
- • Get a physical
- • Start a regular exercise program
- • Adopt a heart healthy diet (see Mayo Clinic suggestions below)
- • If you smoke, quit
- • Monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol levels
Healthy Eating
Mayo Clinic‘s tips for eating a heart-healthy diet:
- • Control portion size
- • Eat more fruits and vegetables
- • Eat whole grains
- • Limit unhealthy fats
- • Limit sodium intake
- • Eat lean cuts of meat and fish
- • Meal plan
- • Limit treats, but enjoy occasionally
Celebrating Heart Health During February
Ways to celebrate National Heart Month:
- • Participate in a virtual running or cycling event to support heart health
- • Take a CPR certification course
- • Wear red on February 4th to support women’s heart health
- • Attend a virtual health and fitness expo or conference
- • Organize an online heart health screening for your office
- • Make a donation to a charitable organization researching cures for heart disease
As with so many other diseases, diet and exercise play a huge role in maintaining a healthy heart. February is the perfect time to focus on lifestyle changes that will keep your heart healthy. Do it for yourself and for the ones you love!
Questions:
- • Do you have a healthy heart?
- • Are you CPR certified?
- • What is your favorite heart-healthy meal?
Last year, we went to a cardiologist who had a good look at our heart and arteries. Interestingly, he told us what he was expecting to find based on our ancestry (!), age, weight and eating and fitness habits.
He was spot on!
He recommended eating more salmon, which I have neglected lately. Time to change that!
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We love salmon, but haven’t grille it recently. I need to change that, too!
Since I had one aunt who had a major heart attack late in life, one uncle who died from a massive heart attack — on my birthday, no less (that was decades ago and he also had other things going on) — both of them smoked. It’s part of why I still run even though right now I don’t race.
Both of my parents ended up in heart failure at the end of their lives. Truthfully I’m not sure you can avoid that when you live that long, but as I frequently tell family, there are many things you can’t control, but I’m going to do the things that I can control to stay healthy!
Either rice or quinoa, beans, and veggies. One of my favorite meals. Unfortunately not one of my husband’s favorite meals! But he will eat it occasionally — like he’s going to today, LOL!
I have a history of heart disease on my mom’s side of the family, too, which is all the more reason to stay diligent. Hope you enjoyed your quinoa, beans, and veggies meal yesterday! Our dinner was quite the opposite, and not so healthy. I made my husband’s grandmother’s beef braciola for his birthday dinner.
High cholesterol is common in my family. I know my mother takes medication for it and seems to be doing much better. I think once my doctor told me to be on the lookout for it because the bad cholesterol level has gone up. Since then it hasn’t been an issue. I keep active and “try” to watch what I eat, but I like food and like to eat. 🙂 Most mornings I have a shake with oatmeal so I like to think that that is helping.
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Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the reminder.
I hope I am healthy.
Not CPR certified.
Is red wine healthy?
I use chicken or Turkey instead of beef in chili and meatloaf. Brown rice. Veggies. Fruit instead of ice cream.
I do my best.
Bring active is key.
Yes, being active is important, but so is eating healthy. I do better in the being active department, but I do try to eat healthy.
Great post! I have an unusual situation where my cholesterol is perfect and my blood pressure is low- but I have unusually high levels of a lipoprotein that’s a hidden factor of heart disease. Apparently it’s genetic and there’s not really anything to be done (for a while I was taking niacin but that did nothing so we gave up on that.) For that reason, I had a calcium scan done where they can see if there’s any plaque buildup in your arteries, and luckily I had none. I’ll just do the scan every ten years or so to make sure everything is good!
Thanks for posting the warning signs for heart attacks- from what I understand, women especially can miss the early signs because it’s not what they expect. Very important topic!
Your calcium scan sounds interesting and I just went down a rabbit hole researching what it involves. It’s great that that’s an option for you to stay on top of your health.
These are great reminders of the signs/symptoms of heart trouble. Gosh, just this morning we had an incident at work…a gal (in her mid-60’s) has a slight heart condition, and is supposed to avoid caffeine. Well, for the first time (in a long time, I was told), she drank a 1/2 cup of coffee, and her heart rate started racing. After an hour or so, her heart rate had not gone down much, so we finally convinced her to go to an urgent care facility (someone drive her). SCARY! She’d had a similar experience once before, so she knew things would eventually “normalize,” but we all were scared for her not taking it more seriously.
Oh wow, that’s scary!
Great post, thank you for all the information about this important topic.
Mom and her father died for heart disease, my mom was only 70 and my grandpa 73.
My heart is healthy and I am under control to get every year the run card necessary to race in Italy.
I got a similar certification when I was in the Coast Guard.
I love vegetables.
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Thank you, and yes, I feel it’s an important reminder for everyone.
Do you need a physical exam in order to get the card that says you’re healthy enough to run in races?
To get the annual run card we need a medical certificata issued by a specialist who also checks clinical analysis, spirometry and an electrocardiogram.
Thanks for the information – it’s so interesting to see varying policies in different countries. Here, we sign a waiver saying that we know exercise can be dangerous and that we won’t hold the race organizers responsible if something happens to us.
Such a great post! Every year my OTF studio hosts a 90 min class to benefit the AHA. This year we raised $1,500, the highest total yet! It’s a very important cause for my studio as the head coach had open heart surgery as a child.
I was CPR certified a few years ago, but I need a refresher. Thanks for the reminder!
That’s great that your OTF studio raises money for the AHA.
Thanks for all this information Deb. I had no idea about the jaw pain for women! I wonder why? Would never have connected the two! My dad had a pace-maker put in last October so this is something that has been on my mind – taking all the precautions now to prevent problems in the future.
Yes, jaw pain is one more thing to watch out for, and important to know about since it can be overlooked as a warning sign of a heart attack.