Ladies, Your Heart Needs Love Too
Guest Writer: Mona Klenja, Student Intern with Vanessa Farrell, MPH, MCHES
February is not just about Valentine’s Day, it’s Heart Health Month. Heart Health Month raises awareness about the serious dangers posed by heart disease and helps people reduce their risk of strokes, heart attacks, and other related complications. Believe it or not, heart disease is the cause of about 1 in every 4 deaths in the United States, causing the loss of more than half a million people each year. More specifically, only 56% of women are aware that heart disease is women’s number one killer in the United States.
Most recent statistics on heart disease show that approximately 299,578 or about 1 in every 5 female deaths are a result of heart disease. Hypertension has a huge impact on African American women in comparison to any other racial group. In the U.S., nearly 58% of African American women have high blood pressure compared to about 41% of White and Hispanic women, according to the American Heart Association. For African-American women, death rates from high blood pressure-related causes are nearly double that of White women and more than twice the rate for Hispanic women.
There are many activities underway during the month of February, but the primary focus is to help women understand the significance of taking actions to prevent heart diseases, especially those with major risk factors such as high blood pressure also clinically known as hypertension. Hypertension occurs when the pressure of blood in your arteries and other blood vessels is too high and is above the recommended reading of 120/80 mm Hg. The key to prevention includes the adaptation of healthy lifestyle changes such as eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising daily, reducing salt intake to less than 5g daily, eliminating/reducing trans fats in diets, and reducing alcohol consumption.
Because of the prevalence of heart disease in the US and around the world, it is important to understand the common symptoms which may include shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling of the feet, ankles, legs, abdomen, or neck veins, and chest discomfort. Although these symptoms can mask other diseases, it’s important to partner with your healthcare provider to monitor and control the early onset of these symptoms.
Special focus is geared to women with special attention on those who are in leadership positions with high blood pressure who may find themselves sacrificing their health for their career. Women often find themselves balancing full-time jobs, raising children, managing busy households and even caring for aging parents. These important yet competing priorities often leave women exhausted and neglectful of their general health and wellness needs. A year or two of missed doctor’s visits may not prove harmful, but years of ongoing neglect and self-sacrifice can lead to catastrophic outcomes when it comes to uncontrolled hypertension.
We all know that a woman can have no symptoms of her pressure being high, yet ends up suffering a fatal heart attack or stroke. This is because hypertension is known as a “silent killer”, meaning it might not show any signs or symptoms. With this in mind, we are encouraging women, especially those who have been diagnosed as hypertensive to create a daily habit of checking their blood pressure and logging it in so they can better understand their blood pressure trends and triggers. Additionally, it is crucial that they maintain a healthy lifestyle, take their medication as prescribed and partner with their healthcare provider in the management of their blood pressure.
Rates of hypertension have not improved for black women over the past quarter of a century. Studies (1996 and 2021) show that hypertension-related mortality and morbidity for black women remain among the highest in the industrialized nations; and compared to U.S. whites, hypertension in black women is characterized by higher incidence, earlier onset, longer duration, and higher prevalence. These incidences may continue to soar for women of color, especially the newly diagnosed as there seems to be a stigma associated with the diagnosis which may lead to poor blood pressure management and control.
About the authors:
Mona Klenja is student intern at VI Health and Wellness Coaching, LLC. She a fourth year student at Rutgers University pursuing a degree in public health. Her goal is to complete medical school and become a physician. Mona has a lot of experience in the healthcare field; she has worked as a Patient Care Coordinator at Riverside Urgent Care and is currently a Nursing Secretary at Saint Peter's University Hospital.
Vanessa Ingrid Farrell is a best-selling author and the CEO and founder of VI Health and Wellness Coaching, LLC. We help busy women, especially those in leadership roles, unapologetically prioritize and preserve their heart health without sacrificing careers and the joys of everyday life experiences.
Sources
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2021/09/28/how-black-women-can-take-control-of-their-blood-pressure
https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/CTA.htm
https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2018/07/27/09/02/women-and-hypertension
