Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Poor marriage = poor heart health for women

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  @HeartSisters

Did you know that men who are married – happily or not – are generally far healthier than their unmarried buddies?  A man’s physical health apparently benefits simply from the state of being married, whether or not he rates it as a good marriage.

But a woman’s overall health can be significantly threatened by trouble at home, according to researchers at the University of Utah.(1)  Women respond to unhappy marriages by being three times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome – a cluster of serious cardiac risk factors that can lead to heart disease.   click here to continue reading

Flossing, brushing and heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

Isn’t it enough that poor dental health can cause tooth loss,  pain, bleeding gums and bad breath?  Now Health Canada tells us that the state of our mouths is also linked with diabetes, respiratory disease, delivering premature or low-birth-weight babies, and, yes, even cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota agree.  Their report in the journal Circulation suggests that chronic infections, including periodontal (gum) infections, may predispose us to cardiovascular disease.

How strong is this link? click to continue reading

Women’s heart disease and chronic stress

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Cardiology researchers have recently begun calling on doctors to include the diagnosis and treatment of stress in the routine care for patients with heart disease.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, led by researchers at Université Laval in Quebec City, found that first-time heart attack survivors who returned to chronically stressful jobs within 18 months of their heart attacks were twice as likely to have a second heart attack as patients whose occupations were less stressful, and also had a markedly higher risk of death than their less-stressed peers.   click to continue reading

Do low iron stores protect women from heart attacks?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Women are somewhat protected from developing heart disease – until we hit menopause, that is.

Many cardiologists believe that the hormone estrogen is women’s secret cardioprotective weapon, until our production of estrogen tapers off and our heart attack rates rise dramatically at menopause to surpass men’s rates. That’s an increasingly  controversial theory, however.

Researchers from Finland, for example, now question this estrogen theory in light of a remarkable study that appears to link iron depletion with protection of heart health. This hypothesis has actually been kicked around by scientists since 1981, when they first observed that the lower rate of heart attacks in menstruating women was associated with relatively low levels of stored iron.   click to continue reading