Today I will continue on the series of articles about the wonders of the human body. My intention with these articles is to explore the human experience from the perspective of amazement and awe. Human beings are truly miraculous creatures. To be human is a gift, one in which we don’t want to take for granted. In this article I will explore heart disease and its impact on men and women.
The heart is a pump in your chest the size of your fist that beats up to 100,000 times a day. Unfortunately, any major disturbance in its function can be fatal. In fact, heart disease is the number one killer worldwide.
Disturbances in heart function can be attributed to any number of villains. For instance, high blood pressure, an overabundance of LDL, or bad cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, obesity and emotional stress can all lead to heart disease. Anyone of these can interfere with the hearts intricate system and lead to dysfunction.
The price is high not only in loss of life. According to an article published recently in Scientific American, annual costs for heart disease and its associated problems is in excess of $270 billion and will triple within 20 years to an estimated over $800 billion a year. Heart disease is not an isolated event. Research is showing a relationship to dementia, obesity, kidney disease and depression.
As the title of this article would suggest, heart disease is not just a man’s problem. In fact, one third of all deaths worldwide in women are from heart disease. Women die at an alarming rate from heart problems as high as one person per minute worldwide, more than all types of cancer combined.
In the United States over 430,000 American women have heart attacks annually. 20% of those are under 65 years old. The rate of survival after heart attack between men and women has widened. More women die within one year after a heart attack then men.
One of the primary problems with heart disease in women is the misunderstanding of its acute symptoms. Interestingly, women do not experience the same kind of symptoms as men. According to Newsweek magazine, 70 percent of women experience no chest pain at all.
The primary symptoms preceding heart attacks in women were fatigue and sleep problems. Because of this, there is a tendency for women to dismiss their complaints as a sign of stress or aging, not heart disease. They merely don’t realize what they are experiencing is serious. The good news for women is that their hearts responded better than men to healthy lifestyle changes like diet and exercise.
As we all know heart disease represents a serious risk to men. In the early 1900s, the flu, pneumonia and tuberculosis were the leading causes of death. But since 1950, heart disease now has the fatal lead. Men also represent the largest number of heart transplant patients and up to 75% of all bypass operations are on men. The symptoms for men are the more traditionally understood such as chest pain, and shortness of breath.
The steps for a healthy heart can be taken every day and are rather easy. There are seven simple guidelines recommended by the American Heart Association. Exercise, control cholesterol, eat better, manage blood pressure, lose weight, reduce blood sugar and stop smoking. Complementary to this list from cardiologist, Dr. Dean Ornish is meditation and yoga. All of these recommendations are simple and cost-effective. Isn’t your heart worth it?
Matthew McQuaid, DPM is a board certified foot surgeon practicing in Lakeport. He has a particular interest in Mind/Body medicine and its impact on healing. He is an award winning author and teacher. For more information call 263-3727 and visit www.drmcquaid.com.
