Women's Heart Health Awareness Month

Carol’s Corner
February is Women’s Heart Health Awareness Month. Women are more likely to have atypical symptoms of a heart attack, such as nausea; vomiting; pain in upper back, neck or jaw; indigestion; or being extremely fatigued.

What lifestyle changes can you make for a healthy heart?
1. Quit smoking.
2. Stay physically active (a minimum of 30 minutes a day) can be broken into 10 minute segments – do this most days of the week.
3. Limit alcohol intake.
4. Maintain a healthy weight.
5. Eat a heart-healthy diet.
6. Know your numbers.
Blood pressure should be
120/80 or below.
LDL “bad” cholesterol should
be under 100 mg/dL.
HDL “good cholesterol”
should be above 50 mg/dL.
Total cholesterol should be
under 200.
Waist measurement ideally should be 32 ½ inches or less for women, and 35 inches or less for men. 7. Aim for 10,000 steps every day. (I thought I walked a lot, but found that I have to do an intentional 30-40 minutes every day to attain that goal.) Get a pedometer and see how you fare stepwise on a daily basis. Challenge yourself to increase your steps each day. Get someone to walk with you – it makes it much more fun, and you can keep each other on track.