The euphoria of Valentine's Day has worn off, you've had a few too many desserts, and realize that you have hit that moment when you look in the mirror, the numbers on the scale and think that it's time to get serious about your health.
You feel uncomfortable in your clothes, everything is harder to do, you are out of breath, and you have no energy. Take a serious look at your lifestyle - are there things you can change? Does the idea of living encourage you to rethink some of your habits that are causing problems in your life? Do you feel out of control and don't know where to begin to make changes?
Well good news! This is American Heart Month and there are many resources available to help you take that first step to a winning life. Our heart is the center of our lives, it keeps us alive, and what condition is it in? Are you taking care of your heart?
Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women? Look at these numbers from the American heart Association Heart Disease & Stroke Statistics, updated 2008;
- 80,700,000 American adults have one or more types of cardiovascular disease.
- Cardiovascular disease includes stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, birth heart defects, hardening of the blood vessels, and other diseases of the circulatory system.
- One in 3 female adults have some form of cardiovascular disease.
- In 2004, cardiovascular disease caused about a death a minute among females.
- In 2004, 460,000 female lives were lost due to cardiovascular disease.
- More female lives were lost due to cardiovascular disease than by cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease, accidents, and diabetes combined.
- 49% of Black/African-American women have cardiovascular disease.
- 35% of non-Hispanic white women have cardiovascular disease.
- 34.4% of Mexican-American women have cardiovascular disease.
Overweight, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, eating the wrong foods, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even a family history of heart disease contribute to heart disease deaths in women.
As a Winning Woman you have the ability utilizing the right information and tools to reduce the risk of heart disease and have a healthy and longer life.
If you do just 4 simple things; not smoking, balanced eating with the right foods, do some physical activity and lowering your weight to a healthy number, doing these four thing can help lower your risk of heart disease by as much as 82% according to the NHLBI.
We must spread the word to other Winning Women and encourage each other to take this seriously. To remind ourselves - wear RED! Joining a local group or starting one in your area to create accountability partners if you think you can't tackle this on your own.
Sometimes we just need another person who is willing to get us out of the house, walk with us, talk with us, and encourage us.
Living healthy is really Winning.
Be a healthy Winning Woman!
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1 comments:
There is no one who leads an "everyday life" who couldnt benefit from cleaning up their health routine, as well as educating themselves on common diseases, probability, and risk factors. This article is helpful to all women, regardless of age, race, habits, etc. Thank you!
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