TAMPA, Fla. — For Valentine’s Day, doctors want people to show some love to their hearts. They’ve been raising awareness all month long for American Heart Month.
“Everyone should be aware that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, and that’s for everyone across the board,” said Dr. Daniela Crousillat, Director of the Women’s Heart Program at the University of South Florida.
There’s an extra effort to make women aware.
“We know the awareness in general in our communities tends to lag behind in women compared to men. So we want to sort of take the stage and use this month to really say that it’s not just a man’s disease but that women are unfortunately affected probably just as much as men, and is the leading cause of death among women as well,” Dr. Crousillat said.
According to the American Heart Association, on average, someone dies of cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds.
That’s why doctors are encouraging people to use February as a time to check in to know their personal risks.
“I think for everybody, men and women, just to sort of get to know their history, get to know what runs in their family. Some things are, unfortunately, genetic. Maybe get to know a little bit more about the risk factors for cardiac disease,” said Dr. Crousillat.
Those include more traditional risk factors like:
- Smoking
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Being overweight
- High cholesterol
- Being over the age of 65
A more newly recognized risk factor is being sedentary.
“Even things like being sedentary, a lot of us sort of think that’s the new smoking. I think the rates of smoking have really come down in the last couple of decades, but unfortunately, I think that even after the pandemic, we see that just in general, the way that our communities and even individuals are getting moving, those things have definitely been decreasing. Being sedentary and not moving is actually a risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Crousillat.
Another newly recognized risk factor is not getting enough sleep.
“The other prominent one is having sort of impaired sleep or erratic sleep. So not getting sufficient sleep has actually been recognized by the American Heart Association as an important risk factor for future cardiovascular disease and as part of sort of their campaign for the essential eight things people can do to prevent heart disease,” said Dr. Crousillat.
“I think if you ask most people, they don’t think of things like being sedentary or potentially not getting enough sleep as risk factors,” she added.
There are also risk factors that are specific to women.
“Things like having complications in pregnancy, such as high blood pressure associated with pregnancy or diabetes. Or even things like having menopause too early can sometimes be risk factors,” said Dr. Crousillat.
Doctors said prevention is key.
“Your lifestyle, including your diet and exercise regime. I would recommend concentrating on a Mediterranean diet with fruits and vegetables and healthy grain-type carbs. Try and do about 150 minutes of moderate exercise. Mainly walking is very important to prevent heart disease,” Dr. Binu Jacob, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologist at AdventHealth.
Doctors believe it’s never too late or too early to make changes to improve your heart health.
