You should take Care of Your Heart Health

February is that the month to honor your heart and make certain it stays healthy year-around. I learned a lot of concerning heart health from the yankee Heart Association (AHA) Go Red for ladies Campaign and wished to share it with all of you. Boomer girls are especially prone to heart disease after menopause because ourestrogen levels decrease causing a whole lot of ruckus in our body.

While heart disease and stroke kill one in three women, the good news is that 80 percent is preventable.

So what are you doing to take care of your heart?

I talked with Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, attending medical specialist and Director of ladies and cardiovascular disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in the big apple town, to learn more about menopause and what boomer girls can do to stay in tip-top shape. Here are excerpts:

Q: How does menopause impact heart health?
A: “Menopause is so fascinating,” said Dr. Steinbaum. “It is concerning the closing out of our time to breed. Estrogen levels decrease and the benefits of estrogen decline. Blood pressure rises. LDL—the bad cholesterol—rises. Research has shown that ten years once change of life has occurred that cardiovascular disease will increase as a result of you now not have any steroid hormone left in your body.” (Ugh! This is depressing. I feel like I may need to eat all those heart-shaped chocolates I just bought for L. Isn’t dark chocolate good for the heart?)

Q: What can menopausal (and post-meno) women do to prevent heart disease?
A: “First, train for change of life such as you area unit coaching for a marathon,” said Dr. Steinbaum. “It’s very concerning maintaining a healthy fashion.” (A marathon! A marathon! I can barely run a mile these days.)

Q: If I can’t run a marathon, how can I maintain a healthy heart?
A: Dr. Steinbaum shared the three key components of a healthy lifestyle:

Exercise is that the best medication to stay cholesterin down,” said Dr. Steinbaum. “You need a combination of exercise, including cardiovascular exercise where you get your heart rate up—30 minutes five days a week is recommended, such as rapid walking, jogging or Zumba. You can do cardio workouts in 10-minute increments throughout the day.”

To calculate your cardio-workout vital sign, use the following equation: (220 – your age x .85)

(OK, got it! Looks like I may have to get back on the treadmill or start walking on the track. Maybe I ought to study to be a Zumba Gold teacher once I end my yoga coaching. How am I attending to work all this cardio exercise into my schedule additionally to yoga and bicycling? Glad stretching and relaxation exercises are important too. Forget about sleeping. Not to worry—with no a lot of steroid hormone in my body, I won’t be sleeping for long periods anyway.)

Maintain a healthy diet and healthy weight,” said Dr. Steinbaum. (I told Dr. S that my cholesterol is very high, inching up to 275 last year. I told her i am unable to tolerate statins which my triglycerides area unit low, and my HDL, the happy cholesterol is high, so my ratio of HDL to LDL is good. My ma had high cholesterin and my papa died of cardiovascular disease and polygenic disease thus biology space not on my facet. I went on Zetia, which is not a statin, but helped to lower my cholesterol a few years ago. Dr. S instructed some practical foods to consume which will facilitate decrease low-density lipoprotein, as well as salmon wealthy in omega-3 fatty acid fatty acids, avocados, vegetable oil and whole grains.)