Heart Disease in Women

Heart disease has taken front and center stage in the fight against progressive disease in the United States. For millions of Americans, heart disease is a daily struggle and battle we not only fight to cure but also fight to prevent. Of the factors that may pre-dispose us to heart disease there is one that is chronically plaguing Americans consistently; stress.

Stress can kill us and every day is performing a silent destruction upon your blood vessels creating the platform and complication of high blood pressure. With high blood pressure comes the first step in the creation of a great cardiovascular complication known as heart disease.

Stress hormones contribute to some profound physiological changes in our body. When adrenaline and noradrenaline are released, in response to stress, our bodies undergo a significant change in heart rate, respiration and even blood pressure often impairing our ability to physically move the extremities. The result is the release of additional sugar into the blood in an effort to boost our natural energetic response. When stress becomes chronic, we continually release these abnormal stress hormones and, as a result, our body never recovers physiologically.

For women, these stress complications are of greater concern as women, physiologically, respond more quickly and to a greater degree than that of men. As a result, women who are under chronic stress will commonly suffer from this silent killer, developing high blood pressure, well before their male counterparts.

Coupled with the physiological complications for women also comes the complications of heart disease that is created by the use of some forms of contraception, most notably, the Pill. While the Pill is considered a safe and effective form of contraception, many women who smoke when taking the Pill may find they are placing themselves at a greater risk for heart disease.

So, let's examine this. Women use birth control to alleviate the stress associated with pregnancy and menstrual cycles, face stress at work, smoke in response to the work related stress only to find the contraception is placing themselves at greater risk for complications which might impose on their stress at work. And so the saga continues.

In the 21^st century, it is imperative that women focus on measures to reduce stress while maintaining health in the process. Exercise, diet and avoiding health risks such as smoking, can go along way in improving the heart disease statistics. For women, however, the key is to find other alternative approaches to stress relief so as to more freely give up the poor habits such as smoking.

Stress reduction classes, support groups, meditation, Yoga and even finding "me time" are all key elements of the stress package women should create for themselves. Understanding we are at a great risk, than ever before, for developing heart disease and, yet, at a greater advantage for preventing it, may help women in approaching this stress related condition head on.