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What’s Your Number?
Read More: What’s Your Number?+ Infographic text Having high cholesterol can lead to heart disease or stroke. There are 3 kinds of cholesterol Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol High-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol Triglycerides (type of fat in your blood) Together, they make up your total cholesterol. Formula for total cholesterol = LDL + HDL + 20%…
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Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack
Read More: Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart AttackHeart disease is the number one cause of death for women and people assigned female at birth in the United States. That means you may be at risk for serious heart problems, such as heart attack or cardiac arrest. You’ve probably heard of these life-threatening conditions but they’re not the same. Here’s what you need…
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Q&A: Anne Fulenwider Says Heart Health and Telehealth Are In
Read More: Q&A: Anne Fulenwider Says Heart Health and Telehealth Are InFebruary is American Heart Month. In 2016, Anne Fulenwider’s mother died of a heart attack. Fulenwider knew her mother’s side of the family had a history of heart problems — her uncle had a fatal heart attack at age 40 — but her mother’s heart health had been monitored since she was in her 20s.…
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What Is a Heart-Healthy Diet?
Read More: What Is a Heart-Healthy Diet?February is American Heart Month. Most of us have a favorite comfort food we go to every now and then that’s not exactly healthy (looking at you, potato chips). But what you eat on the daily has a big impact on your heart health. Research shows eating more processed foods (i.e., those dang potato chips),…
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Did You Know That Heart Disease Affects Women of Color Differently?
Read More: Did You Know That Heart Disease Affects Women of Color Differently?February is American Heart Month. Cardiovascular disease is often dismissed as a middle-aged white man’s disease, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The risk of cardiovascular disease among women, especially women of color, is poorly understood, yet the statistics speak for themselves. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for all women,…
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Access, Affordability, Cardiovascular disease, Health insurance, Heart disease, Heart health, Medication, Prescription drugs
A Patient’s Journey: How to Navigate Health Insurance for Heart Disease
Read More: A Patient’s Journey: How to Navigate Health Insurance for Heart DiseaseFebruary 2, 2024, is National Wear Red Day and February is AmericanHeart Month. For the more than 60 million women in the United States living with some type of heart disease, navigating health insurance coverage can be overwhelming. A patient’s journey with heart disease should move seamlessly from diagnosis to treatment, with a strong partnership…
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5 Heart Disease Risk Factors Every Woman Needs To Know About
Read More: 5 Heart Disease Risk Factors Every Woman Needs To Know AboutSeptember is Heart Awareness Month. Heart disease and strokes are the second highest cause of death in South Africa (only HIV can beat this killer!), so this is definitely something we can’t brush off. A healthy heart literally is a matter of life and death. While we’re all aware that to have a healthy heart,…
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Why Don’t Women Get the Same Treatment for Heart Disease as Men?
Read More: Why Don’t Women Get the Same Treatment for Heart Disease as Men?Katherine Wilemon was 39 when she experienced crushing chest pain and pain radiating down her right arm. Her jaw was tight and she was scared. The paramedics who brought her to the emergency department (ED) said it was unlikely she was having a heart attack and told her to stay calm. “If it was your…
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Nieca Goldberg, M.D., Talks with HealthyWomen About the Go Red for Women Campaign and Why It’s Been a Game-changer In Heart-Health Awareness
Read More: Nieca Goldberg, M.D., Talks with HealthyWomen About the Go Red for Women Campaign and Why It’s Been a Game-changer In Heart-Health AwarenessEarly in her medical career, Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director of the Atria Institute in New York City, associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and member of HealthyWomen’s Women’s Health Advisory Council, realized that the healthcare field didn’t believe women could have heart problems. She decided to change that because so…
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I Had Quadruple Bypass Surgery at 48
Read More: I Had Quadruple Bypass Surgery at 48As told to Jacquelyne Froeber I felt the first real symptoms on Christmas Day. I was walking our family dog uphill through the neighborhood when I felt a strange tightness in my chest. “That’s weird,” I thought. I noticed I was slightly out of breath, too. By the time I got home, the tightness was…
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How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?
Read More: How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?If you participated in Dry January, the practice of cutting out alcohol for the whole month, you may be onto something. New research suggests you may also want to avoid excessive alcohol consumption year-round. According to a report from the World Heart Federation, any amount of alcohol may be harmful to your health. The report…
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Symptoms of Heart Attacks in Women
Read More: Symptoms of Heart Attacks in WomenThe statistics can make your heart skip a beat: 1 in 3 women die from cardiovascular disease each year. And heart disease — a type of cardiovascular disease that affects the heart’s ability to function — is the No.1 cause of death for women in the United States. Heart disease can lead to a heart…
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How Hot Is Too Hot for the Human Body? Our Lab Found Heat + Humidity Gets Dangerous Faster Than Many People Realize
Read More: How Hot Is Too Hot for the Human Body? Our Lab Found Heat + Humidity Gets Dangerous Faster Than Many People RealizeBy W. Larry Kenney, Penn State; Daniel Vecellio, Penn State; Rachel Cottle, Penn State, and S. Tony Wolf, Penn State Heat waves are becoming supercharged as the climate changes – lasting longer, becoming more frequent and getting just plain hotter. One question a lot of people are asking is: “When will it get too hot…
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No, Latinos Don’t Actually Have Less Heart Disease – a New Large Study Refutes the Longstanding ‘Latino Paradox’
Read More: No, Latinos Don’t Actually Have Less Heart Disease – a New Large Study Refutes the Longstanding ‘Latino Paradox’By Olveen Carrasquillo, University of Miami The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Latinos may have higher rates of heart disease than previously thought, refuting a well-accepted idea known as the “Latino paradox,” according to a new study that I was involved in. The crux of the Latino…
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Cardiovascular disease, Chronic conditions, Heart disease, Heart health, Nutrition, Obesity, Preventive health, Weight management
Beer and Spirits Have More Detrimental Effects on the Waistline and on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Than Red or White Wine
Read More: Beer and Spirits Have More Detrimental Effects on the Waistline and on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Than Red or White WineBy Brittany Larsen, Iowa State University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Drinking beer and spirits is linked to elevated levels of visceral fat – the harmful type of fat that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other health complications –…
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Adolescent, Chronic conditions, Crohn’s, Crohn’s disease, Depression, Digestive disorders, Heart health, Iron deficiency anemia, Menstrual period
Is Your Teen Anemic?
Read More: Is Your Teen Anemic?Medically reviewed by Dr. Sharon D. Allison-Ottey
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Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy – a Neurologist Explains
Read More: Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy – a Neurologist ExplainsBy Beth Ann Malow, Vanderbilt University As people in the U.S. prepare to turn their clocks ahead one hour in mid-March, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time. About a third of Americans say they…
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Heart Rate Variability vs. Heart Rate: What’s the Difference?
Read More: Heart Rate Variability vs. Heart Rate: What’s the Difference?As technology advances, so do our opportunities to take advantage and track our fitness in new ways. Nowadays, smartwatches often include heart rate variability (HRV) as a measurement. While this feature is exciting, many fitness enthusiasts aren’t sure what to do with this number. The number one comment I hear is, “Aren’t HRV and heart…
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The Sex of Your Cells Matters When It Comes to Heart Disease
Read More: The Sex of Your Cells Matters When It Comes to Heart DiseaseBy Heart tissue with XX chromosomes has a higher concentration of cells (colored green, with blue nuclei) that promote scarring than do cells with XY chromosomes.Brian Aguado, CC BY-NC-ND We found that the cells we grew on our hydrogel models were able to replicate the sex differences seen in valve tissue – namely, valve cells…
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How to Work Out for Heart Health (Without Boring Cardio)
Read More: How to Work Out for Heart Health (Without Boring Cardio)Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming 25 percent of lives as of 2022. And while we often think of heart health as something to worry about when we’re older, heart disease doesn’t have favorite ages, genders or ethnicities. The stats may seem inevitable, but they don’t have…
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Bystander CPR Saved My Husband’s Life
Read More: Bystander CPR Saved My Husband’s LifeFebruary is American Heart Month. Fifteen years ago in February, the month our nation dedicates to cardiovascular health for American Heart Month, my 34-year-old husband had a cardiac arrest in front of me. Two months earlier, just before Christmas, our first son had been born. We’d been navigating the upside-down days and nights of new…
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Signs and Symptoms of a Heart Attack and Stroke
Read More: Signs and Symptoms of a Heart Attack and StrokeDesign: Megan Schofield Medically reviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg Friday, February 4 is National Wear Red Day.
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cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Chronic conditions, Diabetes, Heart disease, Heart health, Obesity, sleep, Weight management
Obesity and Other Health Conditions
Read More: Obesity and Other Health ConditionsDesign: Megan Schofield Medically reviewed by Dr. Alexandra Sowa
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My Wife Has Severe Heart Disease
Read More: My Wife Has Severe Heart DiseaseEspañol As told to Kimberly Rex As a paramedic during my twenties and thirties, I dealt with endless medical emergencies. I placed paddles on patients’ chests, shocking their hearts back to beating, and performed CPR on countless heart attack victims. Since 2008, as a cardiology physician assistant (PA), I’ve spent my days examining heart failure…
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Cardio workouts, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Heart disease, Heart health, Heart healthy recipes, Medical tests, Nutrition, Obesity, Prevention, Preventive health
Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your HCP About Cardiovascular Disease
Read More: Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your HCP About Cardiovascular DiseaseMedically reviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States, accounting for 1 in 3 deaths. Yet, less than half of women recognize that heart disease is their number one killer. Heart disease — including coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (also known as heart attack)…
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My Cardiovascular Disease Taught Me How to Live
Read More: My Cardiovascular Disease Taught Me How to LiveAs told to Kimberly Rex On a bright and early January morning 10 years ago, I sat in my living room while my one-year-old son Carter entertained himself in his playpen. My son has special needs. He was born at 23 weeks and spent more than six months in the neonatal intensive care unit. I’d…
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What You Need to Know About Cholesterol
Read More: What You Need to Know About CholesterolMedically reviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg Resources: American Heart Association
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Like Human Friends, Dogs Benefit our Physical and Mental Health
Read More: Like Human Friends, Dogs Benefit our Physical and Mental HealthI’m the type of person that will see you walking your pup and yell out, “I love your dog!” I don’t know you. I don’t know your dog. But the sheer joy of seeing a four-legged friend in the world makes me feel like I won best in show. My two pugs — Steve and…
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Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Healthy Eating, Heart disease, Heart health, Lung health, Nutrition, Obesity, Prevention, Preventive health, smoking
Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your Healthcare Provider About Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
Read More: Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your Healthcare Provider About Diabetes and Cardiovascular DiseaseReviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg About one in nine women in the United States have diabetes, a disease that occurs when blood sugar levels can’t be properly controlled and get too high. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which includes heart…
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Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Health disparities, Healthy Eating, Healthy living, Heart disease, Heart health
The Connection Between Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Women’s Health
Read More: The Connection Between Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Women’s HealthReviewed by Nieca Goldberg, M.D. In 1994, iconic singer Patti LaBelle lived every performer’s worst nightmare — she collapsed on stage in front of thousands of fans. LaBelle attributed her fall to exhaustion until she learned she had Type 2 diabetes. In spite of watching close family members struggle with the disease — her mother…
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My Heart Attack at 43 Was Terrifying. Then It Changed My Life for the Better.
Read More: My Heart Attack at 43 Was Terrifying. Then It Changed My Life for the Better.As told to Kimberly Rex In October 2015, I had a busy life with a demanding career as a deputy head teacher at a high school in England and two daughters, ages 6 and 10. At 43, I was an active swimmer and tried to eat well and stay fit. One Sunday, after a frazzled…
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Access, Arthritis, Bone joint health, Cardiovascular disease, Chronic conditions, Diabetes, Health disparities, Heart disease, Heart health, Obesity, Osteoarthritis, Policy, Rheumatoid arthritis
Clinical Trials Need a Broader Approach to Improve Osteoarthritis Outcomes
Read More: Clinical Trials Need a Broader Approach to Improve Osteoarthritis OutcomesAs the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis affects more than 32 million adults. The disease is characterized by a gradual breakdown of the cushions between bones, which can lead to joint pain and stiffness in the hands, knees, hips, lower back and neck. Some osteoarthritis improves with physical therapy, but if it doesn’t, the…
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Do You Need to See a Cardio-Oncologist?
Read More: Do You Need to See a Cardio-Oncologist?Decades of research and improved treatment — along with increased awareness of the importance of early detection — have made it possible for the majority of those diagnosed with cancer to live longer and fuller lives. According to the most recent American Cancer Society statistics, the five-year survival rate for all cancers has risen to…
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Cardiovascular disease, Heart disease, Heart health, Orgasms, Relationships, Sex, Sex & relationships, Sexual health
Sexual Health and Your Heart
Read More: Sexual Health and Your HeartOne of the most difficult things for female patients to discuss with their cardiologist is their sexual health. It is one of the most commonly missed topics at a cardiology visit, but it is a concern for women living with heart disease and for their partners. Besides general embarrassment, generational values may get in the…
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Not Skipping a Beat
Read More: Not Skipping a BeatIn December 2019, Amy Grant accompanied her husband, country music star Vince Gill, to a follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, Dr. John Bright Cage. Because Gill’s father had passed away from a heart attack at age 65, both Gill and Grant wanted to make sure that Gill’s heart was in good shape, as he was…
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How the Airline Industry Recovers From Covid-19 Could Determine Who Gets Organ Transplants
Read More: How the Airline Industry Recovers From Covid-19 Could Determine Who Gets Organ TransplantsBy Tinglong Dai, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing; Guihua Wang, University of Texas at Dallas, and Ronghuo Zheng, University of Texas at Austin The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled the airline industry. Passenger numbers are down more than two-thirds from last year, and airlines have been canceling flights and shutting down routes. It’s frustrating for…
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Cardiovascular disease, Cholesterol, Hdl, Heart disease, Heart health, High cholesterol, Ldl, Research
What Are Women’s Views About High Blood Cholesterol?
Read More: What Are Women’s Views About High Blood Cholesterol?Healthy Women recently ran a survey of over 1,100 respondents, in partnership with Esperion, to better understand women’s views on high blood cholesterol — causes of high cholesterol, medications used to manage it, and knowledge of risks associated with it. Here’s what we learned.
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Birth control, Cardiovascular disease, Ceo blog, Cholesterol, Contraception, Diabetes, Estrogen, Hdl, Heart disease, Heart health, High cholesterol, Ldl, Pregnancy
Heart Health During Pregnancy and Beyond
Read More: Heart Health During Pregnancy and BeyondMedically Reviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg If you’re looking to become pregnant or are already expecting, you’ve likely started thinking about creating the optimal conditions for a healthy pregnancy and birth. As you talk to your doctor about your reproductive health and other factors we typically associate with pregnancy, you should also pay close attention…
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Cardiovascular disease, Cholesterol, Estrogen, Hdl, Heart disease, Heart health, High blood pressure, High cholesterol, Ldl, Menopause
Improve Your Heart Health After Menopause
Read More: Improve Your Heart Health After MenopauseDr. Goldberg’s responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. With all of the attention on COVID-19 these days, it’s easy to forget that there are other health issues putting women at risk. In particular, heart disease poses a formidable threat to women, especially after menopause. In fact, heart disease is still the leading…
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Cardiovascular disease, Cholesterol, Hdl, Health care professionals, Heart disease, Heart health, High cholesterol, Ldl
Important Questions to Ask Your Health Care Professional About High Cholesterol
Read More: Important Questions to Ask Your Health Care Professional About High CholesterolMedically reviewed by Dr. Nieca Goldberg, MD Scheduling an appointment with your health care provider is important, but are you making the most of your time and making sure you learn more about your heart health? If you don’t know your total cholesterol or LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) numbers, you’re not alone. But it’s important…
