by
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1/6/2010
On this issue, it’s hard not to see red. After all, February 14th is Valentine's day. And this year, February 5th is National Wear Red Day, an event focusing attention on what used to be an overlooked topic: heart health among women.
February is also is the kickoff of American Heart Month. If you’ve ever wondered about that strong pump thumping in your chest, this is just the issue for you. Page after page of fascinating heart facts illustrated with great art will take you into the heart of things.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the reasons behind these high numbers is the continuing lack of information. More importantly, many women don’t grasp their risk. They also tend to imagine heart attack symptoms like those in the movies - sudden and intense pain, often shooting up the arm and gripping the chest.
Women tend to be the worst at failing to recognize early-warning signs, mainly because heart disease still is sometimes thought of as a “man’s disease.” CDC statistics indicate that women accounted for 51% of the nation’s total heart disease deaths.
The incorrect notion that heart disease only affects older women also continues to find traction among the public. Indeed, it is the leading cause of death among women 65 and older, but it is also the third leading cause of death among those 25 to 44 and the second leading cause for those 45 to 64.
For 2010, make a resolution to ? yourself. For more information beyond these pages, visit these websites: www.americanheart.org and www.goredforwomen.org.
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