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Your Heart HealthNutrients for Heart Health
Two out of three women over fifty are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, making it the major cause of death in women of this age group. Yikes! It makes you sit up and wonder if you're one of those two out of three women! What most women don't realize is that the process of heart disease starts in their teen years. The choices made about physical, emotional and spiritual wellness in the younger years sets the stage for health in the later years. Your choices made you who you are today! Does that mean there is nothing you can do to lower your risks and improve your life? Of course not. It just means you need to start changing some of the choices and habits you developed since you were a teenager. Lifestyle habits, like the way you eat, how you deal with stress, your spirituality and the level of exercise you participate in. Now at this point you may just throw your arms in the air and say, "What's the use, I can't change." However, part of successfully moving through this transitional period of our lives to wise woman involves taking an honest look at our power and powerlessness. Either one is given to us by choices we make. You've Got the Power!When you look in the mirror do you see someone of value and worth? Do you see someone who has the power to make choices? If you do, then you have the power to ensure optimal heart health. When you have the power to choose or even to express how you feel it's like opening the valve on a pressure cooker. It releases pressure. Hold those emotions in, stifle your desire to make choices and eventually the pressure cooker blows! Autonomy is something many women struggle with. We don't always feel we have a choice in how our lives develop. We feel like our partners or children, financial circumstances or job directs our life and we have little say in its direction. This sense of powerlessness has a detrimental effect on our health. Studies have shown that workers whose supervisors are harsh and leave little room for expressing discontent have an increased risk of developing heart disease. High blood pressure is an early indicator for heart disease. It is caused when the heart has to pump harder to get blood to every part of the body. Over time high blood pressure damages and weakens blood vessel walls. Dr. Samuel J. Mann of Cornell University suggests that emotions, ones the patient cannot express, can be a major cause of high blood pressure. This makes a lot of sense as when women hit menopause many find themselves remembering trauma's from the past they thought were well buried. If they don't feel they have the power to share these memories they may experience a myriad of physical symptoms including high blood pressure (the bodies way of trying to get the mind's attention!) Over time, if high blood pressure is not taken care of, the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke rises. Take an honest look at yourself today. Are you making good choices for yourself? Is your good health being compromised by an inability to voice what you are feeling? Consider why you are making the choices you are, especially if they are detrimental to your health. Educate Yourself!You are obviously interested in enhancing your life and making it the best experience possible. You must, as why else would you be looking at this website? With that in mind, one of the best ways you can prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease is to educate yourself in healthy lifestyle choices. Here are some simple suggestions for prevention and even for turning heart disease around:
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