Maybe you already know that women’s heart disease is a different animal than is men’s, but perhaps you don’t know that mental stress and high blood pressure play a much bigger role in women’s heart disease than they do in men’s. Also relevant is that of stiff cardiac tissue.
Stress and Heart Disease in Women
“Stress often triggers heart dysfunction in women,” says Gordon A. Ewy, MD, in an article he wrote for the University Sarver Heart Center newsletter (spring, 2010). Dr. Ewy is the Director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center.
“Clinical observations of how some individuals experience severe stress or respond unusually to minor stress, have led to our understanding of a condition now called ‘stress cardiomyopathy,’” continues Dr. Ewy in his article.
He adds that most studies show that more than 90 percent of patients who have stress cardiomyopathy are women. This condition is associated with high levels of the “fight or flight” hormone adrenalin, plus an irregular or fast heartbeat.
This stress-induced form of cardiac ailment, says Dr. Ewy, is reversible in most cases, though he also says in his article, “Tragically, the condition may result in sudden death in the most extreme cases - ‘She was scared to death.’”
Stiff Cardiac Muscle and Women
Dr. Ewy’s report continues, “Heart failure in women is often due to an abnormally stiff heart muscle.” In this case, the heart contracts as usual, but it’s just too stiff to relax normally; it requires a greater amount of pressure to fill the main pumping chamber.
“This higher pressure backs up into the lungs, resulting in symptoms such as shortness of breath, especially with exertion,” explains Dr. Ewy in his paper.
Women should engage in structured aerobic exercise to help prevent this stiffness from developing. Of particular effectiveness is an exercise technique called high intensity interval training, which just about anybody can do, and it can be done on a stationary bike. Here are details.
High Blood Pressure and Women
“Hypertension (high blood pressure) is more common as one gets older, and if inadequately treated, often leads to heart failure due to an abnormally stiff heart, a syndrome more common in women since they tend to live longer than men,” says Dr. Ewy in the report.
What can women do to prevent heart disease? The article explains that the classic risk factors of abnormal blood fats, high blood pressure, diabetes and more, which often have a genetic component, must be addressed.
He urges a healthy diet, weight control, exercise and avoiding smoking/secondhand smoke. Women must never make the mistake of believing they get “plenty of exercise” from doing housework, andhere’s why.
Source: heart.arizona.edu/news-info/documents/SHC57_h-is-for.pdf
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