Taking care of women's hearts
Filed under: Heart Centers Online, Research, Women Heart Health
As you may know, The Cardio Blog is being retired today. It's been an honor to write for this blog, and I hope that the information we brought to you was useful and informative. Since this will be my last post for The Cardio Blog, I thought I'd write about a topic that is near and dear to my heart (pun, lamely, intended): women's heart health. We've seen it in the headlines again and again -- women, and often their doctors, don't always prioritize their health, and this seems to be especially an issue when it comes to heart health. But the fact is that heart disease is public enemy number one for women, and we all need to better understand and deal with our risk factors.
So I'll leave you with this post from Her Daily News. In it, they talk about Heart Truth, the National Institute of Health's campaign to bring heart education to women. They also include a checklist of questions to take to your doctor, as well as a list to help you understand your own risk. Do yourself -- and your heart -- a favor today and read through the questions to determine if you need to do more to protect your health.
Thanks for reading The Cardio Blog, and don't forget to come visit us at That's Fit for all of the latest news in health and fitness!
Keep your heart health a priority!
Filed under: Blogs
So The Cardio Blog is going into retirement, and since is this is my last post I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for reading! It's been a blast writing and reading and learning about the importance of taking care of ourselves and our heart health specifically, and of course I encourage you all to continue doing so. There are countless great resources online (even though we were voted #1!) and I thought I'd share a few that I personally like and plan to stay in touch with:A Hearty Life
The Heart Scan Blog
Mark's Daily Apple
That's Fit
Keeping your mind as fit as your heart
Filed under: Exercise
Imagine being in the world famous Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, California, where the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger once trained. Now, imagine entering an entirely different fitness center, one that Einstein himself may have frequented if he were alive today. Keeping our bodies fit is important, but there is a new gym that is very serious when they talk about TOTAL body fitness. It's called SharpBrains, and it's doors (virtual as they may be) are open for business.
SharpBrains has launched the first online brain fitness center, making it the ideal place for people to keep their minds as fit as they are keeping the rest of their bodies. Complete with an array of science-based mental exercises, brain trainers, interactive blog posts, and problem solving puzzles, SharpBrains is the mental equivalent of that very same Gold's Gym in Venice Beach.
Specific mental exercises are designed and tailored to meet each member's needs. You can even target-train; improve memory, better concentration, work on stress management, build decision making skills -- just as you could specialize a cardio or resistance training workout.
And, just like a regular gym, you must become a member of SharpBrains online gym. As is the case when working the rest of your body, best results can be achieved at ShaprBrains.com by spending at least 30 minutes per day, three times per week at the "gym."
Check it out for yourself here: www.sharpbrains.com
10 things you need to know about your heart problems
Filed under: Drugs, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health, Aging Heart Health, Surgery
You've been diagnosed with a heart problem. You have a lot of questions but you can't seem to get your head around this, this thing that's just been dropped on you like bomb. You probably feel very alone but believe it or not, situations like this are pretty common so WebMD has come up with this handy list of things you should ask your doctor about your heart condition. You need to know the facts, what can be done and where you'll end up on this roller coaster of life--and you might not know which questions to ask. Either that or you're too overwhelmed to think it through. You can even print the list out and take it to your doctor.
If you've gone through this before, what information did you find the most useful?
What you need to know about coronary heart disease
Filed under: Prevention, Research, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health
How much do you know about coronary heart disease? I'll admit that I don't know much -- afterall, I'm young and healthy and far from heart problems ... at least I hope I am. But everyone should be informed about their health. We don't need medical degrees but we should know what risks we face and what arising symptoms could mean.Dr. Naidu of Heart Matters recently posted this info on coronary heart disease, including the risk factors and prevention methods. By living a healthy lifestyle, not smoking, being active and managing my stress, I'm doing pretty well at preventing coronary heart disease, and it's good to know what I'm doing right. Don't you think?
Lifestyle strategies for your healthiest heart
Filed under: Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health, Aging Heart Health
We often post tips and facts about having a healthy heart, but over at That's Fit, I think this post sums up what you need to do to have a healthy heart. Here's what they recommend:- Get a good night's sleep
- Get active -- this especially includes resistance training
- Drink wine in moderation
- Eat fish, or some other source of Omega 3's
- Floss regularly
- Quit smoking
- Take a daily walk
- An aspirin a day can take the heart problems away -- but talk to your doctor first.
The truth about women and heart disease
Filed under: Women Heart Health
Although breast cancer seems to be getting a lot more press lately, the biggest threat to women's health today is actually heart disease. And although men are more often thought of when picturing a heart attack victim, the truth is women are actually more likely to both have heart disease and they're more likely to die from a heart attack in the weeks immediately following than men are. The Mayo Clinic has a handy quiz for women regarding the truth on a variety of health topics, heart disease and breast cancer included, and it's interesting to read the explanations after you take it because some of the answers are surprising!
Genes found that predict heart disease
Filed under: Family history, Research
Scientists in Europe have just found 6 specific genes that may be a key to heart disease. Data shows that people with variations in one or more of these genes have a much greater risk of suffering a heart attack or heart disease before the age of 66. These genes only seem to predict risk, however, not the definite future. Not everyone identified with a "genetic predisposition" ultimately gets sick, so it's still very much worthwhile to eat a heart healthy diet and get plenty of exercise.
New treatment: Freeze the heart
Filed under: Research, Alternative therapies
My friends often joke that because I didn't cry at the Notebook, my heart is ice-cold, frozen from all compassion and feeling. But as That's Fit has reported, there's a new treatment out there that will involve freezing the heart -- literally.A condition called Atrial Flutter may respond to treatment using Nitrous Oxide to freeze the heart for a few seconds. Freezing the heart, in turn, treats the areas around the heart that are responsible for abnormal rhythms. It sounds interesting ... and dangerous. Even if it's only frozen for seconds, the thought of intentionally stopping a heart gives me ... well .... heart flutters. What about you?
The FDA hasn't approved the treatment yet, but their advisers are recommending they do.
Athletes die of heart attacks too
We're often lead to believe that if we exercise regularly, our heart should be fine as we age. But here's something that might throw a wrench in that theory: Runners die of early heart attacks too.The truth is, while exercise is great for your heart and can reduce your risk of heart disease by quite a bit, it doesn't mean you're immune to heart troubles just because you go for a run every few days. You still need to maintain a healthy lifestyle that is low in fat and high in produce, grains and lean protein. And most importantly, you need to talk to your doctor and get screened for heart disease.