Know: heart health

I had cause to think recently when a friend’s mother died from what was suspected to be a heart attack. Suddenly. Out of the blue. Tragic.

It made me reflect on a piece I was commissioned to write a few years ago to support the National Heart Foundation’s Go Red for Women campaign. A campaign which raises awareness about women and heart disease. I interviewed an amazing woman who survived a heart attack at age 39. Yes, 39.

In researching this piece I learnt:

• Heart disease is not just something for the blokes to worry about.
• Heart disease is THE NUMBER ONE KILLER of Australian women.
• You don’t need to be an old woman to have a heart attack.
• You don’t need to be unfit to have a heart attack.
• Women are more likely to experience atypical symptoms of a heart attack (nausea, shortness of breath, fatigue BUT not always chest pain)
• Women are more likely to worry about their partners heart health than their own.

I love this video with Elizabeth Banks posted by the American Heart Association as part of their Go Red for Women awareness campaign.

How are you? When did you last have a check-up? And what about your mum, your sister, your aunt or your best friend?

Want to know more?