February is American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month (photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

February is American Heart Month. This is a great time to really become educated about cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, including stroke. Wearing red this month is to raise awareness of heart disease especially in women. According to the American Heart Association, heart disease takes the lives of nearly 630,000 Americans each year. But who is at risk? Women age 55 and older, men 45 and older or a person with a family history of heart disease. But you can keep from being a statistic by making some lifestyle changes and possibly taking medications if your doctor prescribes them. Just by watching your weight, quitting smoking or staying away from secondhand smoke and controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol are great ways to starting protecting yourself from heart disease. Other ways to be heart healthy are to drink only in moderation, eating a healthy diet, exercising and managing your stress.

My husband has a deep history of heart disease in his family and fell victim to Congestive Heart Failure at the age of only 36. He underwent quadruple by-pass surgery at the time, leading to the installation of an Internal Cardiac Defibrillator at the age of 38. This proves how much heredity has to do with heart disease. He also had high cholesterol that had gone untreated for many years. Since my husband was so young, we chose to have our children’s cholesterol levels checked and sure enough, both of them inherited the same unfortunate gene.

Strangely enough, our diet has been good for many years. We seriously limit any kind of junk food and have never eaten much red meat since our kids were born! We eat lots of veggies and limit foods with cholesterol and sodium, yet we still ended up with a problem. I have the worst diet, treating myself to the occasional burger here and there and ironically have the best cholesterol levels.

My husband is on a total of three prescribed cholesterol lowering medications, including his heart meds too, while our girls are each on one of the same ones he is. They are having great results proving that sometimes diet and exercise just aren’t enough.

If you haven’t had a physical in awhile, maybe Heart Month is the time to make an appointment for one. Talk to your doctor about your overall health and get a lipid panel to see where your numbers sit. It could be a matter of life and death!