Macon Magazine

April/May 2025| maconmagazine.com 109 gestational diabetes, preterm delivery, small-for-gestational-age delivery, pregnancy loss, or placental abruption. And then there's stress. Now, we know that stress is a normal part of life, whether you're a man or a woman. However, the unique pressures that women face, coupled with the fact that the symptoms of developing heart disease or heart attack in a woman could be as minor as nausea, tiredness, or brief neck pain, could mean that women overlook how significantly stress is affecting their hearts. In a world where many women wear multiple hats – parent, business owner, board member, parent caregiver, and so on – such stressors could be having a cumulative negative effect on the heart, raising the risk of angina, arrythmia, or heart failure. The Pew Research Center's studies on time spent by Americans says that women are doing more paid work than ever before, but also still doing the majority of childcare and housework, with less overall leisure time than men. This may be a recipe for stress. With these things said, it's always important to be empowered. The following are steps that women can take to protect their hearts and to prevent heart disease from developing: • Listen to your body – Thankfully, medicine these days is increasingly noticing and giving attention to the unique presentation of heart disease in women. That said, it is important that you learn how your body feels. In general, learn when your body is telling you that it needs something. If you're tired, get your rest. If you're thirsty, drink water. If you're overburdened, step back. And if you have lingering physical symptoms like chest pain, unusual fatigue or sweating, see a doctor. You can practice bodily awareness in yoga and meditation classes too, at local studios like Sparks Yoga and Homegrown Yoga. • Lose weight – If you're overweight or obese, getting to a healthy weight range for your height is a sure way to lower your risk for heart disease. Also, it happens that the main actions required to lose weight – eating a healthy diet and exercising – are also independently good for the heart. • Deal with stress in a healthy way – It's too easy in today's world to get overwhelmed if you're not being intentional. Get a full night's sleep every night. Take slow walks through nature. Spend quality time with family and friends. Get away from your responsibilities every now and again. Sit and do absolutely nothing sometimes, aside from taking some deep breaths and reflecting on good thoughts. All of these are ways you can foster a healthy relationship with stress. • Get enough exercise – I know I already mentioned exercise, but I want to emphasize that you get enough of it. Truth be told, we all should be moving almost all day long, but the way that our society is constructed these days is such that almost none of us get even close to the amount of movement required for maximum health. Having 30 minutes a day of intentional movement of some kind is a bare minimum. Ladies, you are the heart of our homes and our communities. This is my reminder to you to make sure you're taking care of your hearts. "If a woman has had complications during a past pregnancy, this also supposedly increases the risk of heart disease down the line. " Shawn McClendon is an ACE-certified personal trainer and owner of Back to Basics Health and Wholeness LLC, an organization dedicated to empowering people to take control of their health and avoid lifestyle disease. He runs a YouTube health and fitness channel, writes on health and fitness topics at shawnmcclendon.com, speaks on health and fitness, and has authored several health/fitness books. H eart disease, a general term given to a group of diseases which negatively affect the heart and blood vessels, is unfortunately all too common in the United States. It's the leading cause of death in women and is affecting people at younger and younger ages. Heart disease has been increasingly shown to affect women differently than men and to present itself differently as well. This difference is incredibly important to understand so that we can ensure that women are better protected against – and more knowledgeable of how to prevent – heart disease. D i d y o u k n o w t h e f o l l o w i n g ? • That heart disease causes more deaths than all kinds of cancer combined? • That women face an increased risk of heart disease after menopause? • That women are more likely to experience "silent" heart disease – meaning that it presents no symptoms? • That women are more likely to experience heart attack with no severe coronary artery blockages? • That women are more likely to experience blockages in small coronary arteries than men? Heart disease is devastating to quality to life, raises one's mortality risk, and as suggested, often presents itself more subtly in women than it does in men. Let's try to get a better understanding of why and how heart disease affects women differently than men. Prior to menopause, women have extra protection from the heart disease due to their production of estrogen. This is part of the reason that women tend to develop heart disease approximately 10 years later than men. That said, during menopause, estrogen production drops sharply, which means an increased susceptibility to heart disease. Also, if a woman has had complications during a past pregnancy, this also supposedly increases the risk of heart disease down the line. The pregnancy-related conditions that the American Heart Association associates with future heart disease are high blood pressure,

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