10 things every woman should know about Heart Disease

Don't be a victim and leave your kids without their mother. Know what you can do today!

1. Under Pressure
High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. A higher percentage of women have high blood pressure after age 55, than do men.

2. Watch Your Waistline
Being overweight, especially around the waistline, increases your risk of high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

3. Keep Moving
Lack of exercise increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. Aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week.

4. Keep Cholesterol in Check
The lower your HDL cholesterol level, the greater your risk of coronary heart disease.

5. Manage Diabetes
Diabetes increases your risk of heart disease.

6. Butt Out
Smoking increases your risk to coronary heart disease.

7. What’s Up Doc?
Be sure to visit your doctor for a check-up annually.

8. Age Gracefully
As women grow older, their risks of heart disease and stroke begin to increase and continues to increase with age.

9. What to Watch
The most significant symptom of heart attack is pain or pressure in the chest. However, the warning signals of heart attack, can be different for women than for men. Often, women also experience shortness of breath, fatigue, anxiety, nausea or vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

10. You’re Not Immune
Heart disease affects women of all ages, races and economic levels. It can happen to you!

Do your cholesterol test today, and remember prevention is cheaper and less stressful than the cure!.

How to identify a STRoke when it happens

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine and just tripped because of her new shoes. While she appeared a bit shaken up, she went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Her husband called later saying that his wife had been taken to the hospital and passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps she would be with us today. Some stroke victims don't die, they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within three hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke . . . totally. He said the trick was having a stroke recognized, diagnosed and then getting the patient medically cared for within three hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE: Remember the "3" steps. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Doctors say, a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK, to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE. (Coherently) (i.e. . It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue . if the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with any one of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to ten people, you can bet at least one life will be saved.

Or better yet, drink your Bioslife everyday, and prevent Stroke from ever happening to you and your loved ones.