Unique challenges women face to their heart health

Dr Micky Mehta

Women are an extra sensitive and overly emotional beings. This makes them vulnerable to aches and pains of psychological kind, great disappointments, thus great depressions. This translates into a very poor health condition because immunity drops because of the fight and flight response. Repair and restoration go for a toss. Rejuvenation is not in sight at all. Heart is the first organ which takes the beating in terms of erratic beat, rhythm getting spoiled, staggered because of which our other functions could get deregulated.
When it comes to heart health, women confront obstacles, and the symptoms they feel may differ from those reported by males. Heart disease is the primary cause of death in both men and women, but how it manifests and is diagnosed differs. Some important factors to consider are:

Symptom Presentation
Women’s symptoms of a heart attack may differ from men’s.While males frequently experience significant chest pain or discomfort, women may experience lesser symptoms. Shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, back or jaw discomfort, and even flu-like symptoms are possible. Women may be underdiagnosed and receive delayed treatment as a result of this. Women are more susceptible to coronary microvascular disease, which affects the smallest arteries of the heart. This disorder can produce chest pain (angina) and other symptoms, yet it may go undetected on routine artery-blockage examinations.

Hormonal Changes
Hormonal changes in a woman’s life, such as those experienced during pregnancy and menopause, might have an impact on her heart health. Preeclampsia and gestational diabetes during pregnancy can raise the chance of developing heart disease later in life. Oestrogen is also known to have a heart-protective effect, which may explain why women develop heart disease later than men. This protective effect, however, fades after menopause as oestrogen levels fall.

Risk Factors:
Depression, stress, and inflammatory illnesses can all have a greater impact on a woman’s heart health. PCOS, a hormonal illness common in reproductive-age women, has also been linked to an elevated risk of heart disease. Due to differences in how women’s bodies respond to exercise and stress, the results may be deceptive or inconclusive. Heart being a fundamental organ for life, should it go out of rhythm, stagger and the blood flow, the blood pumped out is not sufficient to meet the needs of all functions. With certain emotional and psychological upsets, something like fear and anxiety, the pressure can drop also. The emotional flux of extreme highs and extreme lows can cause many other disorders which also can eventually hurt the functioning of the heart. Either it can speed it up a lot or make it arrhythmic and slow it down.

Not to forget, women get very little sleep, especially those who work outside and work at home as well. Lack of sleep is the biggest cause of heart issues for women. Because lack of recovery, lack of repair and lack of rejuvenation with a sound sleep can send the heart functions for a toss. Given these obstacles, it’s critical for women to take charge of their heart health. This involves identifying their unique risk factors, pushing for full medical evaluation if symptoms develop, and making lifestyle choices that improve heart health, such as eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, managing stress, and not smoking.

As a society, we must strive hard to heal every woman’s heart. A woman’s heartbeat is the one which creates harmony on this earth. A woman’s heart condition is the one which creates a symphony of life for mankind. Let’s all heal, make every woman’s heart whole and not hurt a woman’s heart, any woman’s heart.

Dr Mickey Mehta is a Holistic Health Guru & Corporate Life Coach