Sadly many midlife women suffer from heart disease and tend to die from heart attacks often than men. Part of this is that research studied mens’ heart attack symptoms and assumed women suffered similarly, and in part that women are less likely to seek help for their symptoms, dismissing them as unimportant.

The reality is that heart disease is the biggest killer of midlife women in America, with deaths outnumbering those from any kind of cancer 2:1. This is widely believed to be because women have very different symptoms from men, and as the symptoms can be more vague in women, we are less likely to be identified as having a heart attack.

For much more information and risk worksheets, download a book about womens’ heart health from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

For a quick guide, here are lists of risk factors, heart attack symptoms in women and things you can do to help protect yourself against heart disease.

If you are here because you concerned about your heart, go and get help right away!

Risk factors

- smoking

- a family history of heart disease

- lack of exercise

- diabetes

- high blood pressure

- high cholesterol levels

- being overweight

- having a waist bigger than hips – ‘apple’ shaped

Womens’ Heart Attack Symptoms

- chest pain, possibly with pain in the back or pulsing/throbbing in one or both arms

- feeling breathless and unable to catch your breath – possibly on waking up

- feeling clammy and sweaty unrelated to the weather

- feeling light headed, dizzy or blacking out

- feeling very anxious, fearful – unrelated to apparent situation

- swelling around the ankles and lower legs

- fluttering heartbeat or palpitations

- feeling of indigestion and nausea unrelated to food

- feeling of heaviness or pressure on the chest, between the breasts, and out toward the left arm or shoulder

How you can help yourself

- Call 911 if you have ANY suspicious symptoms that might be a heart attack – yes, NOW!

- discuss your history and risk factors with your doctor

- stop smoking and avoid second hand smoke

- eat a low fat, high fiber diet

- maintain a healthy body weight

- keep your blood pressure at or below 120/80

- get and keep your cholesterol levels in check

- discuss the effects of hormone therapy on your heart with your doctor

- learn how to deal with stress more effectively