5 potential risk factors for heart disease in women; how to prevent them

Women are more susceptible to heart diseases than men. Several factors ranging from stress to hereditary play a crucial role in a woman's health. In order to avoid getting the disease, it is very important for women to understand the various risk factors associated with heart disease and what are the preventive measures that need to be taken care of.

Here are 5 potential risk factors that every woman must know:

Diabetes favors the occurrence of heart diseases in women. "Although women usually develop heart disease about 10 years later than men, diabetes erases that advantage. In women who've already had a heart attack, diabetes doubles the risk for a second heart attack and increases the risk for heart failure," says a Harvard report.

Women are more prone to obesity than men, especially during the menopause phase.

Obesity is a breeding ground for several fatal diseases, one of which is heart diseases. As per health reports, obesity increases a woman's risk of getting heart diseases by 64% than men.

Menopause is another reason why many women have unhealthy cholesterol level at a later age. High cholesterol or the presence of more bad cholesterol in the body is one of the main factors that drive the risk towards heart complications.

"Elevated triglycerides are an important contributor to cardiovascular risk in women. Low HDL and high triglycerides appear to be the only factors that increase the risk of death from heart disease in women over age 65," experts at Harvard have explained.

Apart from the household chores, women mostly do not engage themselves in any physical activity. Lack of physical activity is the reason why there are a huge number of deaths due to non-communicable diseases. Health agencies have expressed concern over the healthcare facilities that are required to meet the demands of people in view of the growing incidence of diseases like heart diseases, diabetes and others.

Irrespective of the gender, smoking and alcohol consumption raise the risk of heart disease in human beings. Several studies have said that women are more likely to develop cardiovascular complications than men if they smoke regularly.

Apart from these factors, other factors like having heart diseases cases in the family, presence of autoimmune disease, depression and stress, sleep apnea, pregnancy associated hypertension, gestational diabetes, Peripartum (postpartum or pregnancy-associated) cardiomyopathy also increase the risk of heart disease in women.

A healthy lifestyle is of course the answer to this question.

Keep an eye on your diet, because you are what you eat. Do not consume off-seasonal fruits and vegetables as they are forcefully grown to meet the commercial requirement of traders.

Engage in physical activities as it keeps the body agile.

Keep yourself stress free as anxiety harbors a number of diseases without our notice.