Taking a quick detour into one of my “smash the patriarchy” rants, did you know that women are more likely to die from a heart attack than men? The reason is that the “standard” symptoms of a heart attack are those for men; women’s symptoms are not necessarily the same. This means their heart attack may be misdiagnosed. 

While chest pain, pressure or discomfort that lasts more than a few minutes, or comes and goes is the most common symptom for men and women, in women the chest pain is not always severe or even the most noticeable symptom. 

Women often describe heart attack pain as pressure or tightness. And it's possible to have a heart attack without chest pain. 

Women are more likely than men to have heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain, such as neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back or upper belly (abdomen) discomfort; shortness of breath; pain in one or both arms; nausea or vomiting; sweating; light-headedness or dizziness; unusual fatigue; or heartburn (indigestion) .

According to the Mayo Clinic, Women’s symptoms may be vague and not as noticeable as the crushing chest pain often associated with heart attacks. This might be because women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries but also in the smaller ones that supply blood to the heart, a condition called small vessel heart disease or coronary microvascular disease.

Compared with men, women tend to have symptoms more often when resting, or even when asleep. 

• Diabetes:  Women with diabetes are more likely to develop heart disease than are men with diabetes. Also, because diabetes can change the way women feel pain, there's an increased risk of having a silent heart attack — without symptoms.

• Emotional stress and depression: Know the saying "having a broken heart"? It is actually true! Grief, stress and depression affect women's hearts more than men’s. Depression may also make it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and follow recommended treatment for other health conditions.

• Smoking: Smoking is a greater risk factor for heart disease in women than it is in men.

• Inactivity: A lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for heart disease.

• Menopause:. Oh, is there anything that Menopause doesn't make just a bit better?! Low levels of oestrogen after menopause increase the risk of developing disease in smaller blood vessels. Hurrah.

• Pregnancy complications: High blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy can increase the mother's long-term risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. These conditions also make women more likely to get heart disease.

• Family history of early heart disease: This appears to be a greater risk factor in women than in men.

• Inflammatory diseases: Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other inflammatory conditions may increase the risk of heart disease in both men and women.

Understanding the conditions that affect your heart and the habits that can help prevent or manage them is key to maintaining good heart health. 

You can work on this every day. By managing  what you eat; whether you smoke or drink; managing how much you move; your cholesterol and blood pressure; and your stress; you can have a huge positive impact on your heart health. (In the next blog we will look at all the things that you can do to improve your heart health, so look out for these healthy heart tips).

One thing you can start with immediately is to really look at the things that are causing you major stress in your life and find ways to reduce the impact that these worries have on your physical and emotional health. 

Elevated stress levels play a huge role in overworking our hearts as your nervous system is in constant high alert mode. Think fight or flight. Your nervous system will react depending on your stress levels and will switch between the different parts of your nervous system accordingly. 

Activating your parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is one of the best ways to reduce stress. When the PSNS is activated, it slows our heart and breathing rates, lowers blood pressure and promotes digestion. Our body enters a state of relaxation, and this relaxation breeds recovery. The more time we spend in a PSNS state, the healthier we are. 

The PSNS is sometimes known as our rest and digest mode. It forms one third of our autonomic nervous system, alongside the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) also known as the fight or flight mode and our enteric system (ENS), sometimes referred to as our second brain. 

Meditation:  Since it’s nearly impossible to remove all external stress, meditation can help to decrease our reactivity to stress we can’t control. Meditation teaches us to manage triggers, reduces our breathing rate, slows our heart, and decreases blood pressure which are all signs of PSNS activation.  

Massage: Regular massage has been shown to restore balance between our SNS and PSNS. Massage can help us to feel stronger, calmer, and more able to fight infection. It also retrains the body to move more readily into PSNS.  

Breathwork: Intentionally slowing your breath lets your body know that everything is okay, as it activates the PSNS. Breathing exercises will help to strengthen your lungs, improve your immune system, and decrease your heart rate. 

You can try this well-known technique to calm your nervous system instantly when you feel stressed: 

• Inhale for a count of 4. 
• Hold the breath for a count of 4. Exhale for a count of 4. 
• Repeat up to 10 breaths. 
• Increase to a count of 6 if you want to deepen the practice. 
• NB. It is best to start with 4 counts and work your way to 6 counts.

Try Stretch via Zoom at 8.15am UK time on Friday mornings: Thirty minutes of stretching. 

We work to release whichever muscles are feeling tight that day. 

We breathe. 

We tell our bodies that everything is OK.  Book in here to try your first class for free and join us for the best half hour of the week