How to monitor your heart health

Heart disease is the #1 killer of women, and each year it kills ten times as many women as breast cancer. So why do we give ourselves breast exams each month but don't monitor our heart health on a regular basis? Here's what you need to know to protect yourself against heart disease:

• While heart disease may take decades to develop, habits in our 20s, 30s and 40s—the years in which we frequently think we're immune from heart disease—set the stage for developing heart disease.

• If you smoke (even occasionally as a 'social smoker’), your diet consists of too many fatty foods and you don't get enough exercise you are—not will be—developing heart disease. Living the American Lifestyle may not kill you—a heart attack is a different issue—but it will cause most of us to develop plaque (cholesterol) in our arteries over time.

• Aging, combined with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, overweight and a sedentary lifestyle will cause most of us to develop artery blockages of some kind.

• While you don't need to overtest, there are key tests you should have done, and key things you can do to protect yourself:

1. Starting at age 20, you should know your cholesterol level. And if it is high, you should know how to lower it through changes in your diet and exercise regimen. If you have no risk factors—smoking, overweight, family history of heart disease—you can test every 5 years until you reach age 30. Thereafter, test every year. (If you do have risk factors, test every year starting at age 20.)
2. Family history can be a significant issue even for women who are otherwise at low risk for developing heart disease. If either of your parents developed heart disease before age 55, you should consider getting a coronary artery calcium test—a CAT scan that measures the amount of calcium buildup in the arteries of the heart and may detect potential problems very early.