- Smoking
Smoking is less prevalent in Indian women compared to many western countries. However, in urban India the smoking rate remains high in women. Smoking has many health consequences including cardiac and pulmonary disease. Smoking is considered to be a major risk factor for heart attacks and should be completely stopped. Also Read – What is Urinary Incontinence? Know The Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
- Exercise
Women have many things to do. They work at the office as well as do routine household activities. So very often they tend to skip their exercise routine. Everybody men or women need to do moderate level of exercise for at least 30 minutes a day and at least 5 days in a week
- Weight management
Very often women become careless about weight, especially after child birth. It is important to maintain ideal body weight to prevent obesity related problems including heart disease. Most importantly central obesity has to be avoided by proper diet and routine exercise as this kind of obesity is highly related to heart disease.
- Sleep and stress
Women quite often sleep late and rise early and do not complete 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Sleeping less is correlated to increased cardiac risk. Similarly increased mental stress also leads to increased incidence of cardiac illness. Women should take care of these aspects and if needed should consult a doctor for advice or treatment.
- Health check up
Routine health checkups are often missed by women. This leads to improper management of underlying disease states such as diabetes, hypertension etc. Routine checkups are essential for proper diagnosis and appropriate timely treatment of underlying diseases.
- Ignoring symptoms
Symptoms due to angina or heart attack may be different and atypical in women compared to men. Heart attack may manifest as just breathlessness, nausea, vomiting, sweating etc. Typical symptoms like central chest pain may remain absent. This leads to women not seeking immediate medical advice, which can cause significant damage to heart muscle.
- Maintaining ideal weight
Ideal BMI is less than 25 kg/m2. In addition to that one should try to avoid fat accumulation around the belly. Ideal waist circumference is less than 35 inch in women and less than 40 inch in men. To achieve ideal body weight, one should have a good diet such as roti from whole grain atta, brown rice, whole grain pulses, legumes, beans, plenty of vegetables and fruits, skimmed milk, egg, lean meat and fish etc. Routine exercise regimen should consist of dynamic exercises such as brisk walking, cycling, swimming etc for at least 30 mins per day and at least 5 days a week.
- Adequate sleep and free from stress:
Any adult should sleep at least 7 to 8 hours every day. Women should try to remain as stress free as possible. To remain stress free one may indulge in some form of hobby, listen to music, practice yoga etc.