cardiovascular disease

You may have seen our last post on vitamin D. We talked about how many women may not be getting enough. Researchers have called vitamin D deficiency a “pandemic,” stating that a lack of sun exposure (which is required for the body to make vitamin D) as well as low …

“Drink your orange juice,” my mom used to say. “It’s got vitamin C.” I learned from a young age that vitamin C was a good thing. I didn’t really know why at the time, just that I got it when drinking orange juice and when chewing the kids’ vitamins my …

When it comes to heart attacks, a woman’s symptoms are subtler than a man’s. Whereas a man may have fierce chest pain, a woman may feel nauseated, tired, and out of sorts. It took us decades to discover the difference. Meanwhile, women may have had fewer heart attacks then men, …

I traveled to South America several years ago with a friend of mine. When we arrived for our stay, he recommended that I take melatonin to help reset my body clock, since the time zone was several hours different from our own. I had never tried melatonin before, but I …

Originally posted: May 24, 2015 Are you getting enough vitamin D? If you’re like most women in the U.S., you may not be. We’re supposed to get our daily supply of this important nutrient from the sun and from food, but according to recent studies, many of us are falling short. …

A friend of mine was telling me recently about her menopausal symptoms. The hot flashes were getting to her, and the mood swings were no fun either. I asked her if she had considered hormone therapy (HT), and she gave me this look—you know, the kind that seems to say, …

The Grim Reaper was busy at the end of 2016, taking away many celebrities who died of heart disease. However, the news didn’t come as any surprise to the American Heart Association, because the holiday season tends to bring about more heart-related deaths than any other time of year. Heart …

I remember when we made the switch. Whole milk, which had been a staple of the American diet for decades, was bad for our hearts, the experts told us. It contained too much fat that could clog our arteries. Other full-fat dairy products, too, like cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, and …

An e-card from Someecards reads, “’Menopause really isn’t that bad,’ said no woman ever.” Another one says, “Oh, I understand it now…Menopause is just puberty’s evil older sister.” We laugh because we know it’s true, whether or not we’ve experienced “the change.” New research and developments in understanding menopause and …

Common cardiovascular diseases include a narrowing and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), chest pain that happens when not enough blood is getting to the heart (angina), heart attack, and stroke. High blood pressure (hypertension) is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Many women think, wrongly, that only …