Cardiovascular health is an essential concern for all genders. Heart disease in women has been less studied, and more poorly understood, than in men, but there have been some improvements in recent years that help us understand what women can do to protect themselves from the danger of heart attack and stroke.
The basic preventative treatments remain the same for everyone: exercise, healthy weight, a sensible diet, reducing cholesterol, managing stress and sleep, and reducing inflammation, there are some specific things that can benefit women especially.
The female hormone cycle has an impact on both inflammation and cardiovascular health. Unfortunately, at this point, there isn’t much good research on how that works. We do know that the estrogen decline and change during peri-menopause and menopause increases the chances of heart attack, stroke, and particularly high cholesterol. Therefore, sensible balancing of hormone fluctuations may be a good precaution. For some, that will mean hormone replacement therapy, for others that could mean Vitex, Black Cohosh, or a formula for balancing hormone production such as Estrologic or Estrotone.
For most women, regardless of age, managing stress and increasing exercise are the most important steps to improve cardiovascular health. There are many good guides for how to make the most of meditation, yoga, and exercise.
Herbal formulas to support cardiovascular health include Garlic, Hawthorne, Lecithin, and Turmeric, to name just a few. Smile offers a number of formulas to choose from, as well as our very popular Blood Pressure Tea!
And finally, reducing inflammation helps with a number of health concerns, including digestive concerns, cholesterol buildup, chronic pain, and cardiovascular risk. Smile carries a number of formulas designed to support healthy inflammatory response.
Research links:
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/02/09/the-slowly-evolving-truth-about-heart-disease-and-women
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2811074
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/topics/heart-disease-prevalence.htm
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4834856
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/coronary-heart-disease/women#:~:text=delays%20in%20treatment.-,What%20factors%20affect%20risk%20for%20women%20differently?,Overweight%20and%20obesity
Study on the use of nattokinase to prevent and treat blood clots:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5372539
Study overview of lecithin for cardiovascular health:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11246377
Inflammation and Heart disease:
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/consumer-healthcare/what-is-cardiovascular-disease/inflammation-and-heart-disease
Inflammation:
https://www.self.com/story/how-to-reduce-inflammation-in-the-body?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
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