Heart disease happens when a number of ‘risk factors’ add up. Some of the risks – gender, genetics and age – are uncontrollable; but others – smoking, inactivity, excess weight, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes – are within our control. The key to preventing heart disease is to eat a healthy diet, get regular exercise, maintain a healthy weight, and take medications as prescribed. Use this Heart Attack Risk Assessment from the American Heart Association to find your risk for heart disease.

Men Need Help

Women take much better care of themselves. They might be programmed in to the system through OB-GYN care or maybe it’s taking care of the kids, but women visit their doctors for checkups, while men do not.

Over the past ten years, men have gotten fatter while women have stayed the same. In 2000, 27.5% of men were obese, but in 2010, it was 35%. In women, the obesity level remained stable at 33%. Along with obesity, men have more diabetes and high blood pressure, which places them at much greater risk. To their credit, men now smoke and binge drink less and they’re a bit more active. (1)
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When you say your vows in marriage, maybe the most famous part is “in sickness and in health”… Unfortunately, there may be a little more sickness than health, since research shows that we married types don’t exercise as much as people who are single.

A poll commissioned by the UK Department of Health found that married couples are much less likely to get in the two and half hours of weekly physical activity recommended by UK health experts than singles are.

Twenty-seven percent of the adults who were questioned met exercise guidelines. Women beat the men by 10 percent as more likely than men to stay fit. When you considered those people who were married, 76 percent of the men and 63 percent of the women did not meet the recommended fitness level.
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A recent study found that marriages tend to be more successful in unions where the wife is thinner than the husband. Many women will scoff at this theory but the study raises some interesting questions.

It’s unclear why relative weight plays such a large role in the happiness of a marriage. One theory is that women, coined the “fairer sex”, are expected to be dainty and small in order to be considered beautiful. Likewise, large and muscular men are projected to be powerful. When a woman appears small in relation to a man, it gives off an image of beauty versus power. However, if this theory holds up, then other factors could easily project power besides size. Career potential, education and personality can all be symbols of power for men. These can, in turn, foster feelings of security in women and fulfill both partners’ needs without projecting physical expectations.

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An article written on U.S. News & World Report online discussed a very interesting study that found an unhappy marriage had worse effects on women’s health than their male counterparts.

It’s well documented in research that men and women in “strained” marriages (characterized by chronic arguing and anger) are more likely to be depressed than happier partners/couples. Also, research indicates that women in these argumentative and anger-filled relationships are more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar (also known as indicators of Metabolic Syndrome, which is a big leader of various chronic diseases), which increases their likelihood of heart disease.
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