How does menopause affect my risk of heart disease?
When menopause hits and estrogen levels decrease, a woman's risk for heart disease goes up, making lifestyle choices even more important. Watch cardiologist Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, explain how menopause and loss of estrogen impacts heart disease risk.
Transcript
Menopause is exactly when things change. What I always say is train for menopause
like you're training for a marathon. [MUSIC PLAYING]
When we think of, really, the life cycle of a woman, in your 20s, you're kind of counting the days that you
don't have your period, and then in your 30s, you're counting the days to have your period, trying to get pregnant.
Then in your 40s, you want to hold on to that estrogen for as long as you can because once menopause
hits and the estrogen decreases, that increases your risk of heart disease. As you go through menopause and there's a decrease in estrogen,
we lose all that protection on our hearts. Our arteries become more susceptible to plaque
formation. And our bodies increase in LDL, the bad cholesterol, and there's a decrease in HDL, the good cholesterol.
So about 10 years after menopause, there's an increase in heart disease that is equal to a man's 10 years before.
Menopause is exactly when things change. What I always say is train for menopause
like you're training for a marathon, and that way, you can keep your risk of heart disease as low as possible.
As you go through menopause, pay attention to your lifestyle. It's really about exercise, and diet,
and continuing to take care of yourself. If you do that, then your risk of heart disease does not have to go up.
But please, go to your doctor. Get your blood pressure checked, your cholesterol checked. Know your sugar levels. Keep your weight in check because it's
really harder to keep weight off as you go through menopause. But you can do it, and increase risk of heart disease
does not have to happen. But once you go through menopause, the tendency is that heart disease does occur.
You can do it. You've just got to stick with your lifestyle program.
womens health
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