Taylor Bembery
Associate Editor
February is National Women’s Heart Disease Month but it is vital to stay aware of your heart health year round.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), heart disease is the number one killer of women and is more deadly than all forms of cancer. More than 2,200 Americans die of heart disease every single day. That is one death every 39 seconds. Even more alarming is the fact that someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and a stroke-related death occurs about every four minutes.
Such an aggressive disease requires an equally aggressive response. The AHA has spent more than $3.3 billion on research, ever increasing our knowledge and understanding about heart disease and strokes, making AHA the largest funder of heart disease research, second only to the U.S. government.
Students and organizations at Jackson State University are also “Going Red” for the cause.
Kendra Montgomery, a senior early childhood education major from Detroit, Mich., is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Some of the sorority members traded in their colors of Royal Blue and White for red t-shirts at a Hotspot held on Feb. 14 to raise awareness and funds for the AHA.
“We decided to raise money for the American Heart Association for recognition that February is Women’s Heart Disease month. We wanted to bring awareness to students about the disease and the money will also help fund continued research they are performing for heart disease,” said Montgomery.
The sorority also gave out information pamphlets and t-shirts with the AHA “Go Red” logo and a saying on it that said “The Queen of Hearts is a Woman.”
The risk factors of heart disease that cannot be changed are: increasing age, family health history, and race. The risk factors that can be changed that contribute to heart disease is smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, physical inactivity, and being overweight.
Rod Wilson, a facility manager and fitness expert at the Walter Payton Fitness & Wellness Center at JSU, gave some insight on how important cardiovascular health is for women.
“The endocrine system is different in a woman. Exercise will help, not cure but will aid [the fight against] illnesses. If you don’t ever challenge the heart it will never have any type of stimulants to get better. Cardiovascular exercise is not only helping the heart but the lungs as well. So your heart, lungs, veins, and blood pressure is challenged. Women need a lot of cardiovascular and aerobics as well to actually strengthen the heart. The heart is like any other muscle if you don’t use it, you lose it. The heart has different types of tissue than skeletal tissues but it still has to be worked,” said Wilson.
To find out more about Women’s Heart Disease month you can visit
www.goredforwomen.org and remember “Go Red” by wearing red in the month of February to show your support.
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