Day 4: ... and it's RED

Today is National Wear Red Day to help promote heart health for women. According to the CDC, it is the #1 killer of women 20 and older making that about one every minute. It also resonates with me because heart disease is something that runs in my family. 

Another reason I choose to share this today is because I believe our ability to love others stems strongly in how much we love ourselves. Showing love or ourselves comes in many forms, and health is one of the strong indicators. There are many statements such as, "You are what you eat", "If you eat junk, you'll feel like junk", "If you choose to do lazy you will look lazy", and the list goes on. 

Facts shared by the CDC give some interesting insight into how we view our personal health:

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. In 2006, 315,930 women died from it.
• Heart disease killed 26% of the women who died in 2006—more than one in every four.
• Although heart disease is sometimes thought of as a "man's disease," around the same number of women and men die each year of heart disease in the United States. Unfortunately, 36% of women did not perceive themselves to be at risk for heart disease in a 2005 survey.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian American women, heart disease is second only to cancer.
• In 2006, about 6.9% of all white women, 8.8% of black women, and 6.6% of Mexican American women were living with coronary heart disease.
• Almost two-thirds of the women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms. Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.

* For this fact sheet, the term "heart disease" refers to several different types of heart conditions. In the United States, the most common type is coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease.

There are three statistics that stick out to me: First, nearly 36% of women did not see themselves at risk for heart disease; secondly, nearly 25% of women are living with a coronary disease; and lastly, two-thirds of the women who die suddenly have no previous symptoms. Wow!

To address the first number, do we often see ourselves as invincible? I am 28 years old and when I get sick I don't go to the doctor. It is taken care of with self-medication. I also haven't had a physical since before my mission. After my mission is when I started seeing a "female doctor". I also ballooned a whopping 30 pounds between graduation and my mission. What does that tell others about how much I love my body?

Secondly, how many things do we choose to live with? I know my mother has been under some serious scrutiny from her doctors to get her health under control. She has medications, she has a health plan she needs to live by, and yet she is too busy to do any of it. I heard a quote once that said we either get busy living, or get busy dying. What are the things you are choosing to live with that you could fix and help you become a healthier, more beautiful you?

Third, how aware are we of our bodies. While there may have been no symptoms in these women, they had to have known something was wrong. And while they may have had no previous symptoms, I would be willing to bet they weren't in the best of health. Are there preventative things we can be doing in our own lives to ensure we are not dying an early death?

According to the American Heart Association more than 90% of women have one of more of the risk factors involving heart disease. This includes you. Yes you. The person staring at this screen right now.

We need to learn to love ourselves and those around us enough to be healthy. This health includes mental, physical, spiritual, etc. Carl Jung the Swiss psychiatrist wrote, "The most terrifying thing to do is to accept oneself completely." Often this is where the first step comes. When we accept ourselves and our personal flaws, we are able to take the blinders off and see where were can make improvements.

Learn to love yourself. Upon doing that you will find an unimaginable amount of live swirling around you. Learn to love yourself. Doing this will help you to have an open heart to others.

In the meantime, go to Go Red for Women. There you will find many tools to help you get on a heart-healthy track. Love yourself and others around you enough to take care of yourself.