Only recently has preparation become a watchword in women’s health. The generations of women who came before us didn’t start thinking about steps they could take toward having a healthy pregnancy until they became pregnant. Now, we advocate that women begin to prepare their bodies for pregnancy a full year before they would like to conceive by improving their diet, exercising, and taking essential vitamins. The same is true for perimenopause: whether you are at the beginning, middle, or end of your forties, the time is right to think about making your mature years healthy and enjoyable.

Most women are no strangers to planning ahead for milestones in our lives. We’ve picked out wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses in anticipation of getting married, polished our resumes before graduation, studied the want ads in anticipation of getting a new job, and decorated nurseries while waiting for babies to be born. Perimenopause is another time in our lives when preparation now pays big dividends later.

I’m going to review the healthy steps you can take to protect your heart, bones, and breasts during perimenopause. I’ll take you through a calm discussion of the risk factors for disease and what you can do to minimize them. Since women are living longer than ever now (our average life expectancy is nearly 80 years) and are in much better health than previous generations, you want to do everything possible to establish good health for yourself in the coming years, judge your risks, and make solid, carefully thought-out choices based on your individual needs.

Protecting Your Heart

I’m going to start with an overview of how estrogen impacts the heart. Up until the beginning of perimenopause, when our bodies start producing less estrogen, women have a distinct advantage over our male counterparts as far as the health of our hearts is concerned. Women have fewer cardiovascular problems early in life, probably because the “estrogen edge” helps keep our veins and arteries in better shape. But that changes as we get older, when heart disease becomes the leading cause of death among women.

In her book The Female Heart, Marianne J. Legato, M.D., observes that by age 60, women’s risk of heart disease is equal to men’s. After age 65, heart disease kills more women than men, nearly half a million each year. Research data show and I certainly observe this in my clinic that the majority of women mistakenly believe that cancer poses a greater threat to their health than heart disease. In reality, heart disease claims more women’s lives each year than any other disease, including breast, ovarian, and lung cancer combined. I cite this statistic not to sound an alarmist note but to focus on opportunities we have during perimenopause to pay equal attention to our cardiovascular health.

Related posts:

1. The Basics of Perimenopause – Relationship Between Estrogen and the Healthy Heart

2. The Basics of Perimenopause – HRT and Your Heart

3. The Basics of Perimenopause – The Arc Bends toward Maturity

4. The Basics of Perimenopause – Risks and Benefits Hormone Replacement Therapy

5. The Basics of Perimenopause – Low Estrogen Equals Different Symptoms

6. The Basics of Hormone Replacement Therapy For Perimenopause – Facts about Your Choices

7. The Basics of the Effects of Smoking Leading Up to and During Perimenopause

8. The Basics of the Relationship Between Progesterone and Perimenopause

9. The Basics of Perimenopause – language barriers during hormone replacement therapy

10. The Basics of Keeping Your Bones and Joints Healthy