As you may know, The Cardio Blog is being retired today. It's been an honor to write for this blog, and I hope that the information we brought to you was useful and informative. Since this will be my last post for The Cardio Blog, I thought I'd write about a topic that is near and dear to my heart (pun, lamely, intended): women's heart health.

We've seen it in the headlines again and again -- women, and often their doctors, don't always prioritize their health, and this seems to be especially an issue when it comes to heart health. But the fact is that heart disease is public enemy number one for women, and we all need to better understand and deal with our risk factors.

So I'll leave you with this post from Her Daily News. In it, they talk about Heart Truth, the National Institute of Health's campaign to bring heart education to women. They also include a checklist of questions to take to your doctor, as well as a list to help you understand your own risk. Do yourself -- and your heart -- a favor today and read through the questions to determine if you need to do more to protect your health.

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When male and female mice exercise, female hearts seem to get more benefit than male hearts. Researchers believe this finding may be translatable into human heart health and may explain why women seem to get more -- heart-wise at least -- out of exercise than men.

Female mice had bigger and stronger hearts than male mice and had a 20% reduction in a protein found in people who have heart disease. Male mice did not see the same reduction. Female mice were also able to run farther and faster on a running wheel than their male counterparts.

Though this research only makes a dent in gender-specific cardiac changes, health experts hope that down the road, studies like this one will lead to better treatment strategies for men and women with cardiovascular illnesses.

Recently, a friend of mine went to the ER with pain in her left shoulder and shortness of breath. I'm too young for heart disease, she said to me when I called to check on her. But they soon had admitted her overnight for some tests, and though thankfully everything was fine, we both learned a lesson that day. We may be young at heart, but we aren't too young for heart disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women over the age of 25 and it takes more lives than all cancers combined in that age group. I was astonished by that fact. Though women under 50 are less likely to have a heart attack than men, they are more likely to die from them -- likely because women's symptoms can be vague and because women also tend to ignore them. Though those statistics may concern you, there are steps you can take to keep your ticker ticking in a healthy way. Check out this article from Women's Health Magazine that'll give you eight steps you to a healthy heart. There's a ton of good information there, including specific screening tests you can ask for at your next doctor's visit.

Why is there a gap between men and women when it comes to cholesterol control? Though women are being screened just as often as men, it seems that getting women's LDL cholesterol levels under control doesn't seem to be as high of a priority as it is in men. Experts speculate that it's because both women and their doctors (that's alarming) underestimate women's heart disease risk, and so LDL levels are not aggressively managed.

Do you know your numbers? You should. (I'm writing a note right now to call my doctor and get mine.) A good LDL reading is less than 100 mg/dl. If your LDL is high, be sure to talk to your doctor about steps you can take to reduce your cholesterol levels. In general, however, a diet that's low in fat (saturated and trans) and rich in veggies, fruits, and whole grains, along with plenty of exercise, can go a long way to help you manage your cholesterol.