For both men and women of all ages, cardiovascular disease may be the primary killer. It kills lots more people than ALL types of cancer tumors put together. If you're black, African American or older than sixty-five, your risk of heart disease is greater, but it is an equal opportunity destroyer.   Anyone, anyplace, any time could have a cardiac event.

Myth #1: Only adults need to be concerned about their cardiovascular system.

The things that could possibly trigger a heart attack build up with time.  Being a couch-potato, boredom eating and not exercising are typically very bad habits that may possibly begin in child years.   A growing number of doctors are starting to have patients of strokes in their 20's and 30's instead of sufferers generally in their 50's and 60's.

Appearing healthy and at the appropriate bodyweight will not make you safe from strokes.   However, both working out regularly and keeping an ideal bodyweight helps.   You still must look at your cholesterol  level and blood pressure.   A good blood cholesterol (or lipid profile) number is less than two hundred.   The best blood pressure level is 120/80.

Myth #2:   I'd feel unwell if I had high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels.

They call these, “silent killers” simply because they show NO warning signs.  One third of all older people have high blood pressure levels.   Of those, one-third have no idea they already have it.

High-cholesterol is a measure of the fats stocked by your blood stream.   Fats may be dropped anywhere in your entire body, but sometimes congregate all around internal organs, including your heart.   This tendency may run in family members.   So, even if you're at a good weight and don't smoke, have your blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels analyzed constantly.   Once is not sufficient.

Myth #3:   Males and females DON'T have the same signals.

Men and women CAN have the same signals, however they generally don't.  Females seem to have the subtler signs while men more regularly experience the type of cardiac arrest you see in the movies.   But, either gender CAN have any indicators and symptoms.

These subtler symptoms, as well as jaw achiness, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath and significant physical weakness, are more likely to get defined away.

“My jaw hurt mainly because my lunchtime sandwich was on whole-grain bread and I simply had to chew very, very hard,” or , while clutching their stomach, “I shouldn't have had that extra piece of pizza.”

“Half of females have no chest pain after all,” declares Kathy Magliato, a heart expert at California's St. John's Health Center.   Put all the little signals to each other and pay attention to your own body.

Surely, both women and men might have the “grab-your-chest-and-fall-down-gasping” form of heart attack, however, that isn't the only way.

Myth #4:   Given that my blood sugar level is in check, Type 2 diabetes is not a heart threat.

Although maintaining your blood sugar level with a regular range (80ml-120ml) will keep you healthier, just having the additional glucose in your body takes its toll on arterial blood vessels.  You'll need to exercise and eat more healthily to help control your diabetes, but don't forget to measure your blood pressure and bad cholesterol, too.

Myth #5:   My medical professional would order medical tests if I were vulnerable to heart disease.

Frequently, we all overlook to inform the doctor the little aches we feel.  The physicians, without knowing the various things we consider as unimportant, may pass over heart checks.

“Mammograms and Colonoscopies are routinely prescribed,” says Merdod Ghafouri, a cardiologist at Inova Fairfax Clinic in Virginia,  “and are necessary, but heart scans aren't often performed.”

A heart scan can find plaque build-up within the arterial blood vessels even before you find out you have a problem.

Do you have the oil pressure and transmission fluid tested in your car or truck? Have other preventive routine service done?   

Doesn't your only heart require as much care as your car?

Millie Bruce was born in Banffshire, Scotland on August 2, 1944. She has a basic college diploma in Meds at the University of Glasgow in 1962. She has done nutrition therapy and  has coached adult nutrition in Adult Daycare Treatment centers. She previously worked for clinical journalists and testers that published reports for the New England Journal of Medicine. Today, she is retired and from the year 2005 to the present she has been a guest journalist for health-related internet sites and forums.  http://twitter.com/#!/millie_bruce