Heart Health - 8 Warning Signs That Could Save Your Life

Watch out for these risk factors to keep safe, and help your heart stay strong and healthy

- Anya Pearey

1 Chest pain

It is one of the most common signs of a heart attack but maybe missed in women because heart disease is often seen as a ‘man’s problem’.

Watch for pain or discomfort – pressure, tightening or squeezing – in your chest, which occurs suddenly and doesn’t go away. The pain may spread to either arm or your neck, jaw, back or stomach.

British women are 70% more likely to die than men within a month of a heart attack – and less likely to have their heart problem correctly diagnosed. A recent report in the medical journal The Lancet highlighted inequality of care for women with cardiovascular disease, despite it affecting as many women as men and being the leading cause of death among both.

‘Here in the UK women who have a heart attack receive poorer care than men at every stage – diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare,’ says consultant cardiologist Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

2 Breathlessness

Call 999 or your GP surgery immediately. It could signal problems with your heart or lungs and needs urgent attention. ‘Narrowed/leaky heart valves, an irregular heartbeat and heart failure (weakened heart muscles) reduce pumping efficiency, and can cause breathlessness,’ says Dr. Melanie Wynne-Jones, ‘often with dizziness, palpitations, pain, ankle swelling or cyanosis too.’

3 Feeling sick