An estimated one-third of women suffer from heart problems, and according to the American Heart Association, where you live may actually make a difference.
The heart association's Go Red For Women campaign recently commissioned a study to rank the best places for women to live in the United States for a healthy heart. It included an analysis of 22 factors affecting women's heart health, including rates of cardiovascular mortality, high blood pressure, exercise, smoking, stress levels, and the numbers of people who commute by bicycle or on foot. Here are the results.
The most heart-friendly metro areas for women are:
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, District of Columbia
- San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.
- Denver-Aurora, Colo.
- Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
- Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.
- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.
For the least-friendly metropolitan areas for women's hearts just read more.
- Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.
- St. Louis, Mo.
- Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
- Columbus, Ohio
- Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio
- Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
- Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio
- Indianapolis, Ind.
I'm pretty psyched to see SF holding down the number three spot! Do you live in or near an area that is the most heart friendly or the least heart friendly?
APC
City Walk
Martick Jewellery
I'm from Columbus, Ohio... oh dear.
1Wow. Is there any area in Ohio that wasn't mentioned? It's not looking good for us.
2Yeah, I saw this in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday. Go STL. Jeez...
3#10 worst, baby! I should move back to L.A....
4I'm feeling pretty good: I used to live in the Detroit area and now I'm in D.C.
5I'm moving back to Pittsburgh in a month. Wonder why it's on the list?
6Yikes...I live in Nashville
I need to move back to Denver!
7I live in Nashville. Why is it #1??
Ok, now that I've read the article I get it. There are tons of fast food restaurants, & a decent amount of smokers, but not a lot that I know! And there are lots of obese people
I have nothing to worry about because I exercise regularly, ride my bike 5.2 miles to work (round trip) 2-3 times a week, I don't smoke, and I don't eat fast food!
I still love Nashville.
8I just moved from Carlsbad, CA! Yay
9Minneapolis! YEAH!
10I live in Nashville and really like it here, but I understand why we're an unhealthy city.
Just yesterday I was running in Centennial Park and there was a group of three adults with two babies that were walking on the one-mile track. All three adults were smoking, and the mom would hold her cigarette about an inch from her baby's face, and the dad blew smoke in the toddler's face.
In fact there were a lot of smokers on the walking/running trail yesterday, which is probably why my I had an asthma episode and had a terrible workout.
11Yay for LA!
12uptown_girl...I would never say you have NOTHING to worry about...Heart disease hits perfectly active people also. You just lower your risk if you work out and eat right. Also, injury could occur to prevent you from being as fit as you are not...Just keep in mind.
My family have huge heart disease problems but we are all really active and all despise fast food. My mom (who does smoke) has no heart problems for some reason....Oh well!
13uhhhh I use to live right next to Santa Ana. No way am I riding my bike in that town. Although the back bay (between Costa Mesa and Newport) is AWESOME for riding bikes. You can start there and ride all the way down to the beach and even Balboa
14Detroit, ugh!
15#2!!
16Yet another reason to move from the Pittsburgh area to San Francisco. Thanks for helping me make my argument, Fit!
17Yay LA!
18Hooray for Beantown, SF, and DC!
19I'm not in the best or the worst areas, but I'm guessing my city's probably pretty bad...lots of people are underinsured (thanks to the city's largest employer offering only crappy benefits packages) and probably 50% of the people here smoke. Plus, most people eat a lot of fast food/unhealthy bar food (think deep fried cheese curds, deep fried mozzarella sticks, etc.).
But my sisters in law both live in Denver and you can tell that the average person there is a lot healthier than the people in Wisconsin...lots of people work out and they have so many smoking bans that it'd be difficult to even smoke at all there.
20Well, I live in Dayton OH. I feel like if a fourth city could be added on, that would be it! I love how the three largest cities in my home state are on the worst list! Eeeek! All they need noe is Toledo and Dayton and we will have all 5 major cities on there! Yikes.
21Woo! Number three is pretty exciting considering all the warnings we've been getting about air pollution
22Woo Boston!
23Yeah Twin Cities!
24Sweet, I'm near a good area.
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