What health problems do women face?

In Spain, a woman dies every eight minutes from cardiovascular disease. It’s easy to take our hearts beating for granted, but there’s no greater threat to women’s health than cardiovascular risk.

But despite the dangers it poses to women throughout their lives, cardiovascular disease is also one of the easiest conditions to take steps to reduce its risks. The key is to recognize lifestyle habits that can reduce that risk and incorporate them into your life as soon as possible.

“We know that healthy eating and exercise should be the cornerstones of heart health,” says Katherine Lindley, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the US. And then there are habits to avoid (smoking,vapeand alcohol abuse) to maintain heart health and overall health.

Cancer is on track to become (if it is not already) the leading cause of death for women in Spain. Although it is impossible to detect all types of cancer, there are screening tests for the three types responsible for the majority of cancer deaths among women: breast, lung and colorectal cancer.

The good news is that not smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising regularly also reduce the risk of developing almost all types of cancer. And these same lifestyle habits also reduce the likelihood of developing metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, two other diseases that are increasingly affecting American women.

In the five stories we’ve covered as part of this women’s health series, we asked experts what important issues women should focus on in each decade.

A woman’s 20s are an opportunity to lay a solid foundation for health for decades to come. That means developing healthy habits, knowing your family medical history, and finding a primary care doctor “who knows that all parts of the body are connected,” says Stacy Rosen, a cardiologist at Northwell Health in the U.S. That specialist could be a family doctor, an internist, a gynecologist, or an obstetrician, but it’s the relationship you form with them that matters most.