This is a guest post from Lulu Valdivia, a student in a wellness and peak performance class at National University. Many of us may not know, but February is American Heart Disease Awareness Month. We often think of heart disease as a man’s disease, but it’s the number one killer of women.

I believe women are affected severely because they are so busy being moms taking care of kids and working hard to have a successful career. Women are nurturing by nature, so they try to take on a lot. They want to keep everyone happy and don’t think of their own health. We need to make women more aware of heart disease and help with prevention. Two-thirds of women who have heart attacks don’t make a full recovery.

Take action to reduce heart disease risk:

1.  Exercise 30 to 60 minutes a day.

2.  Avoid smoking or quit.

3.  Eat a healthy diet.

4.  Lose weight or maintain a normal weight.

5.  Know your numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides).

These steps are a start to begin healthy living to prevent heart disease. You may not think this applies to you, but 1 in 4 women in the U.S. dies of heart disease. Some women are more at risk then other. African-American and Hispanic Americans tend to have a higher occurrence of risk factors: obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

I used to think this can't affect me, but now that I am in my early 30s I find myself overweight and high blood pressure runs in my family. I am not excluded. I know I need to make changes in my life so that I can be around for my husband and three kids. We need to continue educating people so that we become a healthier society. We need to keep our moms, sisters and daughters around as long as possible.