- Is either of you a smoker? (And it's even worse if she's taking birth control pills - combining smoking with birth control pills increases the risk of heart attack 20 times!)

- Is either of you a diabetic? Diabetes increases your chances of heart disease by 6 times!

- Is either of you post-menopausal or have had their ovaries removed?

- Does either of you have a family history of coronary artery disease or stroke?

- Are either of you aged 55 or older?

- Does either of you live a sedentary lifestyle, with very little exercise?

- Is either of you African-American? Statistics say that if an African-American woman has a heart attack, she is 69% more likely to die from it than a Caucasian woman. And, the numbers show that by the time African-American women are in their late 60's, 79% of them will have high blood pressure.

Next, instead of going out to lunch today, how about doing something better for your lives and heading over to the doctor for a checkup. When you get the results back, look at several factors:

- Look at your cholesterol scores. Is either of your Triglyceride levels (LDL) greater than 150 mg/dl?

- And is either of your HDL cholesterol levels (the good cholesterol) less than 50 mg/dl?

- How about your blood pressure? Is it greater than 130/85?

- Then there's your fasting blood glucose. Is it 110 mg/dl or higher?

- Is your C-Reactive Protein (CRP) high?

If one of you doesn't score well on any of these factors, she's at a higher risk of heart disease than the other.

Or, worse yet, do both of you have issues with any of these factors? If so, you both have cause to worry!

But there is hope! For some reason that Doctors can't yet identify, women's bodies seem to have a higher capability to reverse some of the risk signs of heart disease than men's do (yet another evidence of the superiority of the female body!) So, while you can't change your family history, the fact that you're over 55, or have already have undergone menopause, there are things you can do to help reverse the chances of heart disease.

So if you act now, you can help to reduce the risk, live a longer and better life, and show the men in your life who's really the boss! Come back tomorrow for the first of a series of tips on how to reduce your risk of heart disease.

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