Despite some unwillingness to admit, women are different from men. Not only as far as physical characteristics are concerned but in many other ways too. Women, for instance want work-life balance, men want status and its symbols—houses, cars, stuff. Women wear their heart on their sleeve. Men tuck it away. She fights. He takes flight. Women have lots of friends. Men have fewer. Women multi-task, men are laser-focused. Women regret things they have done, men regret things they haven’t done.
When it comes to romancing they are also different. Men rather than dealing with the many anxieties that come up after separation they prefer to distance from reality. In effect, they choose to avoid both the feelings and the remembrances of the romantic attachment. Women, on the other hand, become overly anxious when, after a romantic connection, the couple divorces. This takes a heavy emotional toll on the gentle sex.
A relationship conflict between a man and a woman is more stressful to the former than the latter. In the conflict-negotiation task men and women also face different demands. Once a bond is established women are often expected to initiate and guide conflict discussions. Indeed, avoidant women show high reactivity before and during the conflict but recover rapidly after leaving the discussion. For these women, avoiding sustained conflict appears to be physiologically rewarding.
There’s more! Traditionally, women are said to be more soft-hearted and kind-hearted, as compared to men! Many other good epithets have also been showered upon them from time to time, as a compliment. But, egged on by women’s lib campaigns, nowadays, womenfolk seem to find comparisons with men odious. In the battle between sexes they often stake a claim for equality, even for supremacy! But doctors seem to know better when they say man’s hearts and women’s hearts are different. Women’s hearts and arteries are smaller than men’s. The types of blockages that cause heart disease are often different in women. Women get “angina” (ischemic chest pain) even without blocked arteries due to what is known as “micro-vascular disease”.
A path-breaking study known as WISE (Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation) was conducted some years ago by doctors in the US (billed as the “big” medical discovery that had America buzzing). It concluded that, as far as heart disease is concerned, there is a clear difference between sexes. But while it made doctors wiser, it also placed upon them additional responsibilities regarding the adverse prognosis of such women sometimes wrongly labelled as hysterical.
Recent studies take one more step in highlighting that in the face of heart attacks in women often the causes and symptoms are different than those in men… and they’re deadlier, too. That’s the premise of a recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) that hopes to raise awareness about key differences in heart attack indicators and treatment in women. The AHA journal “Circulation” highlights: 1) Plaque build-up in the arteries — a frequent cause of heart attacks — can differ between the sexes. 2) Women are less likely to need “stenting” to open a blocked artery. 3) High blood-pressure is a stronger risk factor for women than for men. 4) Diabetes raises a young woman’s heart disease risk up to five times compared to young men. 5) In both men and women, chest pain or discomfort is the most common heart attack symptom, but women are more likely to report shortness of breath, back and jaw pain, nausea and vomiting.
What about Indian women? The incidence of heart attacks in Indian women has risen markedly breaking the myth about men being at a greater risk. A survey found that low levels of oestrogen in Indian females due to changing lifestyle and other co-morbid conditions is among the top five reasons for even younger women developing heart attacks. Cardiac conditions are largely the function of lifestyles and there has been a significant change in the lifestyles of Indian women in the last couple of decades. Even as they become equally participative at the workplace, there is no major respite for them from domestic duties. Further, due to demands of children and limited family support (on account of nuclear families), the level of stress in their lifestyles is continuously increasing.
Other factors such as unhealthy food intake and lack of exercise also contribute significantly to the plight of Indian women. Over 60 per cent of women in urban India are at risk of heart diseases. 74 per cent of them who are at risk have increased belly fat/broad waistline and have late dinners (after 10 pm).
It is true that women often boast that they have “warm” hearts while men’s hearts are “cold” and “insensitive”. They also run us down in many other ways stirred up by lib campaigns. We men folk sportingly put up with their taunts. But let’s come to terms with a more important reality. If it is true that in love the hearts of women and men operate differently, the sad thing is that this holds good when it comes to heart health too. So all of you of the fairer sex better watch out.
(Dr Francisco Colaço is a senior most consulting physician, pioneer of Echocardiography in Goa)
