During American Heart Month, we often hear the phrase “Know Your Numbers.” It’s good advice, but it’s incomplete.

Cardiovascular risk is not defined by a single blood pressure reading at a health fair or by a single cholesterol panel ordered during an annual visit. It is defined by directionality over time.

Today is National Wear Red Day.

Heart disease is still the number one killer of women. A woman dies from cardiovascular disease about every 80 seconds.

What’s harder to sit with is why this remains true.

Your heart wasn’t built for the way we live now.

Cardiovascular disease is often described as a modern epidemic. But CT scans of ancient Egyptian mummies show clear evidence of atherosclerosis. Heart disease has been with us for thousands of years.