Four most common and serious health problems that women face as they get older are

Cardiovascular Disease and Osteoporosis
Breast Cancer and Diabetes.

Women risk begins to rise with these conditions at the time of menopause, and continues to increase as they age.

Breast cancer is the disease that strikes the most fear in the hearts of women, and as epidemic' as it is breast cancer, is a far less common cause of death. It is unfortunate that these health problems have been associated with menopause, when they actually result from a high-stress life in an increasingly toxic environment, compromised nutrition, and diminished physical strength and endurance. These hazards increase the risk of these four diseases as well as the symptoms of menopause.

If you're not a smoker, don't have diabetes, aren't obese, and don't have hypertension, being a premenopausal woman is good temporary insurance against heart disease. Women have fewer heart attacks and less heart disease before the age of 50 than men has tended to cloud the issue of heart disease.

However as women go through menopause and lose estrogens?protective effects on their circulatory systems, they quickly take on the risk factors for cardiovascular disease that have traditionally been perceived as belonging mostly to men.

In fact, cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and vascular events like stroke) is the number one cause of death for women over the age of 50.

Every year, approximately 500,000 women die from heart attacks and strokes, compared with 260,000 deaths of women from all types of cancer. According to National Institute of Nursing Research, heart disease is fatal more often in women than in men.

The fact that women are older when they develop coronary artery disease is referred to treatment later, and are admitted and transferred to hospitals later than are men.

1. Angina or chest pain is a danger signal that the arteries are partially blocked and the heart is not getting enough oxygen. It is important that you do not ignore any chest pain. Your heart may be in danger of suffocation. The longer the pain is, the higher the risk.

2. Heart attack occur when the artery is blocked by a threshold amount of plague, plague cramps or completely blocking blood flow. Deprived of blood for a long time causes heart cells to die and heart damages. Chunks of plaque get pulled off the wall and lodge elsewhere as a clot and this can cause damage to the brain, a lung, or a leg.

Stroke may also occur when the blood flow to the brain is disrupted because a blood vessel is blocked by atherosclerosis or has ruptured. Without oxygen, brain cells die, causing the loss of the ability to sense and/or control certain functions related to the affected part of the brain.

Hypertension is high blood pressure which leads to increases the risk of cardio vascular disease as well as of stroke, kidney failure, and other serious diseases. About half of all women over fifty have high blood pressure; it is also another silent killer because usually there are no symptoms and few early signs, other than a high blood pressure reading.

Diet and lifestyle are the main risk factors for atherosclerosis and heart attack, and they play a huge role in high blood pressure in some people. There are cholesterol-lowering drugs that reduce cholesterol by an average of 35 percent, and blood-pressure-lowering drugs as well.

Both have side effects and we're only now beginning to see studies showing how lowering these measurements translate into preventing heart attacks or strokes. Unfortunately, physicians often pursue less aggressive treatment and fewer invasive procedures with female patients who have heart disease symptoms than with their male counterparts. And since the incidence of heart disease rises in women after menopause, it is generally thought that estrogen exerts a protective effect.

Part of estrogens?protective effect relates to its ability to act as an antioxidant. If true, it may be more prudent to get more antioxidant protection through nutritious food or supplements.