National Wear Red Day

Bright reds – scarlet, pillar-box red, crimson or cherry – are very cheerful and youthful. There is certainly a red for everyone.

Christian Dior

Red. It’s more than just a color. It is powerful and scintillating. It’s even the color of that most vital fluid that pumps through our hearts. The right red dress can really fire up anyone’s appearance, making a person stand out in a crowd and demanding attention from the room.

Wearing the color red can also help to support an important cause, bringing awareness to a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of women every year: Heart Disease.

National Wear Red Day is the perfect chance to help spread the word about the prevalence of heart disease, and make sure that friends and family can start taking the first steps to heart health.

How to Celebrate National Wear Red Day

Observing National Wear Red Day is a great time to care about your own health as well as helping to raise awareness with friends, family and coworkers.

Try out some of these ideas and then get creative with enjoying the day:

Wear Red to Raise Awareness

Of course the simplest and most obvious activity of all on this day is to put on some red. It could be anything from a red t-shirt to an entire red business suit.

Those who don’t have much red in their wardrobes can still participate with accessories such as a red bowtie, red earrings, or red sneakers!

The most important thing about National Wear Red Day is to make sure other people know the motivation behind the day.

Let Others Know About National Wear Red Day

To make the day even more effective at encouraging people to take steps to avoid heart disease, set up a little marketing campaign in advance of the day.

Make posters or flyers that can be distributed at work. Send an email to friends and family. Share information at school or the public library.

Visit the Go Red for Women website for more resources and help with getting the word out.

Host a National Wear Red Day Event

Get a group of friends, family members or neighbors together and host a fun Wear Red event. Don’t forget to have guests wear red.

Serve a variety of healthy foods that are red, and be sure to take some time to share about where people can learn more about how to improve their heart health.

A perfect way to make the party more meaningful would be to ask guests to provide a donation to a worthy charity such as the American Heart Association.

Get a Medical Checkup

One great way to start observing this day is by scheduling an appointment with the doctor to have a check-up on the heart and find out what advice the doctor would give.

Every day that is ignored is one more opportunity for heart disease to get a stronger hold on the heart, increasing the risk of a heart attack, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and more.

Try an Improved Diet

While making that appointment, take a good long look at what kind of food you have in your diet and see if there is some room for improvement.

Most people have a few simple things they can do to improve the way they eat. National Wear Red Day is a great opportunity to make better and healthier choices to keep that heart muscle pumping happily.

Start an Exercise Regimen

National Wear Red Day is also the perfect chance to really reevaluate all of life.

Use the day to start getting ready to get out and exercise, which is certainly another great way to reduce the susceptibility to heart disease. So get on your favorite red tracksuit and spread awareness of Heart Disease on National Wear Red Day!

History of National Wear Red Day

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute established the National Wear Red Day campaign in order to help bring awareness to the fact that approximately 650,000 people in the US die every year from heart disease, making it the most lethal disease in the United States and possibly around the world as well.

And more than 25 million people are diagnosed with heart disease.

The causes of heart disease are many and they can affect every stratum of culture and civilization. Heart disease isn’t just one condition but is associated with many different health concerns.

It can be caused by diabetes, a lack of exercise, high cholesterol, blood pressure, alcohol consumption and a few other issues that have all been linked to diseases of the heart.

What is rather concerning, but also encouraging, is that nearly all of these causes are preventable. Still, since people continue to die by the hundreds of thousands each year, it is necessary to get the word out about ways to prevent this disease and live a healthier lifestyle.

When it comes to vulnerability to heart disease, age is certainly a contributing factor. But even though the susceptibility to heart disease triples with every new decade of age, fatty streaks can begin forming in the heart even during adolescence.

So it’s never too early to start being aware of this life-destroying disease and ensure that your life won’t be destroyed by this terrible condition. National Wear Red Day is a great opportunity to spread the word and help educate friends, family and the local community about this preventable health issue.

Facts About National Wear Red Day

Women’s Heart Attacks Often Don’t Look “Typical” 

Women are more likely than men to have heart attack symptoms that don’t match the “classic” crushing chest pain, and may instead notice shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, back, jaw, or neck pain, extreme fatigue, or lightheadedness—patterns that can contribute to delays in seeking emergency care and in receiving a correct diagnosis.  

Cardiovascular Disease Is a Leading Cause of Maternal Death  

In the United States, cardiovascular conditions including cardiomyopathy, stroke, and complications of chronic or pregnancy-related high blood pressure are a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths, with many of these fatalities occurring in the days and weeks after delivery rather than during pregnancy or childbirth itself.  

Nearly Half of Adult Women Live With Some Form of Cardiovascular Disease  

American Heart Association–supported data indicate that nearly 45% of women over age 20 in the United States are living with some form of cardiovascular disease—such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, or heart failure—even if they have not yet developed obvious symptoms.  

Awareness That Heart Disease Is Women’s Top Killer Has Fallen  

Survey research cited by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute shows that U.S. women’s awareness that heart disease is their leading cause of death dropped from about 65% in 2009 to roughly 44% in 2019, with particularly steep declines among younger women and among Black and Hispanic women.  

Most Cardiovascular Events in Women Are Considered Preventable  

Cardiology research summarized by the World Heart Federation and major medical societies suggests that up to 80% of cardiovascular events in women could be prevented by managing blood pressure and cholesterol, avoiding tobacco, eating a healthy diet, staying physically active, and treating conditions such as diabetes and obesity.

Pregnancy Complications Can Predict Future Heart Disease  

Conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes are now recognized as important warning signs for later cardiovascular disease, with women who experience them facing substantially higher long-term risks of high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and heart failure than women with uncomplicated pregnancies.  

The Red Dress Became a Symbol to Challenge the “Men’s Disease” Myth  

The stylized red dress icon used in women’s heart health campaigns was introduced in 2002 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s “The Heart Truth” initiative as a fashion-oriented national symbol for women and heart disease, deliberately chosen to counter the widespread misconception that cardiovascular disease was mainly a man’s problem.