This overview discusses how aspects of behavior and stressors inherent in the lifestyles of contemporary women affect their cardiovascular health. Three main issues are addressed. The first is the applicability of cardiovascular risk data collected on prior generations of working women in predicting the health outcomes of the current generation of women. It is argued that the earlier data may not adequately describe the health risk of the current generation because of changes in the nature of women's paid employment in recent decades, and because the compartmentalization of economic, leisure, and domestic activities may have affected how stress associated with each influences cardiovascular measures such as blood pressure. Second, the influence of the environment on lifestyle is briefly discussed in the context that differences in the results of studies examining lifestyle stressors may occur as a consequence of local physical and cultural environmental differences which influence lifestyle. Third, the effects of daily microenvironmental changes on blood pressure are discussed and it is argued that perceived socioeconomic roles may influence the cardiovascular response to the stressors inherent in each microenvironment. Because the lifestyles of women change over the lifespan, it is concluded that the impact of lifestyle on cardiovascular risk must be studied at all stages of life. ยฉ 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.