Women’s Top 5 Health Concerns And It Prevention: Imagine living without illness to slow you down. While there are no lifetime guarantees, enough scientific research has been done to make long, healthy living a possibility.
To help women boost health, we examined five medical conditions that are of great concern to them: heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, depression, and autoimmune diseases.
We looked at the risk factors for each disease and asked the experts what women could do to prevent such ailments.
“You know what makes you feel good, you know when you don’t feel well. Understanding your body is key,”
Heart Disease
Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women. In women, the condition is responsible for about 29% of deaths, reports the CDC.
Yet death in itself isn’t the biggest problem for women with heart disease. The real trouble is in premature death and disability.
Although more men die of heart disease than women, females tend to be under diagnosed, often to the point that it’s too late to help them once the condition is discovered.
“The symptoms for women are typical for women, and they are often missed by doctors and the patient themselves”. “We often think of symptoms … like chest pain. Some people may have that, but others may just have a little bit of jaw pain, shoulder ache, nausea, vomiting, or shortness of breath.”
- Increasing age
- Male sex (men typically develop heart disease at a younger age)
- Heredity (including race). People with family history of the disease have greater risk. So do African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and some Asian-Americans.
- Smoking
- High bloodcholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Physical inactivity
- Obesity and overweight
- Diabetes
“The burden of heart disease in women is very great, the earlier folks adapt healthier behaviors, the lower their overall risk for heart disease or stroke outcomes.”
Burke says people can reduce their risk of heart disease by modifying lifestyle to include a well-balanced diet and exercise.
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. It is second to lung cancer as the leading cause of death for women.
Experts say the fear of breast cancer can sometimes be exaggerated, stopping women from going to their doctors for screening, or pushing women to make rash decisions about mastectomy, when it may it may not be necessary.
“There’s a lot of treatment for breast cancer, It’s not a death sentence.”
Women should keep their emotions in perspective and educate themselves about the issues.
We recommend controlling your weight, exercising, quitting smoking, and talking to your doctor about your risk and appropriate screening for breast cancer.
“Just because your mother didn’t have breast cancer, it does not mean you are immune to this problem,” says Sener. At the same time, it’s also important to note that some women who have one or more risk factors never get breast cancer.
Osteoporosis
Hunched backs, back pain, and frailty used to be things older women had to accept before doctors knew anything more about osteoporosis. Now, there are steps women and girls can take to avoid such problems.
“Osteoporosis is largely preventable,” “The behaviors that women develop in their childhood, in their adolescence, and in their early adult years really play a significant role in the development of the disease.”That’s because bodies build up most of bone mass until age 30. Then new bone stops forming and the focus is on maintenance of old bone.
It is never too late to keep bones strong and avoid fractures.
“Your body will do what it can to repair bone damage, but you have to provide the tools for it, such as adequate calcium consumption and weight-bearing physical activity,”
Risk factors for osteoporosis include:
- Female sex
- Increasing age
- Small, thin-boned frame
- Ethnicity. White and Asian women have the greatest risk.
- Family history
- Sex hormones. Infrequent menstrual cycles and estrogen loss due to menopause may increase risk.
- Anorexia
- Diet low in calcium and vitamin D
- Medication use, particularly glucocorticoids or some anticonvulsants
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Smoking
- Excessive alcohol
Depression
Depression appears to affect more women than men.
“They need that sustenance,”. “If they don’t have it, they tend to get depressed.”
Sometimes, hormonal changes can also trigger the condition, particularly after pregnancy (postpartum) or around menopause.
Other risk factors for depression include:
- A previous depressive episode
- Family history of depression
- History of heart problems
- Serious chronic illness
- Marital problems
- Substance abuse
- Use of drugs that could trigger depression, such as medicines for high blood pressure or seizures
- A stressful life event, such as job loss or death
- Diseases that could trigger depression, such as vitamin deficiency and thyroid disease
- Recent serious illness or surgery
- Childhood history of physical or sexual abuse
- Being a worrier or being overly anxious
- Having an eating disorder or an anxiety disorder
To help reduce risk of depression, we recommend finding a reason to get up in the morning. Things such as work, community, love, pets, and volunteering can be good reasons.
Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases are a group of disorders in which the immune system attacks the body and destroys or alters tissues. There are more than 80 serious chronic illnesses in this category, including lupus, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes.
By themselves, each disease appears to be uncommon — except for diabetes, thyroid disease, and lupus — but as a group, the disorders make up the fourth-largest cause of disability among women.
It is not known what causes the body to turn on itself, but genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors are suspects.
That’s such a major area of needed research. Since autoimmune diseases are not very well understood, pinpointing specific risk factors is difficult. Symptoms can also be nonspecific, hampering proper diagnosis. However, if you know something is wrong with you or a loved one, it’s important to become an active health advocate.
“It’s very common for women to make multiple visits to multiple doctors to finally get a diagnosis,
WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND SOME FOREVER LIVING NATURAL SUPPLEMENT TO HELP PREVENT SUCH DISEASES
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