Living a life of wellness is absolutely possible, and it isn’t as hard as you might think.
As we continue our year in “love”, it’s important to highlight how important it is that we find ways to love ourselves more. The most loving thing we can do for ourselves is to live in wellness.
Women’s top health concerns aren’t some magical mystery that only doctors and nutritionists can solve. Although they’re definitely experts in the field, everyone’s an expert on themselves—and chances are, you already have the tools and information you need to care for your body.
You’ve just got to act on them!
Women’s top health concerns are often the same: heart health, breast cancer, and mental health. And while those are all serious issues, there are ways to prevent them—or at least be better prepared to fight them if they arise.
Living a life of wellness is self-love in action.
Counting the ways to love “you” more includes living a life of sustainable wellness so that you can live a happier and longer life for yourself and those who love you.
This article is giving you a straightforward list of 3 top health concerns for women, why they’re important, and what you can do to establish healthy habits for a happier and longer life.
1: Heart Disease & Stroke
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says “only 56% of women are aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the US”. Heart and vascular disease symptoms may not always be typical or easy to diagnose. Arming yourself with information, paying attention to your body and practicing prevention are your best efforts against heart disease and the silent killer (stroke).
What You Should Know:
Knowing your risk factors for heart disease or a stroke is important. Major risk factors are – diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, overweight and smoking.
What You Should Do:
Prevention and adopting a heart healthy lifestyle is the key. A heart healthy lifestyle consists of eating a primarily plant based diet, stop smoking or better yet, don’t ever start smoking, getting regular physical activity every day and making and taking the time to relax and de-stress.
2: Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer is the most common type of cancer for women in the US. Cancer occurs as cells change and grow. Breast cancer is most likely to start in the ducts and lobules of the breast. The yearly diagnosis of new cases of invasive breast cancer is around 240,000 and about 50,000 for noninvasive.
What You Should Know:
The major risk factors to Breast Cancer are related to hormones and family history along with premalignant breast biopsies and dense breast tissue.
What You Should Do:
Early awareness is your best defense against Breast Cancer. Doing monthly self-checks of your breast and yearly mammograms are the two critical things that you can do to detect abnormalities and take care of your breast.
3: Depression and Anxiety
Depression is more than just feeling blue or sad, it affects the whole body. Many people equate depression with weakness but it’s not about being weak, it’s an illness with no clear cause that requires treatment.
What You Should Know:
Depression has no clear cause but it has been linked to chemical imbalances in the brain as well as inherited factors. Women are twice as likely to have depression than men and women are at a greater risk during times of hormonal changes such as menopause, postpartum, pregnancy and puberty.
What You Should Do:
Educate yourself about the symptoms of anxiety and depression so that you know the difference between moments that make you anxious or sad versus the illness of depression. Arm yourself with tools to combat anxiety and depression and seek out medical or professional help.
The best defense against these 3 top health concerns is offense and being consistent about prevention and knowledgeable about preventive care is the key to you staying healthy or being able to fight back should you fall prey to one of these 3 top health concerns. Because when we take care of ourselves, we are better able to give to others and be more productive in other areas of our lives.
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