If you thought women are battling breast cancer worldwide, prepare to be surprised. Women might be more susceptible to heart disease than you thought. A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reveals that women are three times more likely to suffer from a heart attack.
They are more prone to diabetes and high blood pressure, the topmost risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, despite this knowledge, they tend to overlook the symptoms and not see a doctor until it is too late. Saumya was in her early 30s and worked in advertising. She had erratic work hours and often she felt tired and irritable. Her colleagues could see that off late her temper was quick to rise. She was experiencing pain in her chest for the past few days along with palpitations in her hands. When she saw a doctor and shared her experience, she was shocked to know that she was suffering from acute blood pressure. The doctor also warned her that she was at high risk for heart disease.
Healthy lifestyle choices for women, adopted by them, especially after the age of 30, can help them stay disease-free well into their old age. Here are a few health tips for women that can help you achieve just that :
1. Say goodbye to stress: If you constantly feel like you have too much on your plate and are trying to juggle all of it, find ways to reduce your stress. Feeling stressed could lead to depression, anxiety, infertility and even heart disease and can be harmful to women’s health.
2. Stop dieting: Starving yourself? Or on a Keto diet after you saw your favorite actress go on it? It is important to eat healthy and this includes incorporating seasonal fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, good carbs, fats and fiber in your diet. Indulge once in a while but be sure to do it in moderation.
3. Get calcium: Taking the right amount of calcium is crucial for women’s health. Aim for 1000 milligrams per day if you are below the age of 50 and upto 1200 milligrams per day if you are above it. Three servings of calcium-rich foods serve the purpose. Avoid taking too many calcium supplements since excess absorption increases risk of kidney stones.
4. Lift some weight: One of the best health tips for women is exercise. And this includes, not just cardio but resistance training or lifting weights gradually three to five times a week can have great benefits. They could reduce your susceptibility to osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
5. See your doctor: It is important to schedule appointments with your doctor for routine tests such as a pap smear, immunization, breast exam and other diagnostic and medical tests from time to time. This is one of the healthy lifestyle choices can help diagnose diseases such as cancer early, increasing treatment chances.
6. Multivitamins: If you are starting to feel sluggish lately, get your VitB12 levels checked. Vitamin deficiency could be a result of a diet that lacks certain nutrients. Take a multivitamin in consultation with your doctor if possible. Or else take a nutrient rich diet.
7. Early dinner: “Eat your breakfast like a king, lunch like a price and dinner like a pauper”. Heard that? Well it’s not in jest. Our metabolism is the highest in the morning and it decreases gradually over the day. One of the healthy lifestyle choices you can make is eating your calories earlier in the day. It gives your body time to burn off what you have eaten.
8. Load up on fiber: Nuts, raisins, citrus fruits, peas, lentils and broccoli are among the fiber rich foods that you should incorporate into your diet. They help keep your digestive system healthy and help you steer clear of constipation. A healthy gut is the first key to women’s health.
9. Get some sleep: Getting upto 8 hours of sleep at night is one of the best health tips for women. It is important to carve out this time for yourself. Sleep is the body’s mechanism of recharging itself. Devoiding yourself of it will only worsen your health.
10. Cut down on sugar: Those fizzy drinks that you reach out for are not only loaded in sugar, but high in calories too. Sugar only leads to inflammation in the body. So load up on fat! Fat is not only a good source of energy, but it has also been found to restore hormonal balance in women.
Adopting these healthy lifestyle choices however is no guarantee that you might be disease free. Genetics and environmental factors too have an important role to play. The future remains uncertain. All you can do as a woman is putting yourself first, especially when it comes to your health. After all it is when you are healthy, can you better take care of your family. Make a wise choice towards a healthier you and secure yourself financially with insurance for critical illnesses in the future.
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