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Women’s Wellness: Looking forward to a healthier new year
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Women’s health issues are important. From breast and ovarian cancer to menopause and libido, infertility to pregnancy, healthy body image and issues of sexual harassment that have made headlines. As we end 2017 and look forward to a new year, this Women’s Wellness feature will continue to cover topics that focus on healthier lives for women.
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic's Office of Women's Health, says probably the biggest health hurdle for women is that they tend to put everybody else on the list above themselves. "You know what they say when you get on an airplane. If the oxygen masks come down, put it on yourself before you put it on the person next to you. We don’t do that very well as women," says Dr. Faubion.
She says the first thing is to identify that women have to take care of themselves in order to be able to take care of others. "We really have to take the time that we need to exercise like we should, to avoid gaining weight, to have a healthy diet, to get enough sleep, to think about our stress level and manage that, and these are all things that we tend to put on the back burner, " she says. "So I think that is probably the biggest piece of advice that I would give women."
Watch: Women's Wellness: Looking forward to a healthier new year.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites with Dr. Faubion are in the downloads.
Dr. Faubion says there's a lot to focus on in the coming year. One important topic will be menopausal hormone therapy. "We’ll have more and more clarity about what’s happening with menopausal hormone therapy as we move forward," says Dr. Faubion. "The picture became very muddied in 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative Study came out, and we’re developing more and more clarity about what menopausal hormone therapy means for women and the risks and benefit profile is more clearly defined."
She says heart health for women is another area that needs continued focus. "We’re also getting better about identifying which women are at risk for heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer of women," she says. "So there's definitely more to come in the area of research and helping women be healthier."
Top Ten Women's Wellness posts of 2017:
- Women’s Wellness: Stop the middle-aged menopause spread
- Women’s Wellness: Weight gain risks and challenges for women in midlife
- Women’s Wellness: Blood pressure, estrogen and menopause
- Women’s Wellness: First US baby born after uterus transplantation, dawn of new era
- Women’s Wellness: Cervical cancer more deadly than thought
- Women’s Wellness: Why can’t I poop?
- Women’s Wellness: Getting your calcium
- Women’s Wellness: Reduce health risks from early removal of ovaries
- Women’s Wellness: Breast-feeding and weight loss
- Women’s Wellness: Vaginal microbes and endometrial cancer
More about the Office of Women's Health:
The Office of Women's Health bridges different departments and specialties to provide an overall perspective in women's health care, highlighting the expertise of Mayo Clinic's women's health specialists. The mission of the Office of Women's Health is to optimize women's health and well-being throughout their life spans by integrating sex and gender concepts into clinical care, research and education.
The Office of Women's Health aims to:
- Coordinate and integrate women's health programs and women's health experts at Mayo Clinic
- Advance women's health education
- Facilitate women's health research through faculty development and partnership with the Women's Health Research Center
- Promote best practices in the clinical care of women
The Office of Women's Health also partners with Mayo Clinic's Women's Health Research Center to promote research in women's health, providing the evidence to improve health care for women and educating the next generation of investigators and health care professionals in topics of women's health.
