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Women's Health Issues: Common Exams and Healthy Habits

Most women are aware of the fact that they need to get annual exams. However, keeping up healthy living practices and maintaining other exams is key to promoting female health. At various stages of life, women will need to change their diets and lifestyles, as well as the medical regimens they follow. Those who don't adequately keep up a healthy lifestyle put themselves at much higher risk for a number of diseases and conditions, especially as they get older.

Nutrition and Healthy Habits
While the precise nutritional needs of an individual female will depend on her age and lifestyle, some of the universally important health practices include:

• Being physically active: Regular exercise is key to promoting heart health, as well as to maintaining healthy levels of cholesterol in the blood. By keeping up fitness routines, women can reduce their risk for breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, all of which contribute to extend life spans.
  
  
• Limiting fat intake: Maintaining a balanced, healthy diet is also key to overall health. While the occasional indulgence is normal and acceptable, be sure that your diet has the appropriate amounts of proteins, vitamins and other nutritional needs, as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration. Keeping your body at a healthy weight significantly reduces your risk of breast cancer by limiting the amount of estrogen circulating in your body.
  
  
• Stopping bad habits: Bad habits, such as smoking and excessive drinking, are especially detrimental to women's health. Curbing bad habits is central to keeping your heart, lungs and liver in good shape.
  
  
• Taking daily vitamins and nutrition supplements: Depending on a woman's age, the supplements she needs will be dramatically different. For example, while younger or pregnant women should include vitamin B and folic acid in their diets, older women that are going through or about to go through menopause should include more calcium in their diets. Keep in mind though that some amount of both folic acid and calcium, along with other vitamins (like A, C and E), is important for all women.

Common Exams for Women
The bodies of adult women go through many dramatic changes, as girls start menstruating, women have babies and older women go through menopause. As a result, women should keep up with all the regimen of regular exams recommended by medical experts.

The only way to prevent serious diseases and conditions is through regular testing and screening, which can catch abnormalities before they harm a woman. When caught early, many conditions can be treated and managed effectively. Here is a schedule of the suggested exams and testing necessary to maintaining women's health:

• Bone Density Test: Starting at age 65, women should have bone density tests, which detect thinning of the bones and the onset of osteoporosis, a condition that stems from a significant decrease in bone mass, causing bones to fracture easily. Osteoporosis is treatable and even reversible if diagnosed early.
  
  
• Cholesterol Check: Starting at age 45 (earlier if you smoke or have risk factors for heart disease), cholesterol checks identify the presence of certain types of heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack if unattended.
  
  
• Diabetes Test: This should be done at any age if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or a family history of diabetes.
  
  
• Mammogram: While mammograms for younger women are important, they are essential for women who are 40 years old or older. Because women are far more likely to survive breast cancer when it is found early, mammograms are one of the most crucial tests for women. They are most often done when a woman goes to the doctor to have her annual pap smear.
  
  
• Pap Test/Pap Smear: By the time a girl turns 18 or becomes sexually active, she should get annual pap smears. While pap tests generally screen for cervical cancer, they are increasingly accompanied by STD and HPV testing. Doctors will often do a breast exam and show you how to do self-breast exams, as well.

Stages of Life
Whether you are a twenty-, forty- or sixty-year-old woman, it's important for you to understand the exams and tests as well as the lifestyle habits that are key to maintaining and promoting proper health. While individual circumstances will dictate the exact medical regimen to follow, here is a basic guideline for each age group:

• In your 20s and 30s:  Get regular pap smears and do self-breast checks. Maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen. Take vitamin B, folic acid and calcium supplements.
  
  
• In your 40s and 50s: Continue getting regular pap smears. Start getting regular mammograms, cancer screenings, blood pressure checks and cholesterol checks. Lose any extra weight and up your calcium intake.
  
  
• In your 60s and 70s: Continue getting regular pap smears, mammograms, cancer screenings, blood pressure checks and cholesterol checks. Start checking your vision and hearing regularly. Continue taking calcium supplements. Carefully monitor the different prescription drugs you take so that they don't interact poorly. Keep the mind active by learning new things, keeping up with current events and technology and maintaining social relationships with family and friends.
  
  
• In your 80s and beyond: While continuing all of the above-mentioned practices, remain physically active and maintain a positive attitude.