Health & Well Being Resources
Health Resources Links - From government health Websites to women health organizations, from marriage to family therapists to mental health, from post depression to recovery, we have it all here for you.

Introduction to the Health Legacy that you leave behind - Valerie Scardino, M.P.A. NWHIC Project Director, Office on Women's Health

2005 Daybook -“Generations: Women’s Health Across the Lifespan” is available to view or download in its entirety on the NWHIC web site. The chapter, “Healthy Eating and an Active Lifestyle” outlines the physical effects of being overweight and obese, and provides ideas for healthy eating.
Link: www.4woman.gov/pub/daybook.2005/obesity.cfm

Fit to Eat is a section of 4Girls Health that is aimed at teaching teen girls to develop nutritious eating habits. Whether you have a teenage girl, work with them, or are just interested in adolescent health, this site is full of important nutrition information that will give anyone insight into a healthier diet.
Link: www.4girls.gov/nutrition/index.htm

Monthly Featured Topic

Featured Health Topic - Diabetes - A feature designed to help you find important health information on womenshealth.gov and girlshealth.gov - Sources by Amanda Bach - According to the American Diabetes Association, 18.2 million people in America have diabetes. But 5.2 million of these people have yet to be diagnosed because diabetes can be a silent disease. You could have it for years and never know it. During this time, your eyes, nerves, and kidneys could be harmed by too much sugar in your blood. The American Diabetes Alert Day, March 27th, is a one-day call-to-action for people to find out if they are at risk for diabetes.

Your Skin
Your skin is your largest and most visible organ. It’s exposed to the elements daily, oftentimes without protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays. With Independence Day weekend already upon us, you’re probably planning to be outside more than usual.

In recognition of UV Safety Month, we want to give you the information you need to be proactive when it comes to taking care of your skin.

Skin Cancer - by Amanda Bach - Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. The number of new cases of skin cancer appears to be rising each year. The number of deaths due to skin cancer, though, is fairly small. The good news is that skin cancer is now almost 100% curable if found early and treated promptly.

Tanning - by Amanda Bach - You might think you look better with a tan, but the truth is, there is no such thing as a safe tan. When your skin becomes tan, it is really a sign that your skin cells have been hurt. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays are what damage your skin and these rays play a big role in the growth of skin cancer, the most common kind of cancer in the U.S. Today, more young people than ever are getting skin cancer.

The Environment and Women's Health - by Amanda Bach - The environment is everything around us wherever we are—at home, at work, or outdoors. It includes, among other things, the air we breathe, the water we drink and use, and the food we eat. Chemicals found in air, water, and soil can cause serious health problems in women and men, such as cancer and problems with the lungs or reproductive system. Children are more at risk than adults for health problems caused by substances in the environment. This is because their immune system, which helps their body fight illness, is not fully mature. They also inhale air more deeply than adults when they breathe, which makes them take in more pollution. Children also spend more time outdoors and are less likely to notice any health problems.

Monthly Featured Articles & Resources
This health article is brought to you by our Guest Editor of the month
What is Asthma? - by Amanda Bach - Asthma is a chronic disease that affects your airways. The airways are the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation  makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. When the airways react, they get narrower, and less air flows through to your lung tissue. This causes symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and in the early morning. Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and can live active lives.
 

10 Easy Ways to Milk Your Morning - By Elizabeth Somer, Registered Dietitian - Experts say a healthy breakfast has a bundle of benefits including boosting energy, improving your mood and promoting a healthy weight. Registered dietitian Elizabeth Somer says morning is also the perfect time to “milk your diet” and get 24 ounces of milk in 24 hours. Here are some of Elizabeth’s quick and creative tips to milk your morning whether you’re at home, on the go, or in the office.

The Prescription Lowdown - By Amy Allen Clark - Prescription medication is an expense that many families cannot afford. If you do not have an insurance plan that will cover your prescriptions and are a low-income family, then you are not alone. Fortunately there are programs available to assist you with your medications, but finding them can be a struggle.

What is postpartum depression? - by Amanda Bach - Postpartum depression is a treatable medical illness characterized by feelings of sadness, indifference, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps, exhaustion and anxiety following the birth of your baby. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods. But true clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for an extended time. Depression can be mild, moderate, or severe. The degree of depression, which your doctor can determine, influences how you are treated.
Surviving Colic, and all the advice comes with it - by Cecily Harrison - I had waited so long, I wanted the entire experience of motherhood to be instinctive, natural.  I pictured my little angel smiling sweetly when she wanted to nurse, and afterwards, drifting to sleep in her Moses basket as I floated from one bohemian setting to another. “Women have been doing this for thousands of years,” I kept repeating, and each time someone with children suggested being a parent was the hardest job around, I’d say, “Bring it on.” Then somewhere around five weeks, all hell broke loose.  My sweet little lamb with the heart-shaped mouth started crying. She cried each time I put her down.  She cried when she nursed, tormented by gas.  “Colic,” said the pediatrician, and prescribed Mylicon ‘round the clock. 
Emmy-Award Winning Actress Linda Dano to Spearhead National Campaign - by HealthyWomen.gov - Multimedia Program Aims to End the Loneliness of Depression and Inspire Hope for Recovery - Linda Dano steps into the spotlight today to reveal her personal struggle with depression and announce she will spearhead Support Partners, a national campaign that encourages a support team approach to overcoming depression. By pairing people living with depression with partners, the program aims to foster open communication and create systems of support that eliminate isolation and encourage recovery.
Breastfeeding and Your Hospital Birth - by Cecily Harrison - The big day is coming--soon, you’ll have your baby in your arms.  If you’re delivering in a hospital, you’ve had the tour, you’ve seen the room, you’ve imagined the moment you meet your newborn.  You cry just thinking about it. Then, your baby is here.  Perhaps you delivered without medication, the baby was early, late, you were induced, had an epidural, a C-section.  You intend to breastfeed, hopefully, you took a class.  But there is such a whirlwind of events with a hospital birth, and every woman is different, so every breastfeeding experience may be as well.  Your mother may not have breastfed, your grandmother isn’t around.  The nurse is busy, the doctor said congratulations and goodbye an hour ago.

Healthy Eating is part of the “Body Image & Your Health” page of the NWHIC web site. It is full of information on how to choose a healthy diet, details about nutrients and vitamins, details about portion control, and much more.

What is Endometriosis? Courtesy of www.4women.gov - Sahar Elhodiri from KAKE-TV As a health reporter at KAKE-TV, my daily segments feature a wide range of medical issues – everything from breakthrough procedures and treatments to stories that can help us all to live a healthier life.

The Heart Truth is that heart disease is the #1 killer of American women.  In fact, one in three women dies of heart disease.  But heart disease also can lead to disability and a significantly decreased quality of life. NEW YORK, February 9, 2005—First Lady Laura Bush talks to women about The Heart Truth and warns them about the dangers of heart disease at a press conference during Olympus Fashion Week. Every woman needs to know about heart disease.

Dr. Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, MSW, CCH, CRT, noted author of If I’d Only Known…Sexual Abuse in or out of the Family: A Guide to Prevention, speaker and seminar leader has over twenty years experience specializing in parenting, life and career issues. She is noted for her pioneering work in Emotional, Physical and Sexual Abuse Prevention and Recovery. She has over twenty years as a professional speaker on personal growth.  Her down-to-earth, practical and easy to implement techniques are enthusiastically received by many clubs, organizations and companies.

Articles by Contributor Michele Howe
Michele Howe
Author/Writer
Michele Howe is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly, FaithfulReader.com, Aspiring Retail and has published over 900 articles/reviews. She works as a manuscript critique editor for the Christian Communicator and writes on women's health issues for the Toledo Free Press, CatholicMom.com, Radiant, Monore Journal, CBN.com, Radiant, Godly Businesswoman, Women of Faith, and Esprit.

Howe has also published eight books for women including: Going It Alone: Meeting the Challenges of Being a Single Mom, Prayers for Homeschool Moms, Prayers for New and Expecting Moms, Prayers of Comfort and Strength, Prayers to Nourish a Woman's Heart, Successful Single Moms, and Pilgrim Prayers for Single Mothers.

  Mothering Through Mid-Life: When Disengagement Entices - by Michele Howe - I had just gotten up and admittedly wasn't quite fully awake when my husband soberly informed me that our eighteen-year-old daughter's car had been vandalized during the night. I stood there in the chilly kitchen trying to take in the specific details of the minor crime...worst was the insulting graffiti written on her windows. A myriad of conflicting thoughts and emotions ran like a freight train through my brain, some of which I am ashamed to confess were of the reprisal sort.

Top Ten Exercise and Training Related Mistakes Of Women Over 35 - by Michele Howe - Trainer Maryellen Jordan, owner of Positively Fit, makes the following observations regarding general oversights women over the age of thirty-five make in regard to exercising and training most efficiently.
Top Ten Dermatological Mistakes Of Women Over 35 - by Michele Howe - Dr. John Anders of Anders Medical Corp. has compiled what he considers to be the top ten oversights women over the age of thirty-five routinely make in regard to maintaining the health of their skin, hair, and nails.
Top Ten Dental Health Mistakes Of Women Over 35 - by Michele Howe - According to Dr. Peter Urbanik at Brookview Dental in Sylvania, Ohio, women over the age of thirty-five can make similar missteps in caring for their dental health. Dr. Urbanik cites the following list of mistakes as those he routinely sees during the course of his practice.
Women and Mid-Life Depression Triggers: It Can Happen On the Road to Recovery - by Michele Howe - Caught unawares, women may be temporarily blindsided by unforeseen "mid-life triggers" leading to depression. In the course of his practice, orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Christopher A. Foetisch, Toledo, OH, has noticed that mid-life women sometimes enter his office already depleted by life's stresses and then surgery tips them over the edge and while this may occur in only 5-10% of female patients, for these women the onset of depression is emotionally devastating and completely unexpected. Understandably, some of the most telling signs that a woman might not be able to handle the stress of surgery must be self-assessed (consider both positive and negative life changes, shifts in health, financial and relational upsets), thus it is imperative that women are self-aware of their current emotional posture when they enter a physician's office.
Women and Elective Surgery: Essential Information for a Trauma-Free Recovery - by Michele Howe -  For any woman choosing to undergo elective surgery, sensible planning is only one aspect of overall readiness. In order to be most effectively prepared, the decisions a woman makes subsequent to her surgery date and in the days immediately following will profoundly affect the overall quality of her recovery. According to Dr. Christopher A. Foetisch, an orthopedic surgeon who performs over 500 surgeries each year at Flower Hospital, it has been his experience that one of the first missteps some women make post-surgery is that they resist taking essential pain medications by wrongly accepting a self-imposed stigma equating medication with weakness, thereby compounding unnecessary pain upon an already stressed and impaired body.
Curative Downtime: Restorative Measures to Enhance the Healing Process - by Michele Howe - *Set aside non-essentials and make practical preparations. Organize your life today by anticipating your needs and that of your family's during those first post-surgery weeks. 

Resources, Articles, & Press Releases
Don't Pass the Salt: Cutting Sodium for Better Health - The following article is excerpted from the August 2006 issue of HealthyWomen Take 10 - By Robin Warshaw - Maybe you consider yourself a dedicated reader of food labels. You check for total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and the "good" poly- and monounsaturated fats. You know what numbers to look for and which show the product is too high-fat to consume. Like many shoppers, if you see low numbers, you take the item and move on.  After all, who has time to read the full food label for every product you're considering buying? That's why it's easy to skip over the information on sodium, or salt, which usually appears in the middle of the nutrition facts list. Even if you read it, you may not know whether the amount of sodium per serving, shown in milligrams, is okay or not.

Better Sleep & Interview with Dr. Amy Wolfson  - Source by Amanda Bach - Americans seem to be willing to do almost anything to cope with sleep-deprivation and emotional stress, but when push comes to shove, they are turning to quick fixes in lieu of obvious solutions. According to the findings of the 2006 Better Sleep Month survey, Americans are ignoring the fundamental steps to improve quality sleep and mood. It is well-known that sleep problems can be a key sign of depression. What people may not realize is that the reverse is also true — sleep disorders can actually trigger mood disorders and depression. As researchers learn more about the underlying cyclical connection between sleep and our mental health, the important balance is becoming even more apparent. We have an interview (Q&A) with sleep expert and 2006 Better Sleep Month Spokesperson, Dr. Amy Wolfson. Dr. Wolfson is a sleep researcher, Professor of Psychology at the College of Holy Cross and authored the book "The Woman's Book of Sleep: A Complete Resource Guide.”
Low-Cal Diets: For the Young at Heart - Feeling younger in middle age may be as easy as eating a low-calorie, nutritionally balanced diet, U.S. researchers report. These types of diets help slow cardiac aging, according to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Their study included 25 people, aged 41 to 65, who'd consumed a low-calorie diet (about 1,400 to 2,000 calories a day) an average of six years. Using ultrasound imaging, the team found the hearts of the people on the low-calorie diets appeared more elastic than those of other people the same age who ate a typical Western diet (about 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day). The hearts of the people on the low-calorie diet were also able to relax between beats in a way similar to the hearts of people 15 years younger. The study appears in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Trans Fat on Food Labels: Now You See It, Now You Don't - Office on Women's Health - By Amanda Bach - When it comes to food labels that list levels of unhealthy trans fats, zero plus zero doesn't always equal zero. That's because newly implemented U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules on labeling allow foods with less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving to claim "zero" grams of trans fats on their labels. Under these guidelines, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006 a food with 0.4 grams of trans fats can be listed as having zero trans fats. That means that Americans who consume three or four servings of these foods in a day will have unwittingly eaten an extra gram or two of trans fats.
Dogs Smell Signs of Cancer - This is a story from WomensHealth.gov - Office on Women's Health - By Amanda Bach - Dogs have long been used to sniff out explosives, narcotics, and even counterfeit currency. Now, a new study shows that man's best friend can also detect lung and breast cancer in breath samples. "When we heard anecdotally that there was a device out there that might be able to detect cancer at its earliest stages, before it even shows up on an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging], it was something we wanted to pursue," said Nicholas Broffman, executive director of the Pine Street Foundation, a nonprofit group in California that conducted the study. The group helps cancer patients who are facing tough treatment decisions.
Beware of the Bug – It's Flu Season! - Contributed by Amanda Bach - The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death – especially of older people, young children, and of people with certain health problems who are at high risk for serious flu complications.

Balancing Act: Achieving the Vitamins and Minerals You Need Each Day - by HealthyWomen.gov - Of course, you eat a balanced diet. That's why you're sure you get all the nutrients you need. Just yesterday, for example, you had--oh, well, you skipped breakfast because you were in a hurry, then grabbed a fast-food lunch. For dinner--who has the energy to make dinner?--you zapped a frozen entrée and rewarded yourself with a cappuccino-mix coffee and mini chocolate chip cookies.

Answers to the Painkiller Dilemma: Health Care Professionals' Point of View - (Drs. Meyerhoff and Chen) - In April 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked Pfizer to voluntarily remove its popular COX-2 painkiller Bextra from the market. It cited risks of heart and skin disease as outweighing the drug's benefits. Almost overnight, it seemed, millions of Americans found themselves either without the drugs they'd come to rely on for pain relief, or with numerous questions and concerns about the medications they continued to take. We turned to two experts on the issue, John Meyerhoff, MD,  and Steven Chen, PhD, to help clarify the issues around today's pain relievers.

Get Glowing this Summer! Celebrity Dermatologist Shares Advice on Summer Skincare & also Shares Insights on Do-It-Yourself Skincare - Winter Skincare - Skincare expert Dr. Francesca Fusco, one of New York City’s most sought-after dermatologists, knows just how can skin make the transition from the long, dark winter to the warmer summer days ahead.  According to Dr. Fusco, when the temperature begins to soar, skin gets red, appears oily, breaks out, dries up, and sometimes, it just doesn’t feel up to par.

The Eight Natural Laws of Creating/Maintaining True Health by Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD. - The life you are living is a direct result of all the decisions you ever made.....until now.  Can you imagine how much better your life could be when you can make more and better decisions in the future?  Think about it!  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  What will you create for yourself?  If you are not creating your life, who or what is?

Exercise -- the Real Fountain of Youth  - HealthDayNews - 30 minutes of daily activity can keep you fit and healthy.  Want to age gracefully? Keep moving. Regular exercise can reduce the risk of chronic disease -- such as heart trouble, diabetes, even cancer -- and keep you feeling and looking younger as you age.

Work Works for Women  - by American Sociological Association - Women who work are healthier than women who don't have jobs, suggests a study presented at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in San Francisco.

Women more prone to back pain -  HealthyWomen.org - Study also finds susceptibility to carpal tunnel syndrome. Women are at least twice as likely as men to develop some musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body, such as lower back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Breastfeeding - Best for Baby, Best for Mom - 4women.gov - Whether you are a new or expecting Mom, if you are on this section of the Website, you're probably interested in giving your baby the best care you can. And one of the best things that only you can do is to breastfeed for as long as possible. While breastfeeding isn't the only option for feeding your baby, every mother has the potential to succeed and make it a wonderful experience.

Screen Against The Sun - HealthDayNews - But as the long weekend that signals the start of the holiday season approaches, do you know how to use sunscreen correctly?

Knot In Your Stomach? Could It Be an Anxiety Disorder? - from HealthyWomen.org - For the millions of women with anxiety disorders, fears like these are real and debilitating. Luckily, they're also treatable.

Keeping Healthy at Every Age from Newsweek Magazine
Each stage of life brings its own health concerns. A guide to the tests, exams and vaccines that will keep you on track. This chart shows you from a full checkup to mammogram, from blood pressure to pap test, we listed them all for you.

What Tests Can You Tell  from Harvard Medical School - by Paula A. Johnson, M.D. celeste Robb-Nicholson, M.D. and Nancy Ferrari - You probably know your total cholesterol level, maybe even your LDL. But do you really know how healthy your heart is? Blood cholesterol is just one of several important indicators that physicians can now measure.  Here are some tests you should consider.

Women, Cigarettes & Death - From the Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital - Lung cancer is far more deadlier. Its 5-year survival rate is 15%, compared with 86% for breast cancer, and it takes a bigger toll.  Breast cancer killed 40,000 U.S. women in 2003; lung cancer, 69,000.