Renowned Gynaecologist Dr.Rooma Sinha highlights top 5 Health Concerns Young Women Suffer from, at the PGWA Health Lecture

 Renowned Gynecologist & Robotic Surgeon from Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills, Dr. Rooma Sinha, delivering the PUBLIC GARDEN WALKERS' ASSOCIATION - 238^th Monthly Health Lecture on “5 Top Health Concerns in Women”, on Sunday at Public Gardens. Women, morning walkers, general public and members of PGWA including Mr. Ghulam Yazdani, Chairman; Mr. Pramod Kumar Kedia, Vice President; Dr. Purshottam Das, Gen. Secretary; Mr. Vishwanath Agarwal, Jt Secretary; Mr. Sohanlal Kadel, Jt Secretary; Mr. B.L. Pershad Jaiswal, Treasurer; Prof Mohd. Masood Ahmed, Health Care Advisor & Patrons B. Sreekanth Reddy & G. Ekember Reddy, were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Rooma Sinha, pointed out the Top 5 Health Concerns amongst young women and elaborated on each one of them

1. Abnormal uterine bleeding
2. Delayed cycles; Obesity & Acne
3. Contraception
4. Osteporosis
5. Depression - premenstrual syndrome

Abnormal uterine bleeding

Few cycles of abnormal bleeding can be easily seen in a women’s lifetime and may settle on its own. If abnormality persists over months or you start passing clots or use more napkins than usual or start getting pain- do consult a gynecologist as this may be a clue to some underlying problem. Excessive bleeding can lead to iron deficiency anemia. This may cause weakness, fatigue, irritability or unable to do day to day work. This can be accompanied with pain requiring medication or a surgical procedure

Delayed cycles; Obesity & Acne

Women with PCOS have a history of irregular menstrual bleeding especially delayed periods. They have cycles at the interval of 8-12 weeks and often are obese (overweight), have unwanted hair growth in places such as on the face, between their breasts, in the lower part of the abdomen, and on the inner thighs and may also have acne. Many of these have a family history of diabetes. They produce too much insulin or the insulin they produce does not work. This is why women with PCOS tend to gain weight or have a hard time losing weight. PCOS IS A LIFELONG CONDITION, but it can be treated in a number of ways. There is no short course of therapy that can make the PCOS vanish from your system. Lifestyle changes are the main part of the treatment and some suggestions are as follows-

1.    Daily exercise improves the body's use of insulin and can help relieve symptoms of PCOS

2.    Weight loss will lower insulin levels enough to improve the cycles or allow ovulation to begin causing cycles to occur regularly.

3.    Change the diet (NO DIETING/ MISSING MEALS). Reduce the amount of carbohydrate rich food in your diet. All junk food, pre-processed food, aerated drinks should be avoided.

In short live life like a diabetic patient, follow their food pattern, daily exercise regime and weight control

Contraception

Preventing pregnancy is one the fundamental right of any women. There are various methods available in the market that can be used by both men and women to prevent pregnancy. Such as condoms, contraceptive pills and intra uterine contraceptive device which are also commonly called, as Copper T. Emergency contraception is now available which can be used within 72 hours of the exposure which can prevent a pregnancy. But a note of caution: emergency contraception should only be used in emergency and not daily. These contraceptive methods do not carry any risk to your health or life in spite of several myths that are associated with it. In fact contraceptives can benefit; e.g. condoms can prevent sexually transmitted disease like AIDS and pills can prevent development of ovarian cancer in future. The risk to your health in having an abortion is more than preventing a pregnancy. Please feel free to ask; it concerns your life and health.

Osteoporosis

Though his is problem of the older women the disease begins in your teens. The main defence against this is a good peak bone mass (which you achieve by the age of 25-30 years) along with calcium supplementations and weight bearing exerises. Thus taking calcium rich diet in your teens and early twenties is important.

Depression

Nearly twice as many women as men develop depression and related disorders at some point in their lives. Hormones, work overload and sexual abuse, family, career, coping with menstruation, pregnancy and menopause,   all contribute to this. As a woman, you certainly have plenty of issues to handle. But there's one more you might face someday: depression. Feeling that there is no hope is often the situation but help is available and specialists can easily tack most depression with effective counseling and medication.

Some tips to take care of health

Besides the top 5 health concerns, aspects like pollution, stress, no relaxation, constant pressure of meeting deadlines, can have tremendous negative impact on ones health.

Young , healthy and beautiful- YOU & Me

To remain young and healthy one needs to pay attention to not only the health problems that crop up now and then but to be aware about a healthy lifestyle and measures to be taken to prevent or early diagnosis of  health problems. A healthy lifestyle includes good diet along with adequate exercise in order to maintain a healthy weight (BMI-18-25).

DIET- mantra- all variety; all colour

1. Protien-soy products, legumes, pulses, nuts, whole grains
2. Calcium- dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables
3. Vit B12- mainly found in animal products but can be taken in foods that are fortified with it or use medical supplements
4. Iron- peas, lentils cereals, whole grains, green leafy vegetables. In order to help this iron to be absorbed well one must take food rich in Vit C also.

EXERCISE: Moderate & Regular

1. Benefits all age groups
2. Reduces incidence of premature deaths by 50%
3. Frequency and duration more important than intensity
4. Improves aerobic capacity
5. Target pulse rate 220-age x 70%
6. Brisk walking, cycling, jogging, swimming