Today is National Women’s Health and Fitness Day. It was created by the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC) in 2002 and is celebrated every last Wednesday of September. Its purpose is to bring awareness to the importance and the effort that goes into women taking care of their health. It highlights and acknowledges how women have to go through an innate struggle, their menstrual cycle, encouraging women to make an effort to care for their health and partake in fitness.
Across the world, women have had a history of sacrificing their health for beauty standards, such as foot binding in China and corsets in Europe during the 1800s, which caused pain and long-term damage. As society evolved, women began to break free from these social restrictions and prioritize their health, and now self-care has become a priority for women.
Junior Emma Alvarez explains how menstrual cycles affects her fitness, mental health and eating habits, but she has learned to handle the problems thrown her way.
“I like, keep my fitness. And, like fitness really helps with mental health, too,” Alvarez said
Alvarez noticed the changes after consistently keeping with her fitness. Not only has she noticed a difference in her mental health, but also in her overall health and being able to keep weight off.
According to the National Institute for Mental Health, women struggle with depression, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders, which have been linked with problems involving hormones, like menstrual cycles and pregnancy.
Senior Sophia Adler explains that the experience of being in sports can be especially different for a woman, due to the competitiveness.
“They’re more vocal with their actions. Instead, men fight, women talk, and it’s just a mental that it’s different. The mentality is different when you’re being like a woman. You just gotta go through it,”Adler said.
Noting the struggles that women often go through, especially as an athlete, she finds that sometimes the mentality of others can also be a struggle when playing sports. She also continued with what she finds to be the biggest struggle women specifically go through, is menstrual cycles
“We have something that they don’t have to deal with, like the cramps, the periods, the mental emotions,” Adler said.
Women suffer through menstrual cycles, until eventually they enter menopause, when a decline in function of ovaries and hormones begins. Once they get their menstrual cycle, which on average can happen from nine to 14 years old, they will have to deal with things like c for the rest of their life.
A menstrual cycle impairs a woman’s health because symptoms can range from cramps to throwing up, fainting, and more. Then once women stop getting their period, they enter menopause, which causes overheating, vertigo, and more.
Additionally, it is important for women to continue taking care of their health, since they are more prone to disease. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and evaluations, because women’s life expectancy rate is much higher than men’s, they often suffer from more diseases and illnesses. Participating in fitness can alleviate symptoms women experience, such as cramps.
Taking care of one’s health can be fairly simple. Some easy ways to stay healthy are to incorporate more whole foods into your diet.
Contrary to common misconception, this does not mean you need to change your whole diet, simply limiting sweets and fatty foods to a couple a day instead of having them in excessive amounts.
In contrast, fitness has a completely different component, which focuses on the physical capabilities of a person. Fitness can have both short and long-term benefits. As for short-term benefits, they can leave you feeling more energized and even relieve period symptoms.
In addition, this day is also a push for feminism since, according to the World Health Organization(WHO), men are 5% more active than women since 2000.
Junior Nadia Alvarez demonstrates how fitness can be maintained in a simple way by walking and staying hydrated, which keeps her fit and healthy.
¨I am a walker, I love walking. That’s kind of why I don’t like having PE not in my schedule anymore. But, yeah, I walk. I’ll walk with my grandma sometimes outside,” Alvarez said.
This can be done from home on a walking pad or by going on a walk near where you live. This past year, buying walking pads–a smaller treadmill that provides low impact cardio, has become popular. Especially since they are less expensive compared to a standard treadmill. However, if you stay safe, going on a walk or run around your neighborhood or at a local park is free and comes with the enjoyment of taking in nature.
Another way to work on your fitness is by doing at-home workouts. YouTube has continued and proved to be a good way to find at-home workouts, since there are videos that do not require any equipment.
Overall health and fitness are important to both women and men. National Women´s Health and Fitness Day recognizes and encourages health and fitness to help prevent illnesses, diseases specific to women, alleviate periods, and menopause; while also recognizing the struggle women go through with periods and menopause.
Links:
NATIONAL WOMEN’S HEALTH AND FITNESS DAY | Last Wednesday in September
Women’s Health and the Top Three Things Every Woman Should Do
6 Steps Women Can Take to Improve Their Health at Any Age
An efficient (and thrifty) way to exercise at home – Harvard Health
Mars vs. Venus: The Gender Gap in Health – Harvard Health Publishing
