Celebrate International Women's Day with "What the World Needs Now: Lifestyle Medicine for All Women"
By John McHugh
Join me in celebrating International Women's Day, a day when I thank my mother, my four sisters, and the countless women who have been my teachers and mentors, including Dr Jeanne Conry leading women’s health around the globe as President of the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO). Over the last five years I have had the privilege of co-chairing the Women's Health Member Interest Group of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine where our teams have studied the application of sleep, nutrition, stress reduction, exercise, personal connection and reducing harmful substances to improve women’s health. Lifestyle medicine is “What the World Needs Now” to help all women “Live Their Best Life”.
International Women's Day started over a century ago when women in New Zealand requested the fundamental right to vote, and expanded in subsequent years via the United Nations now addressing a wide array of issues important to women's rights and opportunities. This year's theme addresses the importance of digital technology in women's lives, an issue that myself and my co-authors addressed in two recent publications for the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.
“Living Your Best Life” focuses primarily on the use of lifestyle change to address issues affecting women in developed nations, whereas “What the World Needs Now” integrates lessons learned from the last century of development with opportunities and challenges developing nations face in women's health. It is our hope that all nations can learn from each other's experiences and adopt solutions that respect their historical and cultural differences.
Nutrition has for long been a focus of attention and controversy in lifestyle medicine. Across the globe, two nutritional issues stand out in affecting Women's Health across the globe. Iron deficiency anemia remains all too common and all too correctable, disproportionately affecting women of reproductive age and their pregnancies. It remains to this day one of the greatest contributors to poor health outcomes around the world and must be a global priority.
In 2007, urban residents outnumbered traditional rural agricultural populations for the first time in human history. Along with the advantages of urban living, the abandonment of traditional plant based high fiber diets has made fiber perhaps the single greatest nutritional deficiency of developed nations. Over 90% of Americans do not get minimal recommended amounts of fiber, and not only does this deficiency lead to well-documented rises in obesity, stroke and cardiovascular disease, it also has particular implications for Women's Health as fiber poor diets are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer and preeclampsia.
Technology as commonplace as the electric light bulb gives enormous benefits but does not come without cost. Since the adoption of electric lighting, Americans have lost an hour of needed sleep per night. Today’s technologies like cell phones have great potential to provide access to education and healthcare even in remote rural areas, however the use of electronic screens in the hours before bedtime negatively impacts sleep cycles with consequent impacts on women's health. Further research is needed to understand how women can benefit from these technologies while minimizing the harms.
Exercise has demonstrable benefits not only for overall metabolic and emotional health but has specific advantages for women's health in conditions from the perimenopause to diabetes in pregnancy. However, many women across the planet do not have safe and unpolluted areas to even simply walk. In addition, cultural and religious practices may restrict women's choice of clothing and activity for exercise. All women deserve the right to safe healthy spaces for exercise.
Urbanization and cultural change are often associated with greater freedoms; in some societies these include women’s first opportunities to legally consume alcohol and tobacco. It is important that the decades of research and experience developed nations have had with these substances help women around the world make informed choices regarding the risks and benefits of these substances.
Less is known about the impact of stress and social connection on women's health. Women suffer a disproportionate share of adverse childhood experiences which impact their health throughout their lifetime. The recent pandemic has appeared to significantly increase stress levels and disrupt traditional social connection around the globe. This disruption presents an opportunity to recognize and address these issues. We are learning the importance of mindfulness practice and lifestyle change to address the epidemic of stress and mental illness. Here again technology has the opportunity to provide access to mindfulness-based stress reduction even in remote rural areas as well as provide the opportunity for social connection when our peers might be geographically distant.
International Women's Day is our opportunity to make lifestyle medicine the foundation of evidence-based Women’s Health. With greater research on the benefits of traditional lifestyles as well as decades of research documenting the risks of lifestyle change in developed nations, we have the opportunity to benefit all women, their children and those they care for. Join me on March 8th in thanking the women who have done so much for us.
Article Details
Living Your Best Life: Lifestyle Medicine for All Women
John McHugh, Megan Alexander, Rashmi Kudesia, Jessica Krant, Amy Comander, Michelle Tollefson, and Cynthia Geyer
First published online May 16, 2022
DOI: 10.1177/15598276221087677
American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine
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