Staying Healthy at 50 and Beyond

How to stay health at 50+

At the age of 50, many women may have menopause while the rest are at the brink of menopause. Women after 50 are at risk of cardiovascular disease like high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and heart disease especially of those who have positive family history, obese, high cholesterol, smoking and have not been exercise regularly.  The most common cancer affecting women at this age is breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer. In Malaysia, statistic shows that breast cancer is number one cancer killer in women followed by cancer colon.  All over the world number one killer of women after 50 yrs of age is heart disease. 

Get the Screenings You Need 

Screenings are tests that look for diseases before you have symptoms. Blood pressure checks and mammograms are examples of screenings. You can get some screenings, such as blood pressure readings, in your doctor’s office. Others, such as as mammograms, need special equipment, so you may need to go to a different office. After a screening test, it's important to ask when you will see the results and who you should talk to about them. 

Breast Cancer. The recomendation b the College of Surgeon, that women after 45 need to do a mammogram 

Cervical Cancer. Have a Pap smear every 1 to 3 years until you are age 65 if you have been sexually active. If you are older than 65 and recent Pap smears were normal, you do not need a Pap smear. If you have had a total hysterectomy for a reason other than cancer, you do not need a Pap smear. 

Cancer Uterus and Ovary:  Have your doctor do pelvic examination and transvaginal ultrasoundwhen you come for pap smear ever 1- 3 years.  Checking blood tumour marker like Ca 125 is a good complimentary for detection of cancer ovary. Almost all cancer ovary present with symptom at a very late stage.

Colorectal Cancer. Have a screening test for colorectal cancer. Several different tests—for example, a stool blood test and colonoscopy—can detect this cancer. Your doctor can help you decide which is best for you. If you history of colon cancer in your immediate family member, having a colonoscopy done once in every 1-3 years is a recommended.

Depression. Your emotional health is as important as your physical health. Talk to your doctor about being screened for depression especially if during the last 2 weeks: You have felt down, sad, or hopeless. You have felt little interest or pleasure in doing things. 

Diabetes. Get screened for diabetes if your blood pressure is higher than 135/80 or if you take medication for high blood pressure. Diabetes (high blood sugar) can cause problems with your heart, brain, eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves, and other body parts. 

High Blood Pressure. Have your blood pressure checked at least every 2 years. High blood pressure is 140/90 or higher. High blood pressure can cause strokes, heart attacks, kidney and eye problems, and heart failure. 

High Cholesterol. High cholesterol increases your chance of heart disease, stroke, and poor circulation. Have your cholesterol checked regularly if: You use tobacco. You are obese. You have a personal history of heart disease or blocked arteries. A male relative in your family had a heart attack before age 50 or a female relative, before age 60. 

Life-style Modicafication

Although it is easy said than done, living a healthy life style is a hallmark of staying healthy after 50 and beyond. As our body undergo accelerated aging after menopause, healthy life style e.g. exercising regularly helps to slow down aging, improves blood circulation, keeping muscle at work and healthy heart.

 About Body Image

When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see?

Is your body image positive or negative? If your answer is negative, you are not alone. Many women feel pressured to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image. Women are constantly bombarded with "Perfect body " images. By presenting an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It's no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. The message we're hearing is either "all women need to lose weight" or that the natural aging process is a "disastrous" fate.

Other pressures can come from the people in our lives.

• Family and friends can influence your body image with positive and negative comments.
• A doctor's health advice can be misinterpreted and affect how a woman sees herself and feels about her body. 

Learning to love what you see in the mirror

And don't forget your kids!

Parents’ attitudes about appearance and diet can affect their kids' attitudes. 

We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In fact, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes! Changing your body image means changing the way you think about your body. At the same time, healthy lifestyle choices are also key to improving body image.

• Healthy eating can promote healthy skin and hair, along with strong bones.
• Regular exercise has been shown to boost self-esteem, self-image, and energy levels.
• Plenty of rest is key to stress management. 

Your body image plays a role in your children

"On a diet, you can't eat." That is what one 5- year-old girl had to say in a study on girls' ideas about dieting. This and other research has shown that daughters are more likely to have ideas about dieting when their mothers diet. Children pick up on comments about dieting concepts that may seem harmless, such as limiting high-fat foods or eating less. Yet, as girls enter their teen years, having ideas about dieting can lead to problems. Many things can spark weight concerns for girls and impact their eating habits in potentially unhealthy ways:

• Having mothers concerned about their own weight
• Having mothers who are overly concerned about their daughters' weight and looks
• Natural weight gain and other body changes during puberty
• Peer pressure to look a certain way
• Struggles with self-esteem
• Media images showing the ideal female body as thin

Many teenage girls of average weight think they are overweight and are not satisfied with their bodies. Having extreme weight concerns — and acting on those concerns — can harm girls' social, physical, and emotional growth. Actions such as skipping meals or taking diet pills can lead to poor nutrition and difficulty learning. For some, extreme efforts to lose weight can lead to eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. For others, the pressure to be thin can actually lead to binge eating disorder: overeating that is followed by extreme guilt. What's more, girls are more likely to further risk their health by trying to lose weight in unhealthy ways, such as smoking.