Staying Healthy: 10 Easy Steps for Women
An Online Guide

When an illness is diagnosed early, treatment has the greatest potential for resulting in a cure.

The majority of diseases, including cancer, can be successfully treated if they're discovered early on. That is why prevention and, whenever possible, early detection is preferable.

Factors like nutrition, heredity and lifestyle all affect aging. Everyone ages differently, and aging also affects your ability to withstand disease. Many illnesses relate to the individual's lifestyle.

Here are some examples where all these factors play a role:

Smoking

More American women die of lung cancer than from any other type of cancer. Avoiding smoking can greatly lower the risk of lung cancer, as well as heart disease, emphysema and other forms of chronic lung disease.

About 400,000 people die in the United States each year from smoking-related disease, about 100,000 of them from second-hand smoke. Since 1960 the smoking-related death rate has risen 104% in men and 452% in women.

Smoking accounts for 90% of lung cancer in men and 85% in women. The American Cancer Society projects that lung cancer will kill 94,000 men and 66,000 women this year alone.

Smoking is also a hazard among young people. A study at the University of Michigan showed a 2% rise in smoking among schoolchildren in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades. Another study showed that 20% of high-school students smoke.

Parenting involves protecting children against harm in the house. But many parents smoke at home, exposing their children, including newborns, to an increased risk of upper-respiratory infection. As role models, these parents are also sending mixed messages to their children about what is right and what is wrong.

If you smoke, you also have an increased risk of cervical and breast cancer. If you're pregnant and still smoke, use alcohol or take other drugs, you run a greater risk of damaging your unborn child. You're also at a higher risk of premature delivery, having a child with low birth weight (which has its own hazards), and with physical and mental abnormalities.

Heart Disease
Cardiovascular disease -- affecting the heart ("cardio") and blood vessels ("vascular") -- is the most common cause of death. They're also the most controllable by your Number One health provider -- You. Follow what I call the Three E's:

Eat healthy and in moderation (explained in detail in the next Step). This will reduce your cholesterol level, keeping your blood vessels healthily wide and flexible.

Exercise every muscle in your body, including your heart (see Step 4). A fit heart is another anti-disease key.

Entering menopause? Don't let up. Healthy eating and exercise habits will continue to reduce your risk for heart disease.

Breast Cancer
One out of nine women will develop breast cancer. Here again, you can play an active part in minimizing the effects, should this frightening statistic fall on you. Monthly breast self-exams, regular exams from your health-care provider, and breast x-rays or mammograms are the first line of defense. This means detecting the cancer as early as possible, when it's most successfully treated. See Step 6 for more information.

Cervical Cancer
Cancer of the cervix is a good example of how prevention and early detection make life better. Cervical cancer is the most frequent deadly cancer in developing countries where prevention is lacking. It is associated with having sexual intercourse at a very young age and with many partners, and with an infection caused by the human papilloma virus. The Pap test to screen for cervical cancer was introduced in 1950, and soon became widely used in the United States. The result? With early detection and treatment, the number of deaths from cervical cancer dipped from 8,487 in 1960 to 4,800 in 1996, while the size of the sexually active female population increased considerably.

Sexually Transmitted Disease
Prevention of sexually transmitted disease also improves the quality of life. Sexual promiscuity these days could be a matter of life and death. Abstinence is the only certain way of preventing such disease. But staying with one sexual partner and using latex condoms can greatly lower the risk of getting HIV (the AIDS virus) and other diseases. See Step 8 for more details.

Alcohol Abuse
Alcoholism and its consequences are one of the major causes of death in women between 25 and 64 years of age. The physical effects of alcohol abuse include deterioration of brain activities, diminished mental alertness, lack of physical coordination, poor judgment and increased possibility of being involved in automobile and other accidents.

Alcohol abuse also leads to increased incidence of high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver, obesity and stroke. Alcohol abuse has also been associated with osteoporosis. If used during pregnancy, it can result in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome -- birth defects in the baby.

Women who abuse alcohol may abuse other drugs, as well. These include cocaine, heroin, marijuana and prescribed medicines. Alcoholic women also have a tendency to stay in abusive relationships.

Skin Cancer
Skin cancers are more common in people who are exposed to the sun for a long time. They're even more common in women with light skin. About 2,700 women die each year from melanoma, a serious skin cancer. Any unusual skin lesions or changes on a birthmark or mole should be checked by a physician.

You should avoid too much exposure to the sun, especially mid-day sun. Wear clothing that covers most parts of the body and use an SPF 15 sunblock to protect exposed skin.

For further help, use the new-in-1994 UV Index. This index translates the day's amount of cancer-related ultraviolet (UV) radiation into safe tanning minutes for your skin type.

Workplace Chemicals
Some substances that are present in the workplace can cause cancer. More information about this is available through the State or Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Guns
Many people have guns for "protection." But for each use of a gun against an intruder, there are 100 gun-related deaths among children and other family members. Family disputes, children's curiosity and accidents can all lead to death or serious injury if a gun is nearby.

IF YOU HAVE A GUN, KEEP IT OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN.

Car Driver and Passenger Safety
The simple act of wearing a seat belt while driving can avoid grave injuries in case of an accident. Parents should make it a practice to place their children in proper car seats.

Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death for women, most often striking those over age 50. Colon cancer caused the death of 23,325 women and 24,385 men in 1990, and is expected to fatally strike 24,000 women and 22,600 men in 1997.

You should have a digital ("by hand") rectal exam after the age of 40 to check the stool for signs of blood. After you're 50, you should have a sigmoidoscopy performed every three to five years by a family physician or a gastroenterologist, a physician specializing in diseases of the stomach and intestines.

If you observe any change in bowel movements, any rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, you should consult your health-care provider. If there's a history of this disease in your family, your health-care provider should be informed of this too.

It has been shown that a low-fat and high-fiber diet, together with medical checkups, can increase the survival rate from this type of cancer by 40%.

Glaucoma
Glaucoma -- damage to the optic nerve caused by elevated pressure within the eye -- is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Glaucoma is present in five percent of the population age 40 and above. Loss of vision due to glaucoma is permanent and irreversible. So it is very important to discover glaucoma early and treat it adequately. A quick, simple and painless test can easily diagnose the presence or absence of glaucoma.

Starting at age 40, you should have this test performed by an optometrist, a family physician, or an ophthalmologist.

Dental Hygiene
A visit to the dentist every six months for teeth cleaning and to rule out dental and gum disease is a must for every adult and child.

Immunizations
A tetanus booster shot should be given once between age 14-16, then every 10 years. Residents of chronic-care facilities and those with blood disorders, diabetes or renal diseases should receive the influenza vaccine annually starting in their twenties. Begining at age 50, every woman should receive the influenza vaccine annually, and the pneumoccocal vaccine once.

Anyone who may come in contact with human blood or blood products, or with people at risk for sexually transmitted disease, should be immunized against the liver disease hepatitis B.

Other Precautions
Consult a health-care provider in case of a nagging cough, persistent hoarse voice, problems with swallowing, unusual bleeding or discharge, any unusual lump or discharge from the breast, or a sore that does not heal.

Home remedies can help with some mild forms of illness. But serious illness, like cancer, calls for the attention of a specialist and hospital treatment, so be sure to pay attention to symptoms that do not go away, and take the steps to put yourself in competent hands.

Domestic Violence
Many public-health experts consider violence to be an epidemic. Domestic violence is a part of this. About 1.8 million women are abused by their spouses each year -- beatings, emotional humiliation and rape are examples.

The law grants U.S. women and men equal status, making such "traditional" atrocities as being stoned to death for infidelity unheard of here. Still, older social and religious codes, which give informal approval for men to control "their" women, are widely practiced. Such practices occur in all walks of life, from the richest to the poorest, regardless of education, and from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Even in the U.S., it's estimated that 16% of women -- one out of six -- are victimized by violence from their mates.

Sometimes a woman feels she is partly to blame, afraid to be stigmatized, unwilling to break up the family, and continues to feel love for her partner. The way to end the violence would be to leave. But women often stay because of physical, financial and psychological dependency. They can be isolated, unable to afford child care, and therefore unable to work. Because their children are also being abused, they are afraid to leave them. Finally, battering can change a woman psychologically, making her believe the abuse is her own fault since she's a "no good" wife or mother.

The situation is improving slowly. Rape -- once considered an inevitable byproduct of male behavior during wartime -- has been declared a war crime by the United Nations. And multiple articles in the medical literature are raising health-care providers' domestic violence awareness.

In addition, the idea that any type of forced sex -- even by a date or other friend -- is rape is gradually being accepted by men as well as by women. Still, the progress is slow. According to a recent report by the U.S. Senate Majority staff, more women than ever before are living in fear. Victims are still blamed for the crime -- most often committed by an acquaintance -- and it's estimated that only 7% of rapes are reported to authorities.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THIS SITUATION, YOU CAN TAKE CONTROL! You may feel humiliated, isolated and afraid to be examined medically, but you are not alone. Counseling and support groups (low-cost or free) are available everywhere to help you find strength, realize that you are not to blame, and bring the batterer into the criminal justice system.

Help is just a phone call away. Call the National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence from anywhere in the United States: 1 (800) 222-2000.

Familiarizing yourself with the above precautions and information, along with improving your diet and exercise regimen, are important building blocks for maximizing the health and safety aspects of your lifestyle.