Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource - December 2003

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

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Here are highlights from the December issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. You may cite this publication as often as you wish. Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource attribution is required. Also, you may reprint up to four articles annually without cost. More frequent reprinting is allowed for a fee. Include the following subscription information as your editorial policies permit: Call toll free for subscription information, 800-876-8633, extension 9PK1.

Healthy Aging: It's Not All in Your Genes

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If you're hoping to live to a healthy 100, good genes help. But just because a parent lived to be 100 doesn't mean that you will. Likewise, if your parents died in their 60s, it doesn't mean that you won't live to be 100. Research suggests it's a complex mix of your heredity, environment and lifestyle that determines your life span. The way you manage your body, mind and spirit today affects how you'll feel as you age.

The December issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource offers these tips for healthy aging:

• Have a positive attitude: Research suggests a positive view of aging can mean living a longer, healthier life.
• Eat well: A healthy diet is key.
• Limit alcohol: Alcohol's effects are magnified with age.
• Avoid tobacco: It's never too late to stop smoking.
• Keep physically active: Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity a day.
• Control stress: Control how you react to stressful situations. Stress, over time, increases risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Exercise your brain: Use it to keep it strong. Lifelong learning is key.
• Stay socially connected: Having a dependable group of friends and family is one of the most reliable predictors of longevity.
• Nurture your spirit: No matter what you call your source of inspiration, it's important to nurture spirituality.
• Plan ahead: You don't have to be rich to be happy, but try to look ahead to budget for activities and a lifestyle that you value.

Controlling Your Menstrual Cycle

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A different way of taking birth control pills means women are deciding when and how often they menstruate. Instead of about once a month, periods can be timed to occur just four times a year or even postponed indefinitely.

The option of less frequent periods is welcome news for many women. Some women have health problems — anemia, asthma, migraines or epilepsy — made worse by their periods. For others, menstruation is painful and debilitating. And, menstruating can be a major inconvenience during vacations, athletic events or on the job.

Controlling menstrual cycles is a choice that women of any age can consider, says Rosalina Abboud, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gynecologist, in the December issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. "Age isn't a limiting factor as long as the women are able to take oral contraceptives," she says.

Traditionally, women take oral contraceptives — a combination of estrogen and progesterone — for 21 days and then take a placebo for seven days. Menstrual bleeding occurs during the placebo week. Taking active pills longer postpones menstruation. Taking them continuously stops menstruation altogether.

Discuss your options with your doctor. For some women, oral contraceptives present risks, especially if you are older than 35 and smoke or have high blood pressure.

More Women Than Men Now Contracting HIV

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If you think AIDS is a disease mostly of young men, think again. Women are the fastest-growing segment of people to contract the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

Women face HIV risks and complications that can differ from men, according to the December issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. Women are particularly vulnerable when fragile vaginal tissues are exposed to seminal fluids containing the virus. (About 75 percent of women who have HIV were infected with the virus during sex with an HIV-infected man.)

Women and men may have the same early signs of HIV — low-grade fevers, night sweats and weight loss. But women also can have recurrent vaginal infections, genital warts from human papillomavirus infection — which increases the risk of cervical cancer — and severe pelvic inflammatory disease, often resulting from hard-to-detect chronic pelvic infections.

Certainly, preventing HIV is best by using latex condoms and knowing your partner's HIV status. But for women at risk, early detection of HIV is important to take full advantage of new medications and therapies that can forestall AIDS symptoms and, for pregnant women, prevent transmission to the baby.

Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource is published monthly to help women enjoy healthier, more productive lives. Revenue from subscriptions is used to support medical research at Mayo Clinic. To subscribe, please call 800-876-8633, extension 9PK1.

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