Women’s Healthy Ageing

We are regularly contacted by the younger generation for their parents, in - laws to help them stay healthy with ageing. This eases off anxiety in their fast paced lives with demanding jobs as there are fewer health concerns for them to address and their parents enjoy more satisfying and fulfilling lives.

Women’s Healthy Ageing

With both men and women there is a gradual decline in health and functionality in their early 40s but for women - abrupt changes start after the menopause.

With aging - the most common, costly and preventable health problems that all adults face starts to appear. It includes chronic diseases like Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, Stroke, Cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity and Arthritis.

In general, women live longer than men, consistent with lower biological ages as assessed by molecular biomarkers, but there is a paradox. Women are delicate (due to hormones) and generally have worse health at the end, while men still perform better in physical functions.

For women, the skin tends to become thinner, less elastic, drier, and finely wrinkled. However, exposure to sunlight over the years greatly contributes to wrinkling and to making the skin rough and blotchy.

Ligaments and tendons tend to become less elastic, making joints feel tight or stiff. Loss of the cartilage due to lifelong use of joints or repeated injury often leads to osteoarthritis. Osteoporosis leads to weakened bones and an increased risk of fractures,

The heart and blood vessels become stiffer. The heart fills with blood more slowly. The stiffer arteries are less able to expand when more blood is pumped through them. Thus, blood pressure tends to increase.

The effects of aging on sex hormones are more obvious in women than in men. The decrease in female hormone levels causes the ovaries and uterus to shrink. Hot flashes, night sweats, the tissues of the vagina become thinner, drier, and less elastic. The breasts become less firm and more fibrous, and they tend to sag.

Body becomes less flexible. The distribution of fat also changes, changing the shape of the torso.

The cells of the immune system act more slowly that’s why Cancer is more common.

Aging women may also experience — Weight Gain, Difficulty Sleeping and Irritability, Problems Concentrating, Depression, Menopause and range of symptoms including Hot Flashes, Night Sweats, and Vaginal Dryness.

Women spend approximately twice as many years disabled prior to death as their male counterparts.

In women, as they age, apart from health other issues also set in - Destitution/Alienation/Isolation, Social Insecurity, Financial Insecurity, Declining Authority, Loneliness and Feeling of neglect.

Many of these chronic conditions are made worse by health risk behaviours such as lack of exercise, poor nutrition, using tobacco, and drinking too much alcohol.

For both men and women, aging with poor health carries a high cost — to individuals and their families. However, these costs are expected to rise in coming years with rising prices of diagnosis and cost of treatment.