A woman needs to preserve her beauty and health even more when she turns forty. This is because her body – and sometimes her mind as most partners would know- is changing at this age. She should be more informedand careful towards these changes taking place in her body because they affect her health in many ways. They are:
1. The metabolism gets slower and she starts gaining weight especially at the areas she hates it most- the hips and the belly.Face it- there is nothing worse for a woman under threat of progressive ageing to see her getting obese!
2. There is decrease in the estrogen levels and consequently there is more fat deposit in the blood vessels. This means she gets more prone to heart disease. Statistically, heart disease is the leading cause of death in females above forty years of age.
3. The obesity combined with poor bone strength seen at this age and the fact that a woman’s joints are more loose jointed than men, leads to joint pains especially at the weight bearing ones such as the spine and the knee joint. This contributes to immobility and creates a vicious cycle of producing more obesity. A catch 22 situation!
4. The lower levels of estrogen and growth hormones together
with decreased metabolism leads to obesity and that is a great recipe for diabetes. In fact obesity accounts for 80-90% of diabetes in menopausal females. The association is so strong that it is called diabesity.
So, if we were to point out only one area of concern for women above forty, it would be obesity. And obesity has definite health consequences including increased risks of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis and sleep apnea as explained above.
Therefore it is imperative that women are aware of these changes and can take steps to prevent or treat them. The obvious tips would be:
- Avoid or quit smoking.
- Control Obesity.
- Exercise
- Follow a diet low in saturated fat and high in fiber.
- Treat and control medical condition
Although many women may be able to control their obesity through these measures, some- quite a few actually- may fail because either they are too obese to lose weight on their own or, their diseases (diabetes, heart disease, joint pains) warrant early intervention. It is particularly for these women that bariatric surgery comes very handy. This keyhole solution – a stapling procedure to ensure less dietary intake – has revolutionized the way we approach obesity these days. In the modern world, if the woman is unable to conquer her quest for weight loss on her own, she doesn’t have to live with it. A surgery can actually fix her. What’s more? It takes care of her diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, hypertension and arthritis. May I add here that we must not forget how they regain their beauty apart from the health from bariatric surgery!
So, if you are a woman above forty (that technically means a woman of 18 years of age with 22 years of experience) you need to be smarter- especially after reading this article. You need to be careful about your diet and your exercise and prevent obesity at all cost. However if you are not lucky and you are obese, you need to fight the fat either by your own efforts or you may choose bariatric surgery if nothing works.
Watch the Video on YouTube for Bariatric Surgery.