Did you know that many common medicines are differently metabolized in women’s bodies than in men’s? Yet, many clinical trials for testing new medicines still include only men in their studies, mainly due to the purported reason that women’s bodies have too many cyclical variables like hormone levels that may convolute the study results.
“That is one reason why I consider the emergence of a women’s health and fitness movement as a pressing need of the day. I would go even one step beyond and recommend that each woman be treated as a unique being, with all her diet, fitness, and mental health needs personalized for her,” says Dr Biju K S, Senior Medical Officer, Vieroots Wellness Solutions.
Today, an increasing number of medical studies are stating an obvious limitation of their study – that their study subjects were all North American, and that the study results may not hold for other major populations like South Asians or Africans. But nowhere can we see a disclaimer like this – the study subjects were all male, and these results may not hold true for women.
Yet, women deserve a much better treatment in the health and fitness sphere. “A female body has much more complexity associated with it. The mere fact that she is the only one of the sexes capable of being the home of a baby, the only one responsible for birthing the baby, and the only one capable of nursing it, adds layers and layers of complexity to her physiology and health,” adds Dr Biju K S.
Whether she ends up having her babies in her 20s, 30 or 40s, or not at all, right from her early teens, right from her puberty, “her body is undergoing the monthly cyclical changes of ovulation, the expectant changes in the uterus for a baby, and the inevitable menstruation that has to happen in face of no fertilization. Such continuous cycles for the most part of her life leaves a mark on her physical and mental health,” states Dr Biju KS.
With such complex internal organs, systems and activities happening throughout her life, much can go wrong too, and it is really no wonder that there are so many women-only diseases like endometriosis, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, PCOS, PCOD, fibroids, and cancers of the breast, uterus and cervix. She is also more prone to lifestyle diseases like obesity as well as psychological conditions like depression, anxiety etc.
Fortunately for her, a lot of advancements in medical science over the past two decades especially, have made it possible to predict and pre-empt most of these feminine diseases. “While genetic testing and metabolic assessment help to discover the chances for these diseases decades before it can happen, personalized lifestyle modifications in diet, exercise, yoga, meditation etc based on these test results help to keep such diseases at bay,” opines Dr Biju KS.
Today, such testing and intervention programs like EPLIMO that achieve this are available in India too, and an increasing number of women are taking charge of their physical and mental wellbeing using such science based programs.
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