May 10–16 is National Women’s Health Week, which means that now, today, is the perfect time for you to follow through on one or two of those healthy living resolutions you made back in January (and the January before that and the January before that).
The beauty of health resolutions is that, when you’re first starting out, the smallest changes can make huge differences. And “health” is a pretty broad category. Sure, it includes eating better and getting some physical activity, but it also involves relaxing to lower stress and getting enough sleep at night.
But people get caught up in the idea of completely changing their lifestyle all at once, and that’s where they run into problems. Think about one small thing you can change — just for the week — and go from there. You’ve heard it all before: take the stairs, park farther away, give up a glass or two of soda a day, go to sleep an half hour earlier, spend some more time with your family. But this week, actually do it.
If you’re really motivated, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is celebrating by issuing a Woman Challenge. To participate, just go to their website, set some healthy living goals, and then record your progress over the next eight weeks. We have an AAUW team on the site. If you’d like to join our team, please send an e-mail to webmaster@aauw.org with your user name, and I’ll add you.
Here at AAUW HQ, we’re marking women’s health week as part of a broader wellness initiative. This month we’ll be hearing from local expert Margie Shapiro on starting and maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, and we’ll be kicking off our own lunchtime walking group. Being located 3 blocks from the White House and a mile (downhill!) to the National Mall makes for some scenic strolls.
And men, you’re not off the hook. Men’s National Health Week is June 15–21, so you may as well get started now. Support your wife, mother, daughter, sister, co-worker, or friend as she makes some positive changes this week, and she’ll owe you one.
The US Dept. of Health and Human Services just released a really eye-opening report about the economic challenges that women face in gaining access to health care. Maybe as a part of women’s health week we should focus on making sure that women have the tools they need to get healthy. President Obama is pushing for health care reform and Nancy Pelosi just promised that the House would pass legislation on the issue by July 31; equal access for women should be a top priority.
Check out the report: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/women/women.pdf