A Guide to Women's Health: Fifty and Forward

Midlife can be a woman’s halftime celebration. Not only can it be an opportunity to reflect on and rejoice in the life you’ve lived, but it is also a good time to plan your strategy for the future. It’s impossible to envision the second half of life without thinking about your health, especially your risk of developing debilitating or life-threatening diseases in the future. Around age 50, the medical decisions are changing and coming more frequently — when to have a mammogram, colonoscopy, or bone density test, for example. You may be trying to decide whether to have bunion surgery, or a knee replacement. Or you may be puzzling over the best way to manage your arthritis or irritable bowel syndrome. Women’s health studies have shown not only that women are different from men physiologically and emotionally, but also that it’s never too late to feel better by living better. This report focuses on health, not disease. It won’t tell you how to get the best treatments for serious conditions. But it will help you determine the conditions for which you are at greatest risk and do your best to avoid them. It will also help you to better manage chronic conditions that may erode your quality of life, and to deal with physical changes that are more bothersome than serious. It is designed to give you the information to make the choices today that will ensure you the best health possible tomorrow.