Women are increasingly turning to wellness practices and services provided by female wellness brands to address specific health concerns. By raising awareness and helping reduce stigma associated with various forms of illness across life stages, female wellness brands are spreading health across generations.
Wellness exams can play a vital role in early detection and treatment of medical illnesses that could otherwise develop into more serious illnesses.
Reproductive Health
The reproductive system comprises organs known as ovaries for females and testicles for males that produce hormones to maintain a healthy reproductive system and allow people to reproduce. Women can experience issues related to this hormone production such as menstrual cycle problems, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis and infertility – which all can negatively impact reproductive health and reproduction.
Reproductive health refers to living an enjoyable and safe sex life, having access to affordable family planning methods that meet individual needs, and sexually transmitted disease prevention services.
Although the medical costs associated with poor reproductive health can be significant, its non-medical consequences are equally staggering: reproductive dysfunction significantly limits women’s productive potential and undermines family economic and social security. At Mercer we believe investing in women’s SRHR is a wise decision with significant returns for society as a whole.
Sexual Health
Sexual activity offers women not only recreation, emotional wellbeing and intimacy, but an additional health benefit: strengthening of the immune system. The more often a woman engages in sexual activity and orgasm, the stronger her ability is to ward off illnesses.
Though many barriers exist to reaching optimal sexual health, these can be overcome using patient and healthcare provider (HCP) solutions. For instance, these could include more effective HCP training to better guide patients in discussing their needs as well as creating tools that help facilitate such conversations.
These tools include clinical study summaries for healthcare providers (HCPs), ice-breaker videos and conversation prompts that enable clinicians to effectively engage female patients in discussions about sexual health. Integrating sexual well-being as part of an overall approach to wellness challenges the notion that sexual wellbeing is not essential to good health – thus demanding a more holistic view.
Mental Health
Women are uniquely vulnerable when it comes to mental health, making mental wellness an area that must be prioritized for female wellness. Unfortunately, however, seeking assistance often feels taboo, leading many women to avoid getting treatment altogether and let their symptoms worsen further.
Healthcare professionals have begun to recognize the unique effects of mental illness on women. While certain disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affect both genders equally, female symptoms may differ significantly from those seen in male patients.
UIC Psychiatry Department’s Women’s Mental Wellness Team aims to shape the future of women’s mental wellbeing through advocacy and creating an ecosystem that facilitates competency, care and efficacy. Period cramp simulation videos by Somedays help shift narrative around period pain by destigmatizing it; providing accessible, relevant information enables women to stay healthy while leading fulfilling lives.
Physical Health
Women face unique health and wellness issues throughout life, from reproductive and menstrual cycles, childbirth, menopause and bone and musculoskeletal health issues, as well as menstruation. Therefore, regular gynecological visits, exercise and eating healthily are vitally important to female wellbeing at various points in time.
Doctors become acquainted with women’s medical histories during well woman visits and can recommend screenings appropriate to her age group, such as pap tests, blood pressure, cholesterol and thyroid screenings, mammography screenings as well as anything abnormal like moles or birthmarks to be reported immediately to their physician.
Functional medicine labs like the Standard Female Wellness Panel can be invaluable tools in understanding imbalances and recognizing them early, which allows for proactive treatments, minimizing future health concerns and mitigating their impact on the body.
