A poll of 1,012 Americans found that 47% of women say they’ve gained weight “due to COVID restrictions.” Most said they put on one to nine pounds, but 21% says it’s more like 10 to 20. For middle-age and older women that compounds health problems that may appear post-menopause.
A new study based on data from more than 10,000 women ages 45 to 85, published in Menopause, says that the incidence of metabolic syndrome increases with age (post-menopause) and affects around 38% of women ages 60 to 79. That means they have three or more of a cluster of five conditions: central obesity (that’s belly fat), high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and triglycerides, and lowered heathy HDL cholesterol level. The syndrome raises the risk of heart attack and stroke, diabetes, dementia and some cancers (colon, breast, etc.).
The good news is that lifestyle changes can prevent or reverse middle-age weight gain, defeat metabolic syndrome, erase your increased risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes and help protect you from many cancers. Plus, they can undo weight-gain and moodiness that result from the pandemic’s restrictions!
So, indoors or outside, aim to get 300 minutes of physical activity a week. Start with a nightly after-dinner walk; then make it a walk after every meal. Dodge highly processed foods, red meat and added sugars. That way you can make sure that you spend the next decades of your life feeling great and have a much younger RealAge.
‘Morning’ sickness is a misnomer
In the film “Knocked Up,” Katherine Heigl plays Alison, an entertainment reporter who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand. She tries to hide her pregnancy, but it becomes difficult when during an interview she’s overwhelmed by nausea and has to run off the set in search of a receptacle. Alison doesn’t just have morning sickness. She has all-day sickness.
Researchers say Alison isn’t the only one who finds that the hormone-driven condition lasts all day. A study published in the British Journal of General Practice looked at the prevalence of misnamed “morning” sickness in the first seven weeks of pregnancy and found 94.2% of study participants experienced vomiting or nausea during the study, with 58% experiencing both. Vomiting was most common between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., but nausea occurred throughout the entire day, and peaked in the evening. These symptoms were most common during weeks five through seven.
