Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher October is breast cancer awareness month, and with one in eight women likely to become breast cancer victims at some point in their lives, October is the perfect time to increase our awareness of this serious problem and learn more about breast cancer detection and prevention.             As women grow older, the risk of breast cancer increases.  Nearly 8 out of 10 breast cancers occur in women older than age 50, according to American Cancer Society statistics.  That’s not to say that younger women can’t get the disease also.  In fact, an alarming number of young women in their 20’s and 30’s have had to deal with the numerous scary aspects of breast cancer, such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, drug side effects, and the possibility of death or, at least, infertility due to cancer treatment.         ...

What We Can Do to Preserve Cognitive Health by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher Note:   Regular readers of this blog may have wondered, “What happened to Part 3 of the August topics on vaccines, travel tips, and foot health?”.  The short answer, in two words, is Hurricane Harvey.  The third installment of the August story was due to be published the last week of August.  Unfortunately, this writer was too busy securing property and getting ready for Harvey’s arrival to submit the final installment of that health topic. Harvey may have delayed a whole lot of everyone’s progress, but the hurricane will not stop this blog from covering the health subjects outlined for the year.  To get “back on track”, we’ll look at Alzheimer’s disease in September and breast cancer in October.  The foot health story will appear before year’s end, probably during the second half of November.  Early November is devoted to diabetes...

Part 2 of Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Foot Problems by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to read the first “installment” of this month’s article, which came out at the beginning of August.  If so, you’ll know this month, we’re looking at three topics, each of which has so much information pertaining to it, that it seemed best to divide the story into segments for easier reading.  As we continue our investigation of important vaccines, healthy travel tips, and troublesome foot problems, we should first take a look at an important caution regarding vaccinations. Vaccines: Important Caution: Often times, people are tempted to ease the resulting pain from a vaccine by taking an over-the-counter pain reliever.  Actually, that’s not a good idea from the standpoint of producing maximum immunity from the disease for which you were vaccinated.  Anything that reduces the body’s immune respon...

Important Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Happy Feet by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher             For many people, August is a time of transition into something new and a time for completion of summer time goals.  During the month of August and often extending into the first two weeks of September, people take their final summer trips, start new school routines, and slowly push toward concluding summer’s more relaxed, if very hot, pace of life.  People start thinking about the details of fall’s activities.             End-of-summer vacations, new school years, and fall trips for business or personal needs all have a few things in common from a health standpoint.  Those things are: (1) immunizations for the whole family, not just the kids; (2) helpful tips on how to stay healthy while traveling; and (3) how to deal with a v...

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher There are many forms of arthritis, but one thing they all have in common is their ability to produce debilitating pain, stiffness, and inflammation in the body’s joints and connective tissues.  Just as there are common threads of symptoms among the many forms of arthritis, there are also common threads of remedies to help treat the misery-inducing ailment, which afflicts millions of Americans every year.             Let’s look at some factors that can both help prevent (or delay onset of) arthritis and also help treat the condition.             •  To begin, limit intake of pro-inflammatory diet influences, such as simple sugars and carbohydrates.             •  Next, increase intake of fish and flax seeds and fish and flax oils for ...

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher     

by Darra McMullen, GHWCC and Women’s Health Network writer/researcher

Review the slides from Angela Sturm's presentation.

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher              Enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of spring can lead us to appreciate two other wonders of nature, our amazing senses of vision and hearing.  After we’ve paused for a few moments during our busy days to think about just how important our vision and hearing are to our lives, our next thoughts probably are (or should be) focused on what we can do to preserve these vital senses and keep our eyes and ears healthy.

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher               A number of interesting developments in nutrition research have been published over the past few months.   The nutrition tips fall into several categories; we will look at three genres.   To make the reporting of some of these top tips easier to read and access, the information is divided into groups by general topic name, such as “digestive health”, “mood and memory”, and “cardiovascular health”.

by Darra McMullen,Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher The month of February has recently become synonymous with various “heart health” initiatives, most of which are very commendable, but sometimes the emphasis on diet and exercise in cardiovascular wellness may seem so overwhelming that the “average Joe (or Julie)” may feel inadequate to the task and give up before ever getting good started on a potentially life saving new way of behaving.

by Darra McMullen, Writer/Researcher, Women’s Health Network Author’s Note:  The following article gives an overview of depression, SAD, and anxiety.  Please read the article all the way through to the end to discover some of the latest news and suggestions on how sufferers can add certain lifestyle features to their treatment plan for greater symptom relief.