Healthy Living

Working Gals! Don’t Neglect Your Health!

When the weather goes from wintry to hot and back again, the entire country gets hit with bugs. Winter vomiting bugs and colds go around quicker than wild fire and everyone gets hit at some point. We have a dramatic climate here, even though it doesn’t feel like it and our immune systems drop when the temperature shifts. This leaves our immune systems open to nasties and taking steps to prevent catching those nasties is all you can do! No one likes getting sick. In fact, it is one of the worst situations to be in whether you are a high-flying career gal or a stay at home mother. Being chained to the toilet bowl while you lose your dinner, or even going through family sized boxes of tissues by yourself is just a no-no and if you have a job to do, kids to look after and a house to keep, it can make you feel worse.

When our partners are sick, they take to their beds while we deftly soldier on, balancing work or study with the house and the children. When the children are sick, we are right by their bedsides and end up stuck to the couch ourselves while kids lay on top of us. Children want to lay on top of their mothers when they’re ill and be held and we succumb as it is sometimes the only way we get any rest! Working women and mums are all part of the culture of women who ‘do it all’ but the trouble with doing it all is that us girls tend to neglect one important person: ourselves!

Women can experience symptoms of an illness differently to the way a man does: hence the birth of ‘man flu’. Just as an example, a male heart attack is about left arm and chest pain so it’s a clear indicator of what’s going on. With women, it’s sweating, nausea and back pain instead and as we suffer that every month anyway, it’s far easier to dismiss. We take a trip to the nearest chemist and load up on different paracetamol and cold and flu medicines to keep us upright or just in case we might get sick that month. We still go to work, armed with packs of tissues and cough medicine sweets. We order cerazette online so we can avoid making a doctor’s appointment for our birth control pills; after all, that’ll only eat into the time we have at work or looking after the family. We are very good at looking after everyone in our lives but what about us? What about when we get sick?

As women, we must take charge of our health in the same way we take charge of everything else. That’s not a bad thing; being organised and on top of things is a strength. But when that strength equals running the immune system you have into the ground, it’s time to slow right down and take some perspective. Going to work, raising a family and having it all is all well and good but if you are going to be sick constantly, then you’re not having it all. You’re sneezing it away!

To be able to put your health first, you need to make a point of scheduling an annual check-up with your doctor. This can be a well check-up just to go over the basics in blood pressure, weight, exhaustion levels and you can have a chat with your doctor about any age-related conditions that could affect you. Look after your everyday health by making smart food and exercise choices. Eating a balanced diet will go a long way to improving your immune system and looking after your hair, skin and teeth. This will enable you to see the dentist less! Replace time in front of the television with a walk to get your heart rate going and healthy.

Take the time to go out more as a family; not to eat, but how about a swim or a cycle? Keeping the family balanced and happy is the objective of most busy, working mums and making health a family objective is a smart decision so health becomes a habit. Your health it important to be able to keep spinning all those plates that are up in the air as without you, the rest doesn’t stay balanced. Take the time to take care of yourself, so that you can keep being as awesome as you are right now.

 

Karla Urwitz
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