14 Women's Health "Wrongs" And How To "Right" Them

In a recently published article in MSN Health and Fitness I found some surprising facts about typical health mistakes most women make.

Many of us assume that if we choose healthier food options like salads, avoid scale obsession and stay active that we're basically doing what we need to do to maintain optimal health. Well, according to the editors of Prevention magazine, some of our "good" habits may be derailing our efforts to stay healthy. 

Here are Prevention Magazine's 14 ways to correct our (supposedly) healthy habits:

1. You Always Order a Salad

Don't assume that bowl of lettuce is always the healthiest menu pick.

A lot of take-out and restaurant salads are basically a "burger in a bowl." Typical ingredients like fried chicken, croutons, and full-fat dressing pack major calories, fat, sodium, and other unhealthy nutrients. One example: McDonald's Bacon Ranch Salad with Crispy Chicken and Newman's Own Ranch Dressing has 540 calories and 35 grams of fat! By comparison, a Big Mac has 540 calories and 29 grams. Can I have fries with that?

The Fix: Use common sense before you order. Avoid high-fat add-ons such as sour cream, extra cheese, croutons, bacon bits, and creamy dressings like Caesar and Ranch. Opt for salads that aren't just a fiber-free mound of iceberg lettuce dotted with a few carrot and red cabbage shavings. Ask for the nutritional information pamphlet that most fast-food restaurants provide before making your choices.

2. You Rock Out While You Work Out

OK all you iPodaholics...Check the volume on your iPod. The normal range of an MP3 player is 60 to 120 decibels; persistent exposures above 85 may cause hearing loss. If someone can hear your music while you are playing your MP3 player, it's too loud.

The Fix: Use the volume range function on your iPod and lock that maximum volume in! You can also switch to a pair of sound-isolating earphones; they drown out background noise so your music doesn't have to. Remember - for safety sake, limit MP3 usage to indoor workouts.
 

3. You Avoid the Scale

Believe it or not, for some women, the scale gathers more dust than the treadmill.

Doctors call scale-phobia an avoidance behavior. The idea behind it: If I don't know for sure that I gained weight, maybe I didn't. You're most likely to duck the scale after a few days, weeks, or months of eating whatever you want. But for some people, getting back on the scale can be a help." "The trick is knowing whether or not it will motivate you," says Kelly Brownell, PhD, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. If you're trying to lose weight or maintain weight loss, you may need the kind of feedback the scale provides. Remember those painful Weight Watchers meetings? But remember, your weight can vary from day to day, and even hour to hour.

The Fix: Weight yourself first thing in the morning, naked, after you use the bathroom, and at the same time in your menstrual cycle-not when you're likely to have water-weight gain. If you're maintaining weight you've recently lost, hop on at least once a week. Don't freak out over anything less than a 5-pound gain; that's a normal fluctuation. But if you find yourself drifting higher than that, it's time for some corrective action.
 

4. You're Sloppy with Sunscreen

Sunscreen is essential for preventing burns, wrinkles, and skin cancer - especially if you run outside. Yet nine out of 10 people don't do a good enough job when applying sunscreen. The most common mistake? Putting sunscreen on too carelessly.

The Fix: To apply the right way, focus on one area at a time. Don't forget the tops of ears, temples, and the back of the neck. Be sure to use enough: You'll need at least 1 ounce of sunscreen to cover your entire body. This means that if your bottle is 4 ounces, it should not last for more than 4 applications! Squeeze the lotion directly onto your body skin and rub it in with your fingertips; putting it on your hands first makes most of the lotion stick to your palms.
 

5. You Forget to Floss

Did you know that 23 percent of women between 30 and 54, and 44 percent of women over 55, have severe gum (or periodontal) disease? Periodontal disease is a serious bacterial infection that attacks the tissue surrounding one or more teeth and the bone supporting them. This is far worse than it first sounds. When periodontal bacteria enter the bloodstream, they can cause chronic inflammation. Researchers believe that such simmering infections in the body may increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and even cause premature birth. Women in particular need to pay close attention to gum health. Yes, pay attention! According to periodontists flossing is so critical for women because the hormonal changes that occur during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause cause the oral bacteria that lead to gum disease to grow more readily. 

The Fix: Floss at least once a day. Here's how: Take about 18 inches of floss and wind it around the middle fingers. Hold a few inches of the floss tightly between thumbs and forefingers. Guide the floss between your teeth, using a gentle rubbing motion. When the floss reaches the gum line, curve it into a C shape against one tooth, and gently slide it into the space between the gum and the tooth. Hold the floss tightly against the tooth. Gently rub the side of the tooth, moving the floss away from the gum with an up-and-down motion. Repeat this for every tooth.
 

6. You Don't Lift Weights

Some women avoid lifting weights because they think they'll end up looking like a female Schwarzenegger, but the truth is that the vast majority of women do not have the genetic capability to develop large, bulky muscles; the average woman simply does not naturally produce enough testosterone to bulk up from weights. 

Think of "weight lifting" as a great way to tone, tighten, and trim your body and to provide additional skeletal and strength support for running. Your goal here should not be weight loss-in fact, once you start, you may even notice that you've put on a few pounds, but don't panic. You're gaining muscle, which weighs more than the fat you're losing. The good news? Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that women on a strength-training program for 25 weeks lost significant amounts of belly fat...that's the dangerous kind that increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The Fix: Weight lifting 2 or 3 times a week on nonconsecutive days for about 30 minutes per session should do the trick. Remember, reps tend to help build endurance and muscle tone, while using heavier weights generally produces stronger muscles.
 

7. You Ignore Aches and Pains

Aaaah yes - who among us can honestly claim we've never done this? If you're caring for kids or parents, managing a household, and holding down a job, you may be quick to brush off a nagging cough, back twinge, or bout of indigestion. You may think fatigue is your natural state.

Here's something surprising; although women tend to go to doctors more often than men do, they're the caretakers for everyone from grandparents to the pet parakeet and they're least likely to take care of themselves. In fact, research suggests that some women will ignore even crushing fatigue and pain, symptoms that in a partner or child would send them scurrying for a doctor's appointment.

The Fix: As runners, we learn to differentiate discomfort from real pain. Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of serious illness, know your risk factors, report anything unusual immediately. Do your regular screening tests and annual physical exam which will often result in the detection of problems when they're small and treatable.

8. You Wear Contacts No Matter What

Did you know that it's safer to wear your glasses when you're not feeling well?

Your eyes don't work as well when you're sick, and a decline in tear production makes contact lens wearers more prone to conjunctivitis-a.k.a. pinkeye. So can using antihistamine meds, which also dry out eyes.

The Fix: Wear your specs until you're feeling better, experts advise, or switch to daily-wear disposable lenses to avoid infection.

9. You Don't Get Enough Sleep

I learned about this one first hand. Scrimping on sleep may seem like a smart way to squeeze a few more productive hours into the day, but busy women who do it can pay a heavy price with their health.

Seven to nine hours of sleep is about right for most adults - and if you're marathon training you may need even more..nap time anyone?

According to the latest poll from the National Sleep Foundation, 20 percent of Americans sleep less than 6 hours a night! Women who sleep less than 8 hours a night over a 10-year period are at slightly higher risk of heart disease, and sleep deprivation can lead to an imbalance of various weight-related hormones that can encourage your cells to store excess fat and lower your body's fat-burning ability. Research has also linked sleep deprivation to depression and anxiety, as well as insulin resistance-a trigger for high blood pressure, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. 

The Fix: This may be the hardest one for us to fix. We MUST acknowledge the futility of trying to fit 26 hours' worth of activities into 24. Cut back on your commitments. Divvy up family responsibilities with your partner and children. Establish a bedtime for yourself, and stick to it every night. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening. And don't use alcohol as a sleep inducer; it can actually interfere with a full night's rest. Finally, try adhering to the same relaxing bedtime rituals you've started for your kids, such as reading, listening to music, or taking a warm bath.
 

10. You Assume Home Cooking Is Always Healthier

Making your own meals is usually healthier than takeout, but your cookbook may not be as slimming as you think.

When food scientists at Cornell University analyzed the 18 recipes that have appeared in each edition of The Joy of Cooking—the iconic cookbook, updated every 10 years since 1936—they found that the average calories per serving have increased nearly 40 percent due to richer ingredients and larger serving sizes! 
 

The Fix: Use portion control  to gauge realistic meal sizes; freeze leftovers in individual containers so you eat one portion at a time, not two or three. Check the nutritional information and calorie/fat count of your favorite recipes.
 

11. Your Faucet's Always at the Same Temp

When you cook or drink, keep it cool. When you wash your hands, turn up the heat.

When you're soaping up after the bathroom, warm-to-hot water is necessary to kill germs. But when you're quenching your thirst or prepping a meal, make sure to draw water from the cold tap. Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead, says the EPA, because it dissolves the toxic metal in plumbing more quickly than cold water does. About 15 percent of our lead exposure in the United States comes from drinking water. High blood lead levels can double your risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke, and  may cause memory loss. 

The Fix: If you haven't turned on the faucet for 6 hours or more, let it run cold for a minute before using, the EPA advises—and use only water filters bearing a seal from NSF International, a company that certifies products' lead—removing abilities.
 

12. Your Friends Have Bad Health Habits

Here's something interesting: if a close friend has had an unhealthy amount of weight gain, your chances of packing on pounds increase by 57 percent; if that friend is the same gender as you, odds rise by 71 percent. Having heavyset friends around appears to stretch your own notion of what's acceptable for body size, allowing weight gain to spread like a disease through social networks. Your pals can affect how much you drink too. If your work friends frequent the local happy hour, you may give yourself permission to overindulge at home. University of Texas researchers found that people were 82 percent more likely to be heavy drinkers when their coworkers held liberal views about alcohol.

The Fix: Maintain your own beliefs about what is healthy—and avoid being swayed by friends and their weight gain. This is not a call to "drop" your less conscientous friends, but those around us can influence us in ways we don't realize. If your friends are sharing unhealthy food at dinner, order the usual healthy choice you would have with a different crowd.
 

13. You Drive With the Windows Down

Mmm...what about those of us who drive convertibles? Yikes! Fact is, commuting may be hazardous to your lungs.

University of Southern California scientists studied urban commuters and found that though they spend only 6 percent of their day in the car but during that time they're exposed to up to 45 percent of the air pollutants they encounter in a 24-hour period. That makes getting to work in car-centric cities (like Los Angeles) the second biggest weekday health risk—topped only by smoking.

The Fix: During a trafficky commute, driving with windows shut and air recirculating helps somewhat, say researchers...going "green" is even better; taking a train or biking on less busy roads can have an even healthier impact.

14. You Don't Check Your Doc's Track Record

This one could be a life-saver.

A review of the medical records of 474,000 surgery patients found that their doctors' experience was the strongest predictor of who survived and who didn't. This result overturns long-held advice that simply choosing a high-volume hospital (one that does a lot of procedures) ensures the safest surgery. 

The Fix: To check your surgeon's experience, call her office and ask: Is she a fellow of the American College of Surgeons? Is she board certified in her specialty? How many surgeries of the type you need has she performed in the past year? How does her success rate compare with the national average? Has she ever had to pay to settle a malpractice claim or been disciplined by a hospital or a state medical licensing board?

We are conditioned not to question our medical professionals, but this one could save your life or the life of someone you love.

Remember - Stand your ground and educate yourself...you're in charge of your own health!

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