The 5 Areas of Health Every Midlife Woman Should Understand for More Energy and Longevity

In partnership with First Contact Health

There comes a time in all of our lives when we start focusing our health goals on longevity instead of short term weight loss - and thanks to a huge increase in the conversation around awareness and education when it comes to women’s health, this is happening much earlier than it used to. Women in their 30s are now learning about perimenopause and protein. Women in their 40s are lifting weights and taking creatine. Women in their 50s are navigating menopause with good nutrition and mindfulness. And it's changing the conversation.

It’s brilliant to see preventative health solutions replacing quick fix fads and trends. The good news too is that as a society we are also learning how to prevent or slow down the effects of aging on the brain and cognitive function too - and staying physically healthy is one of the best ways to do that.

But with increased conversation online and in the media, it’s hard to know where to start. And honestly, the best place is your own body - get tested to find your health baseline, get informed and then get proactive. The easiest way to do this? By getting an overall Preventative Healthcare Check that will do all of your testing in one go - and help you to understand and interpret the results. You can do this at First Contact Health. 

Use code List20 to get 20% off a healthcare check today.

Let’s talk about what we need to understand about our bodies for more energy and good health in the long term.

 

The 5 Key Areas of Health To Pay Attention To Are:

1. Metabolic Health

Thanks to many years of diet culture content, most of us understand metabolism to be about how quickly we ‘burn’ calories and therefore body fat, which is only a part of the puzzle. Metabolic health is how efficiently our body processes and uses energy, regulates blood sugar and manages fats in the bloodstream. 

So, good metabolic health influences not only healthy weight management, but also energy levels, heart health and risk of chronic disease, as well as reducing risk of conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, something that rises as we age. 

How Can We Check This? By looking at blood sugar regulation, cholesterol & triglyceride levels, body composition & blood pressure.

 

2. Strength, Fitness & Mobility

One day we may notice that we’ve started emitting a slight groan as we get up from the sofa (we’ve all been there!), some occasional breathlessness at the top of the stairs, or perhaps a little back pain after carrying heavy shopping. It’s how we cope with small every day activities that likely prompt us to pay attention to our health and fitness.

We all want to move as easily without struggling for as long as possible, which is why maintaining our body’s strength, mobility & functional movement is really important. Muscle mass tends to decline as we age, particularly in women, and so we have to actively work to maintain or build it with strength training. Maintaining strength also supports our balance, and our energy levels (metabolism), both extremely important for maintaining independence as we get older.

One of the most useful ways to measure cardiovascular fitness is a VO₂ max test (yup, that’s the mask on a treadmill one), which measures how efficiently our body uses oxygen when exercising, key when focusing on longevity and living a healthier life for longer.

How Can We Check This? By looking at body composition (muscle mass & body fat percentages), VO₂ max and lung function.

Use code List20 to get 20% off a preventative healthcare screening today.

 

 

3. Nutrition & Hormonal Health

Most of us also can never unhear ‘you are what you eat’, which despite the negative early 2000s connotations, isn’t inherently wrong. What we put into our bodies can affect energy, hormone function, mood, sleep, metabolism & muscle growth. 

We are also learning more and more that hormones play a significant part in a woman’s day-to-day life, particularly in midlife, when some are still navigating changes after having children, as well as the onset of perimenopause and, later, menopause. We can’t just take a cookie-cutter approach to this, as we are all different. We can be doing all of the ‘right things’ for our health but if we have a deficiency in a key vitamin or changes in our hormone or thyroid function, then the outcome may not be what we expect. This is why we need to fully understand where our bodies are at and what our bodies need individually in order to make informed choices in the way we look after them.

How Can We Check This? By looking at thyroid and hormone levels (a wellwoman check), as well as iron, vitamin D, B12, folate etc

 

4. Heart & Circulatory Health

One area that needs the least introduction - heart health is one of the classic things to focus on with ageing... What does need a little more focus, however, is how soon we should be starting to pay attention and making the right choices for our heart, in order to prevent issues later. It’s less about lowering cholesterol and more about not letting levels rise in the first place. It’s about looking after our heart now with good nutrition, regular movement and managing stress, whilst also understanding what our individual risk factors are (based on genetics, environment, lifestyle etc…)

In fact, many of us don’t realise (or think about) how much of this can be influenced by the lifestyle choices that we make today. 

 How Can We Check This? By looking at blood tests for heart health indicators, inflammation markers, stroke or heart disease indicators, ECG results, blood pressure & cholesterol levels.

 

5. Internal Health & Inflammation

Inflammation isn’t just a buzzword. It’s not about just how puffy we are when we have too much salt - or how sluggish we feel after a big weekend. 

Inflammation is a vital part of the body’s response to infection, injury or physiological stress (we imagine all those clever little cells rushing to work hard to fix or fight something, just like those animations we see, right?) - but when levels remain elevated, other areas of our health can start to be affected. We often notice when we feel puffy, foggy or sluggish when we’re out of routine, but we don’t often know what’s going on inside our bodies to cause it. The same goes for our kidney and liver functions - we may not know when they aren’t quite working efficiently, which is why testing is so helpful.

The goal isn’t to eliminate inflammation, but to support a healthy inflammatory response through, you guessed it, good lifestyle choices - getting enough sleep, exercise, hydration and nutrition. All of these simple preventative actions are actually vital when it comes to your body functioning correctly on the inside (as well as looking well on the outside), key for not only day-to-day energy levels but also longevity as a whole. 

How Can We Check This? By looking at blood tests again - this time paying attention to inflammation markers and liver & kidney function.

 

The good news, if this feels overwhelming, is that most of these can be tested with a few simple blood & fitness tests, all of which are included in a preventative health screening at First Contact Health, where you can get a full written report plus a 45-60 min doctor consultation to go through your results and help to create a lifestyle plan to improve or maintain each area of health. 

The Advanced Package includes the wellwoman assessment & doctor consultation (& don't forget you get 20% off with our code List20.)

Find out more at firstcontacthealth.com/wellness-checks/

Use code List20 to get 20% off your Preventative Healthcare Check at First Contact Health.

Make sure you book by 31st October to get the discount.