Blogs

Ed. note: This blog post has been adapted from a Joan's Blog post. The original post was posted on May 15, 2017. Read the original post.

Each National Women’s Health Week, we encourage women to pay attention to their mental health. What does that mean to you? We asked Dr. Keisha Downey, a National Women’s Health Week ambassador and psychologist. She offers her tips for staying mentally healthy, plus insights about when to get help.

What’s your health style? Are you a total wellness rock star, healthy-ish, or a little too laid back? (Take our quiz to find out!)

Our miracle baby Nia was once the tear streaming down her daddy's face as he sat alone in his car waiting for my D&C (dilation and curettage), a procedure that removed the remains of the sibling Nia will never know. She was once the words my pain-consumed heart uttered as I rocked on my knees asking for a miracle. Nia was the subject of our prayers every holiday, for ten years, when our family linked hands to pray and say, “Next year, there will be one more.” She was once the awkward silence between all of us, because for 10 years things remained the same. Nia was once nothing more than the unyielding tenacity of our HOPE.

Ladies, a recent study shows that we’re catching up with men when it comes to alcohol use — and misuse. That means we’re also dealing with how it hurts our health. This is especially true for younger women. If you enjoy going to happy hour after work, late-night partying, or the occasional day drinking, are you overdoing it?

To teens, young love can feel all-encompassing. The emotional rush and validation that many experience from a first love can be exciting, but sometimes, it can turn into codependency. When relationships go from healthy to codependent, abusive behavior can follow.

As a certified health coach, I often hear from women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are frustrated and have lost all hope because the only advice their doctors offer is to lose weight, take a pill, and live with their symptoms. For much of my life, I was one of these women. As early as 14, I wrestled with a lot of the common PCOS symptoms, such as irregular periods, hirsutism (male-patterned hair growth in places women don't generally have hair), acne, mood swings, and insulin resistance (when the body's cells do not respond normally to insulin, a hormone that controls how the food you eat is changed into energy). It seemed this was my fate. My mom dealt with this and so did my grandmother. It seemed to be the genetic fate of women in my family.

Ed. note: This blog is cross-posted from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Blog. The original post date was December 12, 2016. Read the original post.

It's holiday time, and life seems busier than ever. I'm working through my seemingly ever-growing list of gifts to buy, events to attend, and things to wrap up before the end of the year. In the midst of all this activity, it's during the quiet times that I recognize there is a void. My void has a name — it's Erskine Hallam Bishop. It's the name of a brilliant man with a winsome smile. He was stern, dedicated, and loving in his own special way.

Moving to a new city, starting a family, and even launching a new career can bring up questions about health insurance coverage. Katie Hay was able to do all three with the support of the Affordable Care Act and Health Insurance Marketplace. Now a yoga therapist based in North Carolina, Katie talks about her experience enrolling in a health insurance plan through the Marketplace and the positive impact her coverage has had on her family