Paul Szmal: Good morning 816, it's FLX Morning, it's our monthly visit with Finger Lakes Community Health. Localcommunityhealth.com is their website, they operate 8 health centers in the Finger Lakes and it's an old friend Zooming with us, Olivia Catalano, good morning.
Olivia Catalano: Good morning, thank you for having me back. Always terrific to talk with you. We're going to talk about women's health today. So how, obviously the reproductive system is one answer, but how do women's health needs differ from those of men?
Paul Szmal: Well, everybody's body is unique and we need to make sure that we're aware of how we eat and diet and exercise and how symptoms may be different in women and men when we're having health issues as well. We always think about men being reluctant to go to the doctor and not taking care of ourselves, but in their caregiver and busy mom roles, I would suspect that very often women might neglect those things as well.
Olivia Catalano: Yeah, it can be really tough. I can definitely speak to that as a mom too. Sometimes I've got to make sure that my kids are taken care of, they're running around between sports. We often act as chaperones and chauffeur around our kids as well, so it might be that we don't have time to get to the doctor's office, but that's why it's really important to find places like Community Health who have open late night hours, like on Tuesday night we stay open till 8pm or even virtual appointments so that we can still take care of ourselves with those busy lives.
Paul Szmal: So I have an article here written by Paige Stanley who's a family nurse practitioner with the SOTUS Community Health Organization talking about some of the healthy lifestyle habits. Number one, exercise. I think sometimes people, they look at it as this big daunting thing instead of breaking it down into little parts. So what are some good exercises women can do?
Olivia Catalano: Exercises can be as simple as setting small goals. You really want to achieve 30 minutes a day to lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can be a brisk walk with your dog. It can be taking your kids even to the trampoline park and jumping at the trampoline park with them. Entering a 5K or trying to chain for a 5K, anything that's really getting your heart rate up above your normal resting rate is a great activity. Swimming is another really good one that you can do. Just take care of your body to help promote healthy outcomes.
Paul Szmal: Is it better to do lots of little periods of exercise as opposed to one big one, in other words, trying to get your whole exercise for the weekend in one day?
Olivia Catalano: So if you can't exercise 30 minutes a day, that's okay too. If you could do it a couple times a week, that's still going to have benefits. Anything that gets your body up and moving from that sedentary lifestyle that we generally leave is going to be really healthy. If you can do three 10-minute exercises throughout the day, that's also great. Some folks will even take advantage of their lunch break at work and walk around the parking lot or go for a walk by the lake, whatever works for your needs.
Paul Szmal: Number two is a balanced diet. So again, how does the busy mom on the run introduce better foods into her day?
Olivia Catalano: So first we could start with things like fruit and vegetables. Meal prepping is a great way to do this. So maybe on the weekend, you cut up your celery because if it's in the fridge and sitting in a bowl staring at you when you first open it, maybe that's the snack you grab versus the bag of chips sitting on the counter. The same thing could be said with vegetables or even just prepping your salad for the week and making some hard-boiled eggs so that you have some of those lean proteins. When you're cooking or thinking about your meal planning for the week, you could utilize things like a Crock-Pot. The Crock-Pot's a really great idea for us to throw the things in the Crock-Pot in the morning, go to work, run throughout our busy days, come back home and maybe that chicken breast is ready for us or whatever meal we've got going in there. It could be a turkey or even a clean cut of beef could be great. And then everything is set. You can sit at your table and eat instead of running through the drive-thru on the way to sports practice or grabbing that pre-made ham sandwich that is maybe not the best for you either. But you just got to take that extra minute in the morning to make sure that your balanced diet can be taken care of.
Paul Szmal: We have one of those. That's really going to improve your heart health. We use it all the time. It's the greatest thing.
Olivia Catalano: Number three is managing stress. Things like deep breathing, mindfulness and exercise. So that really works to just sit and take a few minutes and breathe and just sort of think and unwind?
Paul Szmal: Yeah. I mean, it's definitely been showing to help you take care of your body and just think through things. Instead of just being reactive, it's really difficult to hear something and not want to respond right away, right? Take a minute, breathe it out, three big deep breaths in and out, and then respond and think about what's going on. This could also be another great time to implement that walk. Just get your body up and moving and let that stress work through your body.
Olivia Catalano: Getting sleep. I'll tell you. I thought I was getting enough in my working days. Since I've retired, I've noticed the difference. It's a huge difference if you get nine hours compared to six or seven.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. Your body needs to get into those really healthy cycles because we see fluctuating hormones, higher rate of depression and anxiety, and even an increase in sleep disorders. So if we take care of our bodies, we can reduce those issues. If you notice when you don't sleep as much, your body's worn down, you're more irritable, and that can be really hard to just get through the basic needs that you have to do for the day.
Olivia Catalano: Number five is avoid harmful substances. Be moderate in your use of alcohol. Preferably don't smoke at all. That helps you with weight. When I talk to health providers, weight is a big factor in a lot of things.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. We know that sometimes people use these substances like smoking and alcohol as a way to de-stress from the day or even just get outside because they think, oh, I'm going to get my cigarette break in, so I'm going to go outside. Replace that cigarette break with that 10-15 minute walk a day. When you're stressed out, try to use some of those techniques like breathing, talking it through. Even therapy is another really good way to take care of yourself and manage your stress and make sure that you're having better health outcomes.
Olivia Catalano: As a 65-year-old man, my provider's been telling me about all the annual checkups and everything I should do. What do women need to think about doing on an annual basis?
Paul Szmal: So everyone, of course, needs to start with that basic physical, right? The physical monitors our overall well-being, gives us a baseline of what we look like when we're healthy. A lot of folks think, oh, I need to see the doctor when I'm sick, but it's also when you're healthy. It allows us to do some lab work and check what your levels are, see if you have any high blood pressure, any high cholesterol, anything like that. We also recommend DEXA scans for women that are 65 or older. This kind of looks at your bone density and makes sure that there's no bone disease going on. A colonoscopy starts around age 45, and that's a colon screen that is now recommended earlier than it actually has been before. Sometimes folks can also do what's called a Colgard or a FitKit test, which is an at-home test for colon cancer screening. The colonoscopy is the one where you go into the doctor. It's the traditional one. They put you to sleep, and they do a test and look for any changes that could indicate cancer.
Olivia Catalano: Now, of course, you've been one of the people behind the reproductive health public service announcements we run all the time, so regular OBGYN care is huge.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. We know that breast cancer is a really big concern for women, and it's one of the highest issues that we see for women, excluding skin cancer. We also recommend screening starting at age 40 for mammograms. Many folks are aware of a clinical breast exam or a self-check breast exam. If you find any lumps, definitely talk to your provider. Then, of course, there's cervical cancer screenings, or pap smears, as they are known. These screenings begin a lot earlier than mammograms. They start around age 21. If results are abnormal, we would retest a woman every three years. On average, you could go to three to five years for these tests, but some folks do prefer to get it every year. This test is also going to do something called HPV testing, and that is a type of cancer that you could get in your body, and it could cause some serious issues. It could also cause warts. There's a vaccine to prevent HPV that we do recommend called Gardasil as well.
Olivia Catalano: Now, when I think of heart disease, I always think of men, but unfortunately, that's a growing cause of death, both heart disease and stroke, in women.
Paul Szmal: Exactly, yeah. It's one of the leading causes for death for women, and a lot of this is because we don't always recognize those symptoms. It's not the same as it is for men, where you get that crushing chest pain. Instead, it's symptoms like maybe some dull chest pain or that fatigue, shortness of breath, even nausea or vomiting, or just muscle aches and flu-like symptoms. As we mentioned before, it's really difficult sometimes to take care of ourselves, so folks can mistake this for other conditions like, I'm just not getting enough sleep, or I exercise too much at the gym, and that's why my muscles ache, or I'm not moving enough, and that's why my muscles ache, or even I'm getting older. We see things like heart disease that develops over time, and it's important to monitor risk factors like high cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. That's why those things like physicals are really crucial, so we can look at a patient's health over time.
Olivia Catalano: Regular care is so important, and Finger Lakes Community Health operates eight community health centers all around the area, and they're always accepting new patients. Olivia, thanks very much for the information. We appreciate it, and say hello to the professor for me.
Paul Szmal: Will do. Have a great day.
