9 Common Health Issues Women May Encounter

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Bone shrinkage is more common.

In later years, women with severe bone shrinkage outnumber men. Due to the effects of osteoporosis, women's bones often become less dense and full of pores. This change mainly occurs because of the reduced secretion of estrogen during menopause. Estrogen can slow down the shrinkage of bones. Postmenopausal women who undergo hormone replacement therapy have a 75% success rate in preventing bone shrinkage, and the risk of hip fractures can be reduced by 50%.

Half may get breast cancer

Nowadays, research on breast cancer mainly focuses on early prevention. Studies show that if a woman lives to be 70 years old, her likelihood of getting breast cancer is as high as 56%. With the continuous deepening and optimization of surgical treatment, drug treatment, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, methods for overcoming breast cancer are constantly evolving and increasing.

Prone to depression and dementia

Women are more likely than men to suffer from depression, mainly due to the greater physiological stress they bear. Women who enter menopause without undergoing hormone replacement therapy are more likely to develop dementia compared to men of the same age. Evidence shows that the brains of both sexes respond differently to hormones and brain chemicals.

The serotonin produced in a woman's body (a chemical substance controlled by female hormones that affects emotions) is less than in men, and women are more sensitive and strongly reactive to changes in serotonin.

Metabolism

Compared to men, women metabolize some substances more slowly. For example: alcohol, women generally have a lower tolerance for alcohol. Because women's livers have weaker and slower ability to break down alcohol, leading to a large amount of undecomposed alcohol dissolving into the blood; aspirin, this painkiller needs to stay in a woman's body for a long time to take effect; women taking oral contraceptives may need a smaller dose when taking antidepressants, because contraceptive pills keep the levels of tricyclic antidepressants in the body consistently high.

More intense pain

Many research reports indicate that the pain experienced by women is more intense and frequent than men. This shows that the perception of pain and its attenuation differ between the sexes. A study on dental patients confirmed that analgesics like pentazocine are more effective on women than men, but women's response to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen is less sensitive than men's.

Early prevention of gynecological cancers

Medical testing and hormone replacement therapy over the past 50 years have greatly reduced the probability of women developing uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer. The widespread use of contraceptive drugs and hormone replacement therapy has significantly lowered the incidence of ovarian and uterine cancer. Recent studies show that a low-fat diet can more effectively prevent the occurrence of cervical cancer.

Heart disease is more deadly

Heart diseases such as angina pectoris are generally more common in men. However, when women get heart disease, it tends to be more severe and even fatal. When their hearts feel discomfort, symptoms often include shortness of breath, fatigue, and jaw pain, and these symptoms last for several hours, not just a few minutes. This is a common phenomenon during menopause, as the reduction of estrogen in women weakens its protective function.

Digestive system prone to illness

Even if men and women eat the same amount of the same food, women take much longer than men to digest it. Women are more prone to chronic constipation and intestinal diseases, with probabilities three times and twice higher than men, respectively. This difference clearly starts with chewing. Preliminary studies show that the saliva of women differs chemically from that of men, which may make the digestion process in women slower and more time-consuming.

Immune system fluctuates greatly

Women's control over their own immune systems is something men cannot match. Why women have such strong immunity against invading bacteria but become incredibly vulnerable during pregnancy remains a mystery. It is precisely because of the great fluctuations in women's own immunity that they are more susceptible to diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, which are results of the immune system producing antibodies against healthy tissues within the body.