Latest news with #midlifeWomen
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Women get angrier as they age - but they learn to manage it better from midlife, study suggests
Women get angrier as they age but they learn to manage it better from midlife as their 'emotional regulation' improves, a study suggests. Educating women about mood changes and managing the symptoms can have a 'profound effect' on their quality of life, experts say. The frequency with which women feel anger and the intensity of the emotion actually increases over time, the findings show. But they typically learn to calm themselves down and control how they externalise it, becoming less likely to express anger indiscriminately. The same is true of their propensity to react angrily when criticised or treated unfairly and to act aggressively towards other people and objects. Researchers from the University of Washington examined data on more than 500 women aged 35 to 55 years, who provided details of their menstrual cycles and regularly answered questions designed to assess their anger. Analysis revealed that chronologic and reproductive age both have a significant effect on a woman's level of anger and her ability to manage it. Anger was defined as 'antagonism toward someone or something, often accompanied by a propensity to experience and express it indiscriminately'. Writing in Menopause, the journal of the Menopause Society, the study authors said: 'Aging was significantly related to anger, with anger expression indicators decreasing with age, suggesting emotion regulation may occur during midlife.' Studies of anger and its health implications in midlife women date back to 1980 but have predominantly focused on heart disease, blood pressure and depression. Dr Monica Christmas, associate medical director for The Menopause Society, said: 'The mental health side of the menopause transition can have a significant effect on a woman's personal and professional life. 'This aspect of perimenopause has not always been acknowledged and managed. 'It is well recognised that fluctuations in serum hormone concentrations during the postpartum period, as well as monthly fluctuations in reproductive-aged women corresponding with their menstrual cycles and during perimenopause, can result in severe mood swings associated with anger and hostility. 'Educating women about the possibility of mood changes during these vulnerable windows and actively managing symptoms can have a profound effect on overall quality of life and health.' The researchers would like to see further studies of women's anger in the context of everyday life to help inform emotion regulation and anger management strategies and their consequences for midlife and older women.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Muscles, fats and simple blood test can predict menopausal women's health
SINGAPORE – A simple blood test can predict which woman will have less muscle and will be walking more slowly later in life. It is also practical and cheaper than current methods of measuring muscle, such as the current gold standard magnetic resonance imaging scans or strength tests, which are also more time-consuming. This new insight from a longitudinal cohort study of midlife women in Singapore shone light on how muscle strength, visceral fat and their association with physical decline after menopause can potentially lead to downstream health impacts among women here. Researchers from the National University Hospital (NUH) and National University of Singapore (NUS) found that women with a lower creatinine-to-cystatin C ratio (CCR) – a marker derived from blood tests – had less muscle and walked more slowly as they age. Creatinine is a by-product of normal muscle function and energy use, and a higher level indicates higher skeletal muscle mass or poor kidney function. Cystatin C is a protein produced by the body's cells that is filtered out by the kidneys. A normal cystatin C level rules out poor kidney function. A low CCR of under 8.16 was associated with a lower muscle volume of 0.35 litres in the thigh, and a slower gait of 0.049m a second. This suggested that CCR could be a useful early warning sign for age-related muscle loss, which may lead to falls, frailty and reduced quality of life. The findings were published in Menopause, a monthly peer-reviewed journal, in March. The scientists involved in the study are from the Integrated Women's Health Programme (IWHP) at NUH and the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. The IWHP was initiated to identify and address the healthcare needs of midlife Singaporean women. It recruited a cohort of 1,200 Chinese, Malay and Indian women aged 45 to 69 between 2014 and 2016 – about 70 per cent of whom were post-menopausal. Their health metrics were then tracked over time. In the first study based on this cohort, published in international journal Maturitas in October 2023, the researchers shared a ranking of menopausal symptoms – with joint and muscular discomfort found to be the most reported symptom among women in Singapore. Called arthralgia, it had moderate or severe impact on a third of the midlife women of the cohort. A subsequent study, published in the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism journal in October 2024, found that women with both weak muscle strength and high levels of visceral fat – the deep belly fat around the internal organs – had the highest risk of developing prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Their risk was 2.63 times higher than that of women who had normal muscle strength and lower fat levels. Having just one of these conditions also increased their risk, though to a lesser degree. The risk from having high visceral fat alone is 1.78 times higher. Among those with weak muscle strength, women with high visceral fat faced 2.84 times as much risk compared with those with low visceral fat. Explaining the impetus for the study, IWHP lead Yong Eu Leong said: 'Muscle... burns up fat. What about those who have weak muscles? Does it affect the risk for diabetes in the future?' The cohort's initial muscle and visceral fat measurements served as a baseline for researchers to track changes over the years. Researchers then analysed how changes in fat and muscle measurements taken about six years later – by then, about 90 per cent of the women were post-menopausal – related to whether women had developed diabetes. Professor Yong, who also heads the division of benign gynaecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at NUH, noted that a large proportion of women in Singapore are 'skinny fat', where their body mass index is within the normal range, but that they have high levels of visceral fat and low muscle mass. 'One way (to know what your risks are) is to measure your walk and the speed at which you walk. If you cannot walk fast and straight, then your health is not so good. We wanted to see if we can develop a test that can predict gait speed. We wanted to look at molecules that actually measure muscle functions,' he said. 'These findings validated our previous (IWHP) research that showed that women should not just focus on weight loss, but on building muscle strength through exercise for diabetes prevention,' Prof Yong said. One participant of the IWHP, administrative assistant Sabarina Jumarudin, is living proof of the findings. The 59-year-old grandmother used to weigh 93kg and suffered from sleep apnoea. Since undergoing bariatric surgery at NUH in 2018, a procedure that modifies the digestive system to help people with obesity lose weight, she has lost more than 30kg. Mindful of keeping her weight down, Madam Sabarina walks to the MRT station every day instead of taking the shuttle service, and takes the stairs instead of the escalator to catch the train. 'On my way home, I usually take a longer route to ensure I clock at least 10,000 steps a day, and practise stretching and breathing exercises to strengthen my core,' she said. 'I realised that small but consistent changes do make a big impact on my health, so I do what I can on a daily basis, and it gives me confidence to not only stay healthy physically and mentally but also stave off diabetes,' she added. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Real Housewives is coming to London? I can't wait for the boozed-up shouting to begin
The cultural juggernaut that is Real Housewives is coming to London. The capital's crop of glamorous, monied middle-aged women with short fuses will apparently include the wonderfully named Panthea Parker, someone known as 'The Longest Legs in Belgravia' (Amanda Cronin), and a Chelsea baker called Nessie Welschinger. It sounds like appointment viewing, but I feel it incumbent on me to ask: is Real Housewives a Good Thing? Gloria Steinem doesn't think so. 'They present women as rich, pampered, dependent and hateful towards each other,' she said in 2021. Other commentators, however, have pointed to the visibility the franchise offers a relatively underexposed demographic; the weighty themes sometimes covered, amid the froth; and the fact that, belying the reductive title, most of the 'housewives' are successful, confident, professional people (albeit with a taste for drama). As an intellectual with a more rarefied cultural diet (early 00s Top Chef, currently), I had never seen Real Housewives before. My mental image of the show was basically that meme of a glamorous woman pointing and yelling at a cat (I was partly right: the woman, Taylor Armstrong, is a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum; the cat, Smudge, is not). But in preparation for having an opinion on whether the London edition will advance or injure the cause of midlife womanhood, I watched as much of it as I could cram into a morning. And honestly, it's captivating: a loud, baffling smorgasbord of frocks, extensions and heaving décolletés; statement jewellery and high-end athleisure. So much contouring, so many mansions, so many elaborately tablescaped 'events'. But mostly (and I don't think even the greatest aficionados would disagree), Real Housewives seems to be boozed-up shouting. In this, I would argue, it presents an entertaining – even more accessible? – alternative vision of being a middle-aged woman to Davina McCall's rock-hard abs and all those impressive people who start new careers, do charity triathlons or climb mountains. Also, almost every clip I've watched smashes the Bechdel test – they're usually fighting not about men but about which of them has obscurely slighted the other. In conclusion, I declare Real Housewives a net good; bring on the London ladies. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
