The image of a woman as someone carved out of Adam?s rib is as extinct is that of her wearing a locked iron chastity belt or a housewife hidden behind yards of a saree toiling over a fire-spitting chullah.
Enter the super woman: A super mom, an efficient and ambitious and upwardly climbing professional, a conscientious homemaker and a perfect partner. In her journey from the kitchen to the corporate world, her interests and responsibilities have increased manifold with a wide gamut of manifestations, but behind all the glamorous visible changes remains the woman?s neglect of her own well being.
Today?s lifestyle has women facing demanding careers, ever growing responsibilities at home (with nuclear family sizes) and at work?..
Senior gynaecologist Dr. Ranjit Chakraborti explains ?lifestyle disease is the disease of the civilization that inevitably follows as countries tread the path of industrialization.?
If health was never a priority then, it still has not made it to her priority list no matter whatever be the extent of the so called progress.
When was the last time you scheduled or had a general gynaecological or annual medical check-up? Not many can answer this basic question.
As rightly pointed out by Dr. Chakraborti, ?Today our lives are so fast paced with long working hours with high levels of stress and lack of time for oneself. For today?s women it?s a constant race against time. When she is at work, there are deadlines to be met and work related pressures to be dealt with and side by side she also needs to keep track of what is happening on the home front from her maid?s uncalled for absenteeism from duty to attending her child?s parents? -teacher?s meeting. Once she reaches home, theres no question of putting her feet up for some much needed rest. Home chores beckon, plus there are children needs-food, homework, play, conversation and the list goes on and on. Come morning and theres challenge of getting everyone up and off on time. Most of these women do not even realize that they are stressed out because of the multifaceted roles they have to play.?
This is the modern Indian woman constantly balancing between professional and personal fronts at the cost of her own well being and health. They seek medical help only when things are serious.
Thus is explained the rising incidences of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic liver disease, alzheimer?s and declining fertility. All these are co related in the sense that all these diseases are lifestyle related.
A major concern is the sexual health of the women. Low sex drive and lack of desire are being experienced by increasing number of women. Either they are too exhausted or they do not have the time. As Dr. Chakraborti shares, ? I have seen couples who come to me requesting for artificial insemination on the days when the wife will be fertile just because the husband is traveling. The boom in the BPO sector has made nocturnal work a routine affair much against the natural biological mechanism.
Dr. Chakraborti states that the declining sexual health in women could be attributed to the following factors:
- Environmental Pollutants
- Low testoterone levels
- Stress
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of exercise
- Lifestyle
- Excess alcohol and depression
- Poor nutrition and obesity affecting energy levels, hormone imbalance
- Emotional and psychological problems
We thus see women having hypertension at a very young age. The pressure to excel and perform in both domestic and professional fronts take a toll. And this percolates to the modern woman is facing increasing difficulties in her way to start a family. Infertility has become the single largest disease in the age group of 20-40 years. Earlier it was more of a pathological problem. But now, it is deeply lifestyle related.?
She tries to run her life with clock- work precision and in turn neglects her health.
Infertility is the single largest disease that is affecting younger people in their peak years. It stands at an estimated 10 to 15% today.
?In my chamber I meet three to four women who are from the software sector. It?s a classic case of mouse replacing the spouse. These young women are so busy pursuing their careers that they forget all about the reproductive cycle or biological clock. In my last five years of practice, I have seen that high-stress software jobs have caused havoc in these couples? bedrooms. The result is increasing infertility. For these women sex takes a backseat because of odd working hours. The night shifts in call centers and BPOs are much against the body?s natural mechanism and negatively affects the body?s natural process. These employees working in nocturnal shifts suffer from hormonal disturbances caused by changing sleep rhythms and bio-cycles. Hormonal disturbances in women lead to disturbed egg release and ovulation and polycystic ovarian diseases. These aggravate infertility. Then the quality of time spent with spouse has diminished due to odd and long working hours.?
Earlier it was seen that women were getting married at around 24-26 years. But now the scenario has changed completely. Women are not getting married before 30 years and are planning the child when they are at 33 years.
?Medical wisdom dictates that women should finish having babies by the time they are 30, after which fertility levels begin to drop. At 33 to 35 years she is on the wrong side of the biological clock and she is faced with difficulties as well as complications. Even they respond badly to fertility treatments at this age. The ovarian response is poor and they sometime do not have the capacity to carry the pregnancy. The quality of eggs deteriorate and this affects the fertility outcome?, as emphasized by Dr. Chakranorti.
According to Dr. Chakraborti, ?Recently a woman asked me to draw her ovulation cycle for three months, so that she could take time out to conceive.? He also knows of couples who live like paying guests under one roof. When one is in the other one is in the office. Otherwise they are both traveling to different countries and have no time to invest in physical relationship.?
According to Dr. Ranjit Chakraborti, the rising incidence of female infertility in case of the working women could be categorized into the following:
Polycystic Ovarian Disease: This disease is the most common cause of ovulation disorders in women and is characterized by the presence of many minute cysts in the ovaries, by excess production of androgens, and by infrequent periods or absent periods. The failure to ovulate is the most common cause of female infertility and can occur for no apparent reason or as the result of stress, hormonal imbalances, and various diseases and disorders of the reproductive system (some of which will be described below).
PCOS is a health problem that can affect a woman?s menstrual cycle, fertility, hormones, insulin production, heart, blood vessels, and appearance.
Women with PCOS have high levels of male hormones, also called androgens, an irregular or no menstrual cycle, may or may not have many small cysts in their ovaries.
PCOS is the most common hormonal reproductive problem in women of childbearing age.
An estimated five to 10 percent of women of childbearing age have PCOS.
In women with PCOS, the ovary doesn't make all of the hormones it needs for any of the eggs to fully mature. They may start to grow and accumulate fluid. But no one egg becomes large enough. Instead, some may remain as cysts. Since no egg matures or is released, ovulation does not occur and the hormone progesterone is not made. Without progesterone, a woman?s menstrual cycle is irregular or absent.
Many women with PCOS experience weight gain, have a high hip to waist ratio and have more than normal difficulty losing weight.
Weight reduction is the single most important lifestyle change which can help to restore and correct PCOD. Almost 60-70 % of PCOS women are obese. If they look back they can usually relate their problems to the period when their weight started increasing. The earlier the weight is controlled, sooner the problem may be corrected.
Dr. Chakraborti goes on to add further, ?Most of the women are in sedentary jobs and these also affect their reproductive health.?
Dr. Chakraborti says, ?Infertility in polycystic ovary syndrome is usually treated successfully by improving diet and exercise and weight reduction. If these measures are not successful, conception can usually be achieved by one or more of clomiphene citrate, gonadotropins, gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, laparoscopically applied therapies to the ovaries and assisted reproductive techniques.?
Age: After the age of 30 the quality of your eggs begins to diminish, and it becomes harder to become pregnant and carry a fetus to term. The older a woman is the more likely it is that her eggs will have chromosomal abnormalities.
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease: This infection of the reproductive tract can lead to blocked or damaged fallopian tubes and is usually caused by sexually transmitted disease, miscarriages, abortions, childbirth, or an intrauterine device.
Ovulatory Dysfunction: This disorder occurs when a woman's ovaries are not producing eggs or are producing fewer eggs than usual because of age, hormonal imbalances, or other problems.
Uterine Fibroids: These benign uterine tumors occur in 40% of women and can interfere with embryo implantation or fetal growth.
Endometriosis: This disorder occurs when the tissue which lines the uterus (the endometrium) grows into growths or lesions outside of the uterus (usually on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and ligaments that support the uterus; the area between the vagina and the rectum; the outer surface of the uterus; the lining of the pelvic cavity; the bladder, bowel, vagina, cervix, vulva, and in abdominal surgical scars). In sync with the menstrual cycle, this tissue builds up, breaks down, and sheds each month; but unfortunately, it has no way of leaving the body. As a result it causes internal bleeding, breakdown of blood and tissue from the lesions, and most often inflammation which can cause pain, infertility, scar tissue formation, adhesions, and bowel problems. The cause of this disorder is unknown although there are many theories.
Pelvic Adhesions: These are usually caused by surgery or infection, and occur when scar tissue forms between two or more internal organs. When this tissue affects the ovaries or fallopian tubes, infertility can result.
Immunological Infertility: This disorder occurs when the woman's system produces antisperm antibodies which destroy her partner's sperm
Even the men are also at risk. Men who smoke needs to know that it affects the sperm concentration and can induce DNA damage in the sperm.
?These young couples must remember that too much mental stress leads to erectile dysfunction, lack of libido and impotence-all three contributing to the rising incidence of divorces these days.
?To sum it up, I can say late marriage of women coupled with the complexities of modern city life, high-stress jobs, lack of a support system are making their marks felt with growing number of women facing difficulties while conceiving?, as said by Dr. Chakraborti.
?I recommend the following thoughts. These thoughts will help them to uplift their mood and think positively which is the much needed first step.
- Talk to other people, your spouse, relatives, friends, whoever you feels safe with. In handling any grief situation, the principle theory is to be able to express your thoughts, feelings and actions.
- Remember that you are not alone in experiencing this.
- Infertility is still not fully accepted by our society. We don?t talk openly about it, nor the treatment we receive. If you have an obvious medical problem, like a broken arm in plaster, everyone asks you how you are, how you are coping, when it will be better etc. With infertility you cant see it. People don?t ask. They are either embarrassed or they don?t know. To help yourself, you need to have an acceptance of what is happening, You need to be open and honest, not secretive and furtive.
- Keep yourself active. Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself is ok at times. Not all the time. Explore your feelings, but be able to live again.
- Look after your diet. Make sure you are eating well. Limit caffeine products.
- Last but not the least, take care of yourself mentally and physically. Nothing is above your health. You will be able to do your job only if you are healthy.
Start to plan your life. Nothing will happen if you just around waiting for the world to come to you.
Post a Comment