The other day, I was having cramps, and I tweeted, “Why do humans endure pain?” Because that was the only question on my mind. Really, why do we treat pain as normal, as a part of human existence? I wish women didn’t have to experience monthly periods, but I thought of how nature uses them to balance the woman’s body.
How We Regard Women’s Health
For generations, women learned to stay quiet about discomfort, to downplay symptoms, and to accept tiredness, pain, or mood swings as “part of being female.” When we talk about women’s health, we usually focus on reproduction, looks, or health emergencies, not the body’s everyday workings.
Because of that, many women don’t know how to read their bodies, miss early warnings, or blame themselves for processes they were never taught to grasp.
That needs to change. Here are some facts about women’s health that ought to be common knowledge.
“Normal” Periods Do Not Include Severe Pain
Mild cramps come with the territory, but pain that disrupts your daily activities, triggers vomiting, or keeps you home from work or school is not normal. Intense menstrual pain can point to endometriosis, adenomyosis, or fibroids, and these are conditions doctors often overlook. Too many women hear “just take painkillers” instead of receiving proper tests. This dismissal adds years of needless distress.
See Also: Diapers for Your Period? Here’s Why Many Women Are Switching
Women Face Higher Rates of Mental Health Struggles, and Higher odds of Being Ignored
Statistics show that women encounter anxiety, depression, and trauma-linked disorders more repeatedly than men, but their reports still meet doubt or silence.
Doctors believe that a woman’s low mood, brain fog, or exhaustion is caused by her being “emotional” or “dramatic” or by her mind alone, even when the true source is a body problem like a slow thyroid, lack of iron, shifting hormones, or too little sleep.
Human mental health is interconnected with physical well-being, especially in women.
See Also: How Friendship Circles Impact Women’s Emotional and Mental Health
Ovaries Age Faster Than the Rest of Your Body
Many people assume every part of the body ages at the same speed. That assumption is wrong.
The ovarian reserve declines faster than expected. Fertility begins to decrease years before the menstrual cycle ends. Around age 35 the egg supply ages quickly, even though the rest of the body often still feels healthy.
This is not scare talk; it is plain biology. Women need clear facts about timing so they can decide about children and medical care without depending on rumors or guesswork.
Heart Disease Is the #1 Killer of Women
It kills more women than breast cancer or ovarian cancer.
Even so, doctors and the public often miss heart disease in women. Warning signs usually differ from the “classic” male pattern and can include, tiredness, nausea, shortness of breath, pain in the jaw, neck, or back, dizziness
Early research studied mostly men, making female heart symptoms stay hidden, sometimes with deadly results. Women’s health checks must include the heart, not only tests for reproduction.
Hormones Affect Far More than the Menstrual Cycle
Hormones influence far more than the menstrual cycle.
Our hormones set the daily rhythm of mood, energy, sleep, appetite, concentration, body temperature, metabolic rate, and sex drive. A change in hormone level alters all of these right away. So, labelling a complaint as “just hormonal” ignores the real cause. Hormones command the whole system. Recognizing this shows that women’s health changes over time instead of staying fixed.
Iron Deficiency is Often Overlooked
Monthly blood loss, pregnancy, and dietary patterns make iron deficiency the commonest nutritional issue among women. Some of the signs are tiredness, foggy thinking, increased hair fall, shortness of breath, anxiety-like symptoms, and low endurance for exercise.
Doctors often assure women that “labs look “normal”” after checking hemoglobin alone. The iron reserve stays off the list—the deficit stays hidden.
Menopause is Beyond Hot Flashes
Menopause is often reduced to hot flashes and jokes, but in reality, the body is going through a whole hormonal transition, and it affects bone strength, heart, mental sharpness, sleep quality, emotional balance, energy use, muscle volume, vaginal comfort, and urinary control.
Lack of education on women’s health leaves many blindsided. We tend to focus on the wrong things rather than prepare for menopause care.
Stress Affects Women’s Bodies Differently
Women’s stress response is linked to our hormones. Chronic stress affects menstrual cycles, thyroid function, ovulation, fertility, sleep and weight regulation
Stress management should not be optional; it should be a routine.
Pelvic Floor Health Is Not Just a Postpartum Issue
Pelvic floor dysfunction affects women across ages, including those who have never given birth. Urinary leakage, pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, core weakness, and back pain are some of the symptoms of a weak pelvic floor.
Some of the recommended therapies for strengthening or treating dysfunction of the pelvic floor are pelvic floor physical therapy (PFPT) and Kegel exercises.
You are Allowed to Advocate for Your Health
Women are conditioned to endure and downplay their feelings and desires. In healthcare, that might lead to unsafe situations.
You are allowed to ask for further testing, request second opinions, record your symptoms, share your findings with your doctor, question dismissive answers, or seek specialists.
The bottom line is…
Women’s health is not niche medicine. It is half of medicine. Yet too many women learn core truths only after a lot of suffering and deterioration that could have been avoided. Understanding your body is empowering. The earlier you know the facts, the earlier you can replace self-doubt and ignorance with knowledge and care.
If women’s health were taught with the depth it deserves, fewer women would grow up thinking suffering is simply part of being a woman.
