50 health secrets every woman over 50 should know

If you haven’t officially entered menopause, you can still become pregnant, and you may need to use birth control, Dr. Moore says.

Menopause is diagnosed when a woman hasn’t had her period for 12 straight months for no other obvious reasons, and most women enter menopause at age 51.

It’s time to start watching what you eat a little more closely – and maybe add an exercise day to your week.

As women hit menopause, their metabolism can slow, making it an uphill battle to lose weight.

Another reason your metabolism slows after 50 is that muscle mass declines with age.

Eating an equal amount of protein at all three meals may help boost muscle strength in people older than 67, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Add some strength training to your workout regimen after 50 to help lose weight, advises Louis J. Aronne, MD, an obesity medicine specialist with The Comprehensive Weight Control Centre at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

Because you’re losing that muscle mass, it’s more difficult to maintain your weight, he explains.

Resistance exercise can help preserve your muscles.

It’s not just the elderly who are in danger of falls and fractures: new research finds that falls become more common after the age of 40 – particularly in women.

Falling is more dangerous than you think – it’s one of the leading causes of hospitalisation and mortality in the elderly, according to the US-based CDC.

Menu print isn’t getting smaller, it’s your vision. Many adults start to have problems seeing clearly at close distances, especially when reading and working on the computer.

The problem can start in your early to mid-40s, and it can get worse with age, according to the American Optometric Association.

Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because our bodies produce it in response to sunlight.

In recent years, low levels of this key nutrient have been linked to a host of diseases and conditions including metabolic syndrome among postmenopausal women.

In one study, there was a 60 percent rate of metabolic syndrome – a collection of dangerous conditions like high cholesterol and blood pressure – seen among women with vitamin D deficiency.

If something good for your heart, it’s good for your brain too, says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, the Director of Women’s Cardiovascular Prevention, Health, and Wellness at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

“Heart-healthy foods and habits are also brain healthy.”

Knowing your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight and body-mass index (a combo of your height and weight) are crucial by the time you reach 50, Dr. Steinbaum says.

Making sure that these numbers are in the healthy range will go a long way toward protecting your heart and brain as you age, she says. And once you have all those figures, here’s the equation that proves how may calories you should be eating.

Just because your mum had heart disease doesn’t mean you will too. This is why It’s important to know your family health history, Dr. Steinbaum says: “The more you understand about your history, the more you can fight against it,” she says.

“Heart disease is preventable as much as 80 percent of the time, and the sooner we start prevention, the more effective it will be.”