Ask Mr. Pedometer and Friends…
May 8, 2019
Q: Mr. Pedometer, in the Month of May we celebrate both Women’s Health Month and Mother’s Day. Any advice for the women in our lives?
A: Right! Mother’s Day, which falls on Sunday, May 12, this year, is smack dab in the middle of Women’s Health Month (and also Eat Salad Month, although I’m sure that is purely coincidental).
When we searched this topic, we came across this artwork with the quotation attributed to William Londen which are good words to live by: 
“To ensure your health, eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” Sounds like pretty good prescription!
Celebrating Mother’s Day is a good time to remind all the women that you care about to schedule their annual physicals and also, if needed, mammograms to screen for breast cancer.
I think women tend to be the ones who make most of the decisions regarding family health care. Grandmothers, mothers, and aunts may want to band together to ensure that the children of the family are immunized against measles. This disease was declared eradicated in the USA 19 years ago, but so far this year, there have been more than 700 cases, most of them in people who have not been immunized. Measles can be serious, particularly in the very young and in older people, sometimes leading to hospitalization or even death.
Women’s Health Month and Mother’s Day are also a good time to remind women to get their immunizations. Women take care of others but often forget to take care of themselves. Adults of any gender should check with their doctors about getting shots to prevent pneumonia and also shingles. There is a newer, more effective vaccine for the latter that many doctors are prescribing to people who may have had the older vaccine. Friends who have had shingles say that this is one painful condition you want to avoid.
For more information on Women’s Health go to About Women’s Health.