Updated May 8, 2021 - Companion podcast episode available below.
The week of May 9 - 15, 2021 is designated as National Women's Health Week by President Biden and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health.
Here is a key section from the President's proclamation:
*NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 9 through May 15, 2021, as National Women’s Health Week. During this week, I encourage all Americans to dedicate themselves to the work of improving the health of women and girls and promoting health equity for all.
Given the challenges we're still facing with the COVID-19 pandemic and other stress creating situations, there is no better time to take time and assess your overall health and take easy to do steps to help ensure optimum wellbeing. This post offers a way to do exactly that.
Your Initial Self-Assessment
Here's a visual way to do a self assessment that can alert you to areas of your health that may need attention:
On a sheet of paper make a list of major health and wellbeing categories you want to to assess. As an example, your list might include:
Emotional and mental wellbeing;
Food consumption habits;
Sleep;
Exercise and movement; and,
Spiritual practices.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it could be a starting point. Choose other or additional health and wellbeing categories important to you.
Next, honestly assess how satisfied you are for each category on a 1 to 10 scale. If you rate a category with a 10, you're totally satisfied with how things are for that category. A rating of "1" means you are totally unsatisfied.
If, for example, you're exercising regularly with a mix of strength, flexibility, and heart health activities, you may rate Exercise and Movement as a 10.
If your food consumption practices could use some improvement, you may rate that category as a 6.
When assessing emotional and mental wellbeing, you might conclude chronic stress is a major problem so you may rate that category as a 3.
At the conclusion of your category assessment evaluation, your list might be:
Emotional and mental wellbeing: 3
Food consumption habits: 6
Sleep: 8
Exercise and movement: 10
Spiritual practices: 7
You now have a visual numeric representation of the health and wellbeing categories important to you and your assessment on a 1 to 10 scale for how you're doing in each category.
Next, you can choose one or possibility two categories you want to improve and build activities into your day-to-day routine to create the health and wellbeing positive changes you want to experience.
FREA Self-Care Tools for Emotional Wellbeing
At FREA, we encourage everyone to make emotional self-care and stress reduction a high priority everyday. Have a look at the Self-Care Skills page on our FREA site at https://www.frea.support/self-care-handouts.
Consult With Appropriate Medical Professionals
It's wise to always consult with an appropriate licensed medical professional for an overall health assessment and - if you have experienced medical, emotional, or mental health challenges - please see an appropriate health professional. Make your doctor and other health care providers partners in your positive health care plan.
To learn more about National Women's Health Care Week, visit the dedicated section on the U.S. Office of Women's Health website by clicking HERE. If you visit that site, please do return and check out the rich array of tools for Self-Care Skills by clicking HERE.
* Link to full Presidential proclamation: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/07/a-proclamation-on-national-womens-health-week-2021/
Stephen Carter is a FREA volunteer and CEO of Stress Solutions, LLC, a company dedicated to helping people enhance physical and emotional wellbeing through stress mastery using mind-body methods. He hosts the, "Mind Over Stress", and "EFT Tapping Junction" podcasts.
"Mind Over Stress" companion podcast episode published in May 2020 as part of the original post. The post above has been updated for May 2021.