Blog 9- Regular Exercise

When it comes to eating healthy and exercising regularly, I have a difficult time.  Eating healthy is difficult for me because it is so easy to go pick up dinner from a fast food place than to come home and cook. My commute to/from work takes an hour each way. So by the time a work an 8+ hour day and drive two hours, I am looking at a minimum of a 10 hour day. Who has the energy to cook, much less work out, after a day that long? I am in the process of finding an apartment closer to work so that should help with my lack of time.  My apartment complex has a gym, however there is only 1 treadmill and someone is always on it. On a positive note, my work just opened a free gym to employees. Hopefully after I move closer, I will have more energy to go workout before or after work.  I have over the past month, been exercises 1-2 times a week. I would like to increase that to 3-4 times. I feel when my commute is cut way down I will have more energy and time to increase the number sessions per week.

Over the next 5 years, I see my challenges only increasing for working out.  Marriage and kids are in my 5 year plan and that comes with it's own set of time challenges. I hope to have developed fairly sensible eating habits (rather than eating out so much) that I can carry over to my kids. I do not want my children to have to deal with food issues as I have. I want to teach them to eat healthy from the start.

My goal is to just find a workout routine and stick with it and maybe no matter the obstacles with time management I face, I'll be able to continue the routine.

Blog 8- Menopause

Menopause has been seen as a condition that must be fixed. We view the symptoms of menopause as the end to a youthful life and the beginning of the end. We need to change this view and celebrate women and the freedom menopause brings.  There needs to be more education rather than more confusion on ways in which women can manage their symptoms. Women experiencing menopause and their views of “going through the change” are how we begin to change society's view. If we, as women, look at menopause as the beginning to the end and this horrible thing we all must go through, then society will as well. Women should celebrate their independence from monthly menstruation, children, and certain responsibilities. It is a time to be free and enjoy life and not deal with all of the schedules and responsibilities women had in their 30s and 40s.  The media is, in my opinion, helping some with the view that aging isn't such a bad thing. With more and more older women dating younger men and looking better in their 50s than 20s we are beginning to appreciate the middle age. Aging isn't all bad. Education, as with everything, is the key to women understanding and appreciating the changes in their bodies. If they do not know why they are feeling certain symptoms then they cannot make lifestyle changes or medication changes necessary to address them.  Lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise can remediate some of the hot flashes and depression women feel. Medication is not always the answer. Not to sound like a broken record, but the only way women will know this is through education! It's the key!!

Blog 7- Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Sexually transmitted diseases have become more common than we like to admit.  It is no longer a sign of promiscuity or immortality.  Any woman or man is at risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD) due to having more than one partner in their lifetime.  Times have changed and majority of people are no longer waiting until marriage to have sex.   We, as a society, have become more focused on a healthy sex life.  This means people are having sex even without a committed relationship.

When people are not properly educated on the importance of protected sex, they are more likely to protect themselves against STDs.  The education level of individuals may be affected by their social or economic class.  However, that does not mean that a well educated, middle to upper class person would necessarily be at a lower risk of contracting the diseases, it just means they are more likely to protect themselves than someone that has not been educated on safe sex. 

As we move forward with our thinking with regards to sex, we can no longer harbor the old stereotypes of sexual activity.  Just because a person has multiple partners does not mean they are promiscuous or immoral and just because some one is of a lower economic class does not mean they are destined to contract a STD.  We continue to evolve our thinking and stop making snap judgments about a person.

Blog 6- Surrogate Mothers

Surrogate mothers assist couples who are facing infertility.  These women provide not only their bodies to carry the babies but their egg for fertilization as well.  Their egg is combined with the sperm from the man of the infertile couple.  They carry the baby and after delivery, give the baby to the infertile couple (Alexander, LaRosa, Bader, Garfield, Alexander, 2010).  In the video, Professional Surrogates, a couple and their surrogate was followed (Fox News WB 56, 2006).  The professional surrogate provides services as a job.  She has her own children and in an effort to provide for them financial, provides children for women who cannot provide for themselves.  It is amazing the monetary compensation these couples must provide.  They not only are paying for the medical expenses but from my understanding, an addition approximately $35,000.  That is an enormous cost!  The surrogate, according to the video, receives about half of that amount.

If a woman has the emotional strength to carry a baby for 40 weeks, give birth and then give the child away in order to help another family, I find that admirable.  I personally would not be able to emotionally handle it.  It was interesting to see how involved she appeared to be with the family and child.  I imagine that must be difficult. However, in the interview, she, the surrogate, says very matter of fact that is not her child.  Maybe that is her way of separating herself from the child she has carried for so long in order to avoid an emotional connection so she does not have a difficult time giving it away.  It is wonderful there are women who are able to provide such a special gift to families who are unable to have children on their own.  It is truly a precious gift. 

Alexander, L. L., LaRosa, J. H., Bader, H., Garfield, S., Alexander, W. J. (2010). New Dimensions in Women's Health. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Fox News WB 56 (Producer). (2006). Professional Surrogates Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJXO9T0u3Y