Breathe
By Adriana Sandoval
Being a woman is like being in a constant operating system upgrade. Just when you get used to your version, hormones kick in and leave us with big physical changes and emotions running high.
First the adolescence, one day you are a loving and tender girl, the next, you wake up with the mood of a soap opera villain and a body you don't know anymore. Then, when you get the hang of the new you, pregnancy comes and again hormones play tricks on us; new body, different emotions and we end up with breastfeeding, which is not easy either. And once again, you return to a moderately familiar body and after a few years .... Welcomemenopause! You are getting your final version and I hope you like it because there are no more updates. There you start dealing with hot flashes, brittle bones and the impossible mission of keeping your metabolism going along with watching your body change, again.
Although this may seem like a soap opera story, there is also the serious part: In Mexico, 46.7% of the labor force is female (INEGI 2024), the jobs we do are mainly informal commerce and paid domestic work. This puts us in a place where access to social security is difficult and income is enough for everything but us.
Women are more likely to present depression, overweight, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, anemia and diabetes complications. In young women anemia is common due to menstruation and pregnancy. When we reach menopause, the probability of being overweight, osteoporosis and cardiovascular problems increases because we lose the protection provided by female hormones. We also receive late diagnoses, mainly cancer, heart conditions and metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
For all these reasons we need priority medical care, access to healthy food and frequent physical activity. It's time to ask yourself how much importance do you place on these three factors in your life?
In the office I always listen:
"I hadn't come because I took my mom for a consultation."
"I went to pick up my son from school because he was feeling sick and I didn't eat breakfast."
"I can't exercise because I can't get the food ready."
"Right now there's no money because my daughter is graduating, then I'll get tested."
and many similar reasons.
