Drs. Miller and Horn met on their first day as fellows at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1983 and have remained friends since. Their many conversations over the years have focused on the normal things like balancing work, family, dating, and marriage and of late, say the docs, about their aging body parts. So to the conversations they were having with their female patients seemed to center on this issue. So they thought they’d address these concerns we have as aging women in a book, drawing on both western and alternative/complimentary medicine for answers.
Just my type of doctors and this is a great resource for not only naming what you might be feeling but heading some problems – like osteoporosis and heart disease – off at the pass through prevention.
The authors admit up front that this subject cannot easily be covered in one volume. They have a reading list at the end so we can get more info on a particular subject if it applies to us. What they have included “are conditions that are the most common among women our age and about which there is not a lot of information readily available’ they write in the forward.
The docs use patient stories as well as their own very different approaches to health and the conditions of aging. Dr. Robin it seems has always been an exercise type person while Dr. Janet prefers a good book or a nap over exercise. Each has figured out ways to stay healthy, maintain balance and keep the aging parts in good working order.
The book is like a mini-encyclopedia. You can use the table of contents to find a particular issue – say dizziness or loss of sight – or you can read it from start to finish for a well rounded insider’s view of how our parts work and how they will change as we age. Bringing awareness to what might be going on allows us to get more involved with taking care of these many parts.
Yes there are exhortations to quit smoking and exercise – how could there not be in a great book for living a healthy second half? There is much, much more than the usual “because it’s good for you” type rhetoric. The doctors go into detail about how each habit affects different body bits and vice versa. You can look up say the lungs or heart and see not only how exercise will help each particular organ but also how the smoke of a cigarette say, will directly damage your lungs, eyes, gums, heart, etc.
This book is a no-brainer for your wellness library if you are serious about living the second half in the best health you can. It’s going into the Midlife With A Vengeance list of must have books for Smart Women.
The Smart Woman's Guide to Midlife and Beyond - Book Review
No comments:
Post a Comment