10 The Healthy Woman: A Complete Guide for All Ages

Taking Charge of Your Health

Have you ever walked out of your 

doctor’s office after a visit confused 

about what she or he just told you? If 

your answer is yes, you are not alone. 

Health issues can be complex and hard 

to understand.

At the same time, it seems that we are 

being asked to do more and more to improve our health. There are almost daily 

news reports about advice on eating certain foods or exercising to prevent certain diseases. Keeping track of all this information can seem overwhelming. And 

the sometimes conflicting advice clouds 

our understanding even more. Plus, if 

you have a family, you are likely making 

health choices not only for yourself, but 

also for them!

Although the matter of health can be 

challenging, there are ways to make it easier. To start, it is important to learn about 

the things you can and can’t control.

Understanding risk factors: Learning 

what you can and can’t control

Part of learning how to take charge of 

your health involves understanding your 

risk factors for different diseases. Risk 

factors are things in your life that increase 

your chances of getting a certain disease.

Some risk factors are beyond your control. You may be born with them or exposed to them through no fault of your 

own. Risk factors that you have little or 

no control over include your: 

l	 family history of a disease

l	 sex

l	 ancestry

l	 age

l	 health—having one health problem 

may raise your risk of having another 

(for instance, having diabetes increases 

your chances of getting heart disease) 

Risk factors you can control include:

l	 what you eat

l	 how much physical activity you get

l	 whether you use tobacco 

l	 how much alcohol you drink

l	 whether you use illegal drugs

l	 whether you use your seatbelt

In fact, it has been estimated that almost 

35 percent of all U.S. early deaths in 

2000 could have been avoided by changing just three behaviors:

l	 stopping smoking
Taking Charge of Your Health 11

l	 eating a healthy diet (for example, eating more fruits and vegetables and less 

red meat)

l	 getting more physical activity

Having more than one risk factor

You can have one risk factor for a disease 

or you can have many. The more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to 

get the disease. 

One doctor has suggested thinking of 

multiple risk factors for a disease in 

terms of your chances of breaking a leg 

when leaving a building.* If you’re a 

healthy person and don’t have any risk 

factors for, say, heart disease, it’s like 

leaving the building on the ground floor. 

In this case, your chances of breaking a 

leg are small. 

But let’s say you have one risk factor for 

heart disease: diabetes. Now it’s like leaving the building by jumping from the 

second floor. Your chances of breaking 

a leg are now greater. If you also have 

another risk factor, such as high blood 

pressure, it’s like jumping from the third 

floor. If you also smoke tobacco, now 

you’re jumping from the fourth floor.

To lower your risks, all you have to do is 

come down the stairs. In the case of heart 

disease, that means taking steps such as 

quitting smoking and controlling your 

blood pressure through healthy eating, 

physical activity, and taking medications.

Inheriting risk—your family health 

history

Rarely, you can inherit a mutated gene 

that alone causes you to get a disease. 

Genes control chemical reactions in our 

bodies. If you inherit a faulty gene, your 

body may not be able to carry out an important chemical reaction. For instance, a 

faulty gene may make your blood unable 

to clot. This problem is at the root of a 

rare bleeding disorder.

More often, you can inherit genes from 

one or both of your parents that put you 

at higher risk of certain diseases. But 

having a gene for a certain disease does 

not mean you will get it. There are many 

unknown factors that may raise or lower 

your chances of getting the disease.

You can’t change your genes, but you can 

change behaviors that affect your health, 

such as smoking, inactivity, and poor eating habits. People with a family health 

history of chronic disease may have 

the most to gain from making lifestyle 

changes. In many cases, making these 

changes can reduce your risk of disease 

even if the disease runs in your family.

Another change you can make is to have 

screening tests, such as mammograms 

and colorectal cancer screening. These 

screening tests help detect disease early. 

People who have a family health history 

of a chronic disease may benefit the most 

from screening tests that look for risk 

factors or early signs of disease. Finding 

disease early, before symptoms appear, 

can mean better health in the long run.

How do I find out my disease risks?

It is important to talk to your doctor or 

nurse about your individual health risks, 

even if you have to bring it up yourself. 

And it’s important for your doctor to 

know not just about your health, but 

your family health history as well. Come 

to health care visits armed with information about you, your children, siblings, 
12 The Healthy Woman: A Complete Guide for All Ages

*Edwards A. Communicating risks through analogies. BMJ. 2003;327:749.

parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, 

and nieces and nephews, including:

l	 major medical conditions and causes 

of death

l	 age of disease onset and age at death

l	 ethnic background

l	 general lifestyle information like heavy 

drinking and smoking

Your doctor or health professional will 

assess your risk of disease based on your 

family health history and other risk factors. He or she may also recommend 

things you can do to help prevent disease, such as getting more physical activity, changing your diet, or using screening tests to detect disease early.

Web sites also can help you calculate 

your risks of getting certain diseases, 

some of which are listed on page 426 

of the Appendix. These online tools 

should never replace the information 

from or advice of a doctor or nurse.

How this book can help you

In this book, we discuss the risk factors 

for major diseases that affect women—

both those that you can control and 

those you can’t. If it is possible to control 

a risk factor to lower your chances of 

getting a disease, we will tell you how. 

We will also discuss diseases for which 

causes and risk factors are not yet understood.

This book also explains:

l	 what happens to your body with certain diseases

l	 tips for handling many diseases and 

health conditions

l	 how to stay healthy during key phases 

of your life, such as during pregnancy 

and menopause

l	 how to communicate with doctors and 

nurses

l	 the screenings, tests, and immunizations women need

l	 where to find more health information 

that you can trust

In each chapter, besides important health 

tips, you will also find personal stories 

from women across the country. You 

may find that some of their experiences 

are similar to what you may be going 

through. Hopefully, these stories will 

show you that you are not alone.

How this book can help you help 

your family

As you learn about diseases that affect 

women, you will learn how to improve 

your family’s health as well. Diseases 

such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke 

can, of course, affect men as well as 

women. Steps you can take to reduce 

your chances of getting these diseases 

can also apply to the men in your life. 

And because heart disease may start as 

early as childhood due to poor eating 

habits and lack of physical activity, your 

efforts may help your children lead longer and healthier lives. 

What you do today counts—for you and 

your loved ones. Take charge of your 

health! n