Life after 50 would be a lot easier if more women took the trouble to look after themselves before the onset of menopause, medical experts said at a seminar hosted by a dairy-products distributor yesterday.
"Prevention, rather than treatment, is the key," said Chou Hui-Cheng (
Menopause is a trying period for women accross the world, and manifests itself with an array of physical and psychological symptoms.
Rather than occuring at a single point in time, menopause is spread over a period of a few years, from before the end of menstruation to a few years after women stop menstruating.
The average age at which menopause starts is around 50. Some common symptoms include mood changes, hot flushes, sleep disturbances, changes in sexual activity and heart palpitations. Whilst these symptoms are certainly troubling for women, Chou said that they were not the real concern, as they would pass.
"What women need to be most concerned about are illnesses and deterioration which comes with aging," Chou said. He referred to these as "silent killers," which include osteoporosis, a disease where bone density steadily decreases.
In menopausal woman, calcium loss is up to three times greater than usual, a major reason being a decrease in secretion of certain hormones in the body.
Prevention of osteoporosis, Chou said, includes maintaining adequate levels of calcium, getting enough sunlight, doing exercise, eating foods with high levels of calcium such as milk and dried fish, and avoiding the use of steroids or smoking. Adult women should maintain an intake of 1,000mg to 1,500mg of calcium per day.
While many physical symptoms are the result of menopause, psychiatrist Wu Jia-hsuan (
According to Chou, what makes it even more important for women to look after themselves is that people live longer than ever.
"Whilst the average woman in the past died around the age she would begin menopause, the average life expectancy of women now is 82," Chou said.
"Women across the world spend their lives looking after their husband, their children, their parents; everybody but themselves. It is a time to look after yourselves," Chou said.
Chou compared menopause to a second "puberty," signalling entry into a second stage of a woman's life.
"This is a chance to do what you have always wanted to do: To live out the dreams you had of being an actor or a painter," Chou said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS