The month of May is a celebration of women, not only due to Mother’s Day which many of us celebrated yesterday but also due to the celebration that continues May 13th through 19th with National Women’s Health Week!
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health recognizes the full week following Mother’s Day each year as National Women’s Health Week. The focus initiatives include:
- Scheduling Preventative Screenings and Routine Health Check-ups
- Encouraging women to get healthy, participate in physical fitness and exercise
- Nutrition
- Mental Health Awareness including adequate sleep and minimizing stress
- Avoiding risky behaviors such as smoking and encouraging the good practices of seat belt and bicycle helmet use
As a NWHW partner in 2011 and a collaborator in 2012, through Go Running Mom, I work to promote National Women’s Health week with local events and nationally through my online platform.
Just as I present “Go Running Mom” as a 3 word challenge to: Get Up, Get Moving, and Go Running - I also present to you this challenge during National Women’s Health Week: Take charge of your health as a woman, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a friend! Within our community of Women and Women Runners, I would like to host an online challenge this week to represent our dedication to accepting the responsibility of taking charge of our health.
Accept this challenge and join me by:
- Dedicating your miles, publicly online, here with a comment or on my Go Running Mom Facebook page - go on brag about the miles you’ve logged in the name of your health (it can be attributed to exercise and physical fitness or mental health – both for me!)
- Schedule a preventative screening. It might be your annual exam, or perhaps an appointment with the dermatologist to discuss the proper level of sunscreen needed for those high-altitude outdoor runs! (Ahem…open to favorite sunscreen suggestions from fellow Colorado runners!)
- Pledge to get 8 hours of sleep each night (this would be a biggie for me as I habitually get 5 maybe 6)
- Schedule a massage, time for meditation, an extra session of yoga or even perhaps a lunch date with a best friend to take care of your mental well-being
- Vow to buckle your seatbelt before leaving the garage rather than before you get to the first stop sign, or absolutely, positively vow to stow away your phone and not check Facebook or text while you are driving
Share this challenge with a friend or another woman in your life who’s health you value, then go crazy logging miles, commenting, and posting about all the ways in which you rise to the challenge this week in honor of YOUR health!
For more information about activities in your area and ways to celebrate National Women’s Health Week, check out:http://womenshealth.gov/whw/events/
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