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A new study published in Health Care for Women International looked at the impact of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on psychological distress and coping in the lives of women in Uganda. The study was a randomized control trial, considered the gold standard of research studies, and took place following two extensive lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic in Uganda. “While Uganda had a relatively small Covid outbreak, the lockdowns caused great hardship for Ugandans, especially women living in city slums,” study author Leslee Goldstein told us. [More]

A new study published in PLOS One looked at women’s body image and experiences of exercising in gym settings. “Our study explores the experiences of women who exercise in gyms, focusing on the barriers they face, including issues related to body image and harassment,” study author Emma Cowley told us. Cowley works at the SHE Research Centre, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland. “We aimed to understand how gym environments impact women’s confidence, comfort, and ability to fully engage in exercise.” [More]

A new study published in PubMed looked at the associated risk and resilience factors of Alzheimer's disease in women with early bilateral oophorectomy. “The study is about risk and resilience factors related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in women,” study author Noelia Calvo told us. “Epidemiologic data show that AD is more prevalent in women than in men, but we do not know why." [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Development Economics looked at women’s wellbeing in India during the pandemic and its containment. “Our aim was to study how the pandemic and its containment policies affected women's mental wellbeing and food security, in a low income setting,” study author Gaurav Khanna told us. “We wanted to find out how strongly affected women were as they are particularly vulnerable in such settings.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Brain Imaging Behaviour looked at sexual assault and white matter hyperintensities among midlife women. “Adverse mental health implications of trauma and sexual assault have been studied extensively over the years, yet much of this research wasn’t spotlighted before the advent of the #MeToo movement several years ago,” study author Dr. Rebecca Thurston told us. “There has been some work, including my own research, which linked experiences of trauma and sexual assault to the underlying cardiovascular disease risk in women. However, much less is known about what these traumatic experiences may mean for a woman’s risk of serious brain disorders such as stroke and dementia.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology looked at sex differences in specific aspects of two animal tests of anxiety-like behavior. “We studied male and female rodent models to better understand sex differences in biological responses related to anxiety,” study author Thatiane De Oliveira Sergio told us. “We used procedures that let us measure a lot of different aspects of the anxiety behavior.” [More]

Imposter syndrome has a significant impact on women entrepreneurs as discussed in an earlier post. Moving beyond imposter syndrome isn’t about denying it. While belief about lack of ability may be a real thing in some cases, there are ways to manage it. [More]

Stress is on the rise for women and it can lead to a host of health problems over the lifespan including depression, anxiety, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease, an incurable brain disorder that destroys memory and the ability to perform simple tasks. Women, in fact, are more likely than men to develop Alzheimer’s disease. At first, researchers thought this was because women lived longer than men, however, more and more research is pointing to other factors, including stress. [More]

Researchers ponder how to adequately treat pregnant and postpartum women addicted to opioids as the news of the opioid crisis continues to grab headlines across North America. [More]

In August 2015 the Food and Drug Administration approved the first pill designed to treat lowered sexual desire in women. Depending on who is speaking, this decision is either revolutionary, a breakthrough to marvel at and sign of progress because it promotes the viewpoint that low sexual desire is a biological reality versus something existing solely in a woman’s head. Or it’s a mistake caused by the F.D.A collapsing from the pressure created by various lobby groups and a sad reflection of society’s penchant of viewing the aging process as something that needs to be fixed rather than accepted. [More]