Women's health is having a moment. From social media feeds and most-shared podcasts to movies, TV and news headlines, conversations about breast cancer, menopause, hormone therapy and more are officially mainstream.
Yet while it's a welcome and long overdue cultural shift to see these once-taboo topics finally getting airtime, many clinicians say it comes with a catch: The information can be oversimplified at best and often outright wrong, which means doctors spend a lot of time undoing misinformation — or at least adding context so that their patients have the full story.
So, during a time of year when many people are focused on improving their health, here are five women's health myths to be aware of. Here's what leading experts said about them, plus the truth they want more women to understand.
This piece was adapted from THE NEW RULES OF WOMEN'S HEALTH: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age.
Myth No. 1: All you need to prevent breast cancer is an annual mammogram.
Reality: Mammograms are critical, but prevention starts with understanding your lifetime risk — and whether you need more tailored screening.
While mammograms play an essential role in helping to detect breast cancer, they're not enough for everyone.
"To prevent breast cancer, identifying women at high risk is the critical first step," says Dr. Lisa Larkin, an internal medicine physician specializing in women's health.
Unfortunately, most people aren't talking with their health care providers about their individual breast cancer risk. The result? Many women at high risk are unaware of the fact that they should be getting screenings beyond mammograms, such as a breast MRI or ultrasound, and possibly more frequently than once a year, says Larkin.
For example, the American Cancer Society and other organizations recommend women with a high lifetime risk of breast cancer (greater than 20%) have both an annual mammogram and breast MRI, scheduled six months apart.
If you haven't talked to your doctor about your lifetime risk of breast cancer, make it a priority. Larkin recommends using one of the free, evidence-based risk-assessment tools available online, such as the Tyrer-Cuzick Model or the Gail Model. Both questionnaires assess likelihood of developing breast cancer within your lifetime by considering factors such as your age, family and reproductive history, genetic factors (such as known genetic variants), breast density and more.
Then, bring your results to your next well-woman visit to start the conversation about what your score means and how it should inform your breast cancer screening plan.
It's also important to keep in mind that while you can't change some risk factors that contribute to your lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, healthy lifestyle moves like limiting (or even better, eliminating) alcohol and exercising regularly can lower your risk.
Myth No. 2: Strength training trumps cardio, especially in midlife
Reality: Aerobic exercise is still crucial.
These days, women are flooded with information about the importance of putting down those little pink dumbbells and picking up heavier weights. This is a great thing — especially as women navigate hormonal changes in their 40s and 50s. Estrogen plays a key role in helping your muscles grow in response to stressors like lifting weights. This means that with less estrogen coursing through your body, you start to need greater stresses (read: heavier weights) to get the same muscle-building results.
However, in all the talk about the importance of strength training, it can be tempting to think that you can skip daily walks or time logged on the elliptical machine if you're already lifting weights. Not true, says Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist. Exercise that gets your heart rate up increases the capacity of your heart's ventricles to fill with blood, she explains. The more easily they dilate, the more pliable they stay and the less likely you are to suffer from cardiovascular disease.
Moderate intensity exercise — like walking at a pace where you can still have a conversation — can be a good choice because you can do it regularly without needing a lot of recovery. The American Heart Association recommends all adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of higher intensity activity (think, hiking uphill or running) each week.
Myth No. 3: Menopause involves years of misery with no upsides
Reality: Yes, this big hormonal shift can feel tumultuous. But it can spur positive changes that set you up for a healthier, happier future.
There's no denying menopause is a time of change — not all of it for the better. Thankfully, women dealing with many of the uncomfortable symptoms of this major hormonal transition are now being prescribed menopause hormone therapy or MHT (also referred to as hormone replacement therapy or HRT). After years of misunderstanding and misconceptions, the evidence shows it's safe for the majority of women.
However, there's still a pervasive sense that menopause is all doom and gloom, when for many women it's an opportunity to reset their health and lives, says Dr. Heather Bartos, a menopause specialist and author of Quickies: One Hundred Little Lessons for Living Sexily Ever After in Midlife.
"In traditional Chinese medicine, menopause is known as the 'second spring,'" says Bartos, adding that it's important to consider the many ways this time in our lives is liberating. No more periods or worrying about birth control. No more PMS, cramps or surprise cycles.
Some women may experience symptoms for many years beyond their last period. Black women in particular tend to have a longer duration of the menopause transition. But for many women, symptoms do subside in time.
"The hormonal hell so many women go through during perimenopause is like being in a raft riding down white-water rapids," says Bartos. "But after menopause, you've made your way down the canyon and you get to the lake, where it's placid and beautiful. This makes it a great time to reassess and recalibrate."
Are you as healthy as you'd like to be? Are you on target when it comes to your personal goals? Menopause is a time to actually pause — to take stock and make sure you're where you want to be. "It really can be a freeing, beautiful time, especially if you go into it thinking it can be," says Bartos.
Myth No. 4: Women can maximize workouts based on their menstrual cycle
Reality: There's no good data showing significant changes in strength, endurance, or recovery across the phases of the menstrual cycle.
"Cycle syncing" is the idea of matching different workout styles or approaches to what phase of the menstrual cycle you're in. For example, proponents may recommend gentle movement (like walking or low-intensity strength training) during the menstrual phase, when estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest and higher-intensity workouts (like heavier strength training and sprint intervals) during the follicular phase, when estrogen rises.
The thought is that hormonal fluctuations throughout your cycle can influence strength, endurance and recovery, and that by syncing your training plan with these changes, you can optimize performance.
Yet the data doesn't back this up, says Dr. Megan Roche, a sports medicine physician, adding that there are hundreds of different variables that feed into optimizing training. Did your kids wake you up in the middle of the night? Are you stressed about a big work deadline? These factors impact your training, too.
"If you're trying to tweak how you work out based on just one variable — your menstrual cycle — you risk missing the bigger picture of other things that have impact, too," says Roche.
The upshot: The body knows movement, not perfection, says Roche. If tracking cycle syncing helps you be intentional about your exercise regimen, that's great. But if it makes you overthink your workouts as you try to match the exact right training style to the phase of your cycle, it could be holding you back, she adds. Instead, focus on getting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, and prioritize exercise you look forward to — whether it's a walk with a friend, a pickleball match or lifting weights at the gym.
Myth No. 5: Heart disease is a bigger health threat for men, and something not to worry about until later in life
Reality: Heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined, and our awareness of this fact is declining.
Many of us are prone to think of heart disease as something that's more likely to happen to men. Or we assume it's a risk for older women, or women who aren't active or who don't regularly go to the doctor. That is, we find ways to distance ourselves from the very real fact that all women should be concerned about heart health. One decade-long study by the American Heart Association found that fewer than half of women recognize that heart disease is their leading killer.
Here's another fact that surprises too many women: Your reproductive health history can give your cardiologist a better picture of your risk of heart disease, says Dr. Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist. For example, women who have a menstrual cycle that's shorter than 22 days or longer than 34 days may have an increased risk of coronary heart disease, heart attacks and atrial fibrillation.
Pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, also put you at greater risk for cardiovascular conditions later on — no matter how long ago you were pregnant or how healthy you are now. If you went through menopause early (before age 40) either naturally or if your ovaries were removed surgically, your risk for a number of heart issues may be elevated. And women who have more frequent hot flashes and night sweats have an increased risk for heart attacks, stroke and other cardiovascular disease as they get older, according to research.
If your doctor doesn't ask about these topics when they start asking you about your heart health, be proactive and bring them up yourself, adds Morgan. And if you're not already, follow the American Heart Association's guidance for heart disease prevention, including eating a diet filled with plenty of fruits and veggies and fiber-rich whole grains, staying physically active and keeping stress in check.
This piece was adapted from THE NEW RULES OF WOMEN'S HEALTH: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age, by Meghan Rabbitt. Published by The Open Field, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
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