What do you think?
Rate this book
Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health
A practical and extensive resource guide by Mayo Clinic Press for women who want to understand and take charge of their own health, presented in short, easy-to-digest chapters.
Women do not always receive the same healthcare as men. In fact, for too long medicine has not recognized that numerous health conditions — like heart disease, stroke, stress, mental health and more — impact women differently than men. Orthopedic surgeon Mary I. O’Connor and medical anthropologist Kanwal L. Haq want to change that by empowering women with knowledge about the current landscape of women’s health, and showing them how to actively engage with their healthcare team.
In a groundbreaking publication, Taking Care of The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health , O’Connor and Haq have enlisted 111 leading women physicians and health experts from all across the country to create a practical resource guide for women to improve their health and obtain better healthcare.
Taking Care of You is refreshingly supportive and jargon-free, with colorful illustrations to help the reader better understand what can often be dense medical information. Its unique approach includes three main
WOMEN AND THE CURRENT HEALTH LANDSCAPE includes topics
COMMON CLINICAL CONDITIONS IMPACTING WOMEN focuses on 55 non-reproductive clinical conditions that impact women more than men, or differently than men. They
Each chapter is divided into subsections that Taking Care of You focuses on activities women can do everyday — like eating well, sleeping and exercising — and how to effectively engage in these pillars of health to take better care of themselves.
Taking Care of You is an easy-to-use and accessible guide to be shared between mother and daughter, sister, aunt, and grandmother — an essential resource for every woman, and those who love her.
Women do not always receive the same healthcare as men. In fact, for too long medicine has not recognized that numerous health conditions — like heart disease, stroke, stress, mental health and more — impact women differently than men. Orthopedic surgeon Mary I. O’Connor and medical anthropologist Kanwal L. Haq want to change that by empowering women with knowledge about the current landscape of women’s health, and showing them how to actively engage with their healthcare team.
In a groundbreaking publication, Taking Care of The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health , O’Connor and Haq have enlisted 111 leading women physicians and health experts from all across the country to create a practical resource guide for women to improve their health and obtain better healthcare.
Taking Care of You is refreshingly supportive and jargon-free, with colorful illustrations to help the reader better understand what can often be dense medical information. Its unique approach includes three main
WOMEN AND THE CURRENT HEALTH LANDSCAPE includes topics
COMMON CLINICAL CONDITIONS IMPACTING WOMEN focuses on 55 non-reproductive clinical conditions that impact women more than men, or differently than men. They
Each chapter is divided into subsections that Taking Care of You focuses on activities women can do everyday — like eating well, sleeping and exercising — and how to effectively engage in these pillars of health to take better care of themselves.
Taking Care of You is an easy-to-use and accessible guide to be shared between mother and daughter, sister, aunt, and grandmother — an essential resource for every woman, and those who love her.
- GenresNonfictionHealth
512 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2022
19 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 3, 2022
This is an extraordinary medical reference book that should be on every woman's bookshelf. Written and edited by Mary I. O'Connor, M.D. and Kanwal L. Haq, M.S., it covers 55 common ailments and diseases from ACL tears to vaginal infections, and each chapter is written by medical specialists in that field. Well over 100 physicians and health experts contributed their extensive knowledge to this book.
The chapters follow a similar organization: An easy-to-understand (read: layman's) explanation of the ailment or disease, including definitions and symptoms, tips on how to prevent the illness if possible and if it's not possible an explanation of what causes it, a description of how the disease is treated, details on why this is important to women, specific questions to ask your health care team, and pearls of wisdom.
Each chapter is essentially a broad overview of that disease or ailment. So, for example, if you already have thyroid disease, you probably know everything in that chapter and won't learn much new, but if you are wondering why your shoulder hurts all the time, the chapter on shoulder pain will probably give you the answers you need and help you focus on the kind of doctor you should call.
Most of the diseases and ailments are included because they primarily affect women, and so often women are not treated equally as men in a doctor's office or emergency room. It is for this reason that I read the book cover to cover; knowledge is empowerment. But I do think the primary purpose of the book is to be a reference tool. It's easy and fast to find what you're looking for. The chapter titles are straightforward and not clever or cutsie. If you're looking for information on carpal tunnel syndrome, you'll find it in the chapter titled "Carpel tunnel syndrome."
In addition, the last section of the book discusses how to achieve the best health you can with tips on everything from acupuncture to vaccines.
If there is one takeaway I learned from reading the book in its entirety, it is this: Exercise. As much as you may dread it or think you just don't have time, get on the treadmill or elliptical or just take a speed walk outside. Exercise is the No. 1 path to better health. For so very many of the diseases and ailments discussed, regular exercise can either prevent it or diminish the symptoms.
If you're a woman who cares about her health, buy this book and refer to it often.
The chapters follow a similar organization: An easy-to-understand (read: layman's) explanation of the ailment or disease, including definitions and symptoms, tips on how to prevent the illness if possible and if it's not possible an explanation of what causes it, a description of how the disease is treated, details on why this is important to women, specific questions to ask your health care team, and pearls of wisdom.
Each chapter is essentially a broad overview of that disease or ailment. So, for example, if you already have thyroid disease, you probably know everything in that chapter and won't learn much new, but if you are wondering why your shoulder hurts all the time, the chapter on shoulder pain will probably give you the answers you need and help you focus on the kind of doctor you should call.
Most of the diseases and ailments are included because they primarily affect women, and so often women are not treated equally as men in a doctor's office or emergency room. It is for this reason that I read the book cover to cover; knowledge is empowerment. But I do think the primary purpose of the book is to be a reference tool. It's easy and fast to find what you're looking for. The chapter titles are straightforward and not clever or cutsie. If you're looking for information on carpal tunnel syndrome, you'll find it in the chapter titled "Carpel tunnel syndrome."
In addition, the last section of the book discusses how to achieve the best health you can with tips on everything from acupuncture to vaccines.
If there is one takeaway I learned from reading the book in its entirety, it is this: Exercise. As much as you may dread it or think you just don't have time, get on the treadmill or elliptical or just take a speed walk outside. Exercise is the No. 1 path to better health. For so very many of the diseases and ailments discussed, regular exercise can either prevent it or diminish the symptoms.
If you're a woman who cares about her health, buy this book and refer to it often.
March 5, 2023
This is a very well organized and easy to read book about female health.
February 2, 2026
Good resource to flip through, but the last section was the best. Having not read all of the sections. I don’t know how others are “left leaning“ in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine and every female doctor listing her pronouns after her name. Also, vaccines were invented 200 years ago, not 300 years ago. That’s a pretty important detail to mess up twice. Worth picking up just for Part 1 women and the current health landscape and Part 3 taking care of you. Part 2 is 55 different ailments so I didn’t need to read all of them.
February 26, 2024
This accessible, woman centered, essential reference explains, in plain terms, why women’s health, specifically, matters and what women can do about it. O’Connor and Haq have collaborated with an inclusive, and impressive, group of medical professionals who use their expertise to empower readers in taking charge of their own health. Useful, essential reference for everyone: women (inclusive of transgender women) and all who know and love them.
January 7, 2024
Great concept and the first 1/4 about health care disparities was well written with an abundance of important information. Most of the book however is just listing disease after disease with not a lot of context other than “this is bad and you’re a woman so you might experience it.” Felt more like an ailment encyclopedia than a wellness book.
May 23, 2023
Full of info, user friendly, and centered around women in both preventative care and potential issues. Like an operating manual for my body. Love this resource so far, esp considering the bias that these materials tend to have towards men
June 12, 2023
Very good starting point/reference book to have on hand. Simple, easy to understand, and great info points that you can then follow up on with continued additional research if necessary.
Read
April 2, 2024Borrowed from the library to flip through. Looks like a good alternative to googling when in need of a resource. It's massive and well-organized.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews