depression | Dr. Lori Gore-Green | Women's Health Professional

Why Expecting Mothers Should Take Folic Acid

January 4, 2021 by Dr. Lori Gore-Green

Women who are pregnant must make sure they take enough vitamins and a healthy diet that balances carbohydrates, fat,s, and protein. If they don’t, the baby may take the necessary nutrients from the mother’s body and leave her without the things she needs for optimal health—folic acid is essential during pregnancy.

What is Folic Acid?

Folate is a naturally occurring B vitamin; it is known as folic acid in its generic form. It is water-soluble, which means that it must be consumed continually as the body can’t store it. Folic acid helps the body generate new healthy cells. This is why it is an essential vitamin that everyone needs. For pregnant women, folic acid plays a significant role in the healthy development of the baby.

Why Folic Acid is so Important During Pregnancy

As the baby develops in the womb, a critical part is the development of the neural tube. The neural tube is the fetus that will eventually be the brain, and the spinal cord, so the right product is critical. If the tube does not close as it develops, it results in a neural tube defect. A neural tube defect is a severe congenital disability that causes parts of the baby to not setup correctly. The most common neural tube defects are spina bifida and anencephaly. Taking folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects. Folic acid has such a high success rate at helping with babies’ development added to many baked goods, such as bread and tortillas.

How Much Folic Acid Women Should Take Daily

While trying to conceive a baby, women should take at least 400 mg of folic acid every day. After the pregnancy is confirmed, the amount should be increased to at least 600 mg per day. These vitamins should be taken in addition to eating a healthy diet.

Folic acid plays a significant role in the baby’s healthy development and the prevention of congenital disabilities. Scientists estimate that 70 percent of neural tube defects could be prevented if women took a folic acid supplement. Doing so daily can help ensure the mom is healthy and that the baby grows healthy as well.

The Benefits of Walking in Older Women

January 4, 2021 by Dr. Lori Gore-Green

The human body is designed to walk, and this most basic human activity can significantly impact your health throughout life. Scientific research supports the benefits of walking in several ways, so it should be on the list as part of every older woman’s health regime to maintain suitable physical, emotional and mental health.

Walking Helps To Maintain Healthy Weight

A daily walk can help you maintain a healthy weight, so you can avoid many of the health problems related to carrying those extra pounds.

Walking Helps to Strengthen Bones

The action and pressure of walking help strengthen bones, reducing the risk for osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, which are common problems in the older population.

Walking Can Lower Blood Pressure

A good walk can also help to relax blood vessels, which will lower your blood pressure in some individuals.

Walking Reduce Your Risk For Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Colon Cancer

Walking helps to keep blood vessels flexible to carry blood and nutrients throughout the body. This improved circulation can help you to avoid cardiovascular disease and other health problems.

Walking Keeps Joints Flexible

Your walking exercise helps to keep your joints supple and healthy. Walking strengthens the muscles that support joints to experience less pressure that can cause damage to the internal joint structures.

Walking Improves Balance and Coordination

Walking requires coordinated movement and balance as you shift your weight. These are essential skills that will help you to avoid dangerous falls that often occur in older individuals.

Walking Improves Your Energy Level

A body in motion tends to remain in action, and you will find a good, daily walk gives you more energy for other tasks throughout the day.

Walking Improves Your Mood

The action of walking gets you outdoors, moving around, seeing what’s going on in the neighborhood, and encountering neighbors and acquaintances along the way, which helps to stimulate the production of “feel-good” brain chemicals that keep you in a better mood.

Health experts recommend at least 30 minutes of walking per day to enjoy this natural exercise’s benefits. Whether you choose to break up your walking workout into smaller periods or extend it out, you will feel better, look better, and enjoy life more.

What Every Woman Should Know About Postpartum Depression

May 20, 2020 by Dr. Lori Gore-Green

Whether or not a woman plans on having a child or not, it’s important to understand what postpartum depression is and how it works. It can affect many women, including yourself and the women you care about. There is a lot of misinformation surrounding postpartum, which is why it’s imperative to know the facts from myth to better help the women who are affected by it.

What is Postpartum Depression?

Not to be confused with “mommy blues”, which can last two to three days, postpartum depression affects women who have just gone through childbirth and are experiencing an emotional emptiness longer than two weeks. This kind of depression can make it harder for mothers to care for their children and not feel connected to them. It should not be taken lightly and is a very serious mental illness that involves the brain, affects your behavior, and physical health. Whether mild or severe, postpartum depression affects one in nine new mothers.

The Causes of Postpartum Depression

The biggest trigger for postpartum may be hormonal changes. Levels of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone are the highest when a woman is pregnant. These hormone levels drop significantly back to normal within the first 24 hours of giving birth, which can lead to depression. Women who have a history of depression are also at risk for postpartum.

Symptoms to Be Aware Of

There are many symptoms a woman can display that are signs of postpartum depression. Although symptoms vary from one woman to another, common symptoms are sadness, loss of hope, despair, frequent crying, feeling unable to care for the baby, loss of ability to do basic chores, inability to bond with the baby, loss of memory, and trouble focusing. When a woman is showing the symptoms of postpartum, only a doctor is able to give a diagnosis.

Treatment Options

When diagnosed with postpartum depression, there are two main treatment options available. The first is taking medication to cope with postpartum. Antidepressants directly affect the brain by altering the chemicals that regulate mood. A doctor may also suggest hormone therapy to help regulate estrogen levels. The second treatment option is going to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or mental health professional for counseling. This option helps women suffering from postpartum depression make sense of toxic thoughts and give them the strategies they need to cope.

7 Interesting Ways To Improve A Woman’s Mental Health

April 1, 2018 by Dr. Lori Gore-Green

It’s important to realize that due to the different way in which female brains work, some things can affect a woman’s mental health in interesting ways. Below, you will find seven exciting things that can affect a woman’s psychological health, how it affects it, and why.

Eat Your Veggies

Eating your vegetables and fruits every day can do more for you than promote a healthy weight. The University of Sydney released a study demonstrating that consuming 3-4 daily servings of fruits and vegetables can reduce psychological stress, depression, and anxiety in women.

Decorate With Flowers

While fake flowers are quite lovely and possess incredible longevity, freshly cut flowers will provide aromatherapy for you and will also improve your mental health in many ways. A Harvard study showed that placing freshly cut flowers in your home can chase away anxiety, increase your energy levels, and improve your mood and enthusiasm.

A Warm Shower

If you suffer from stress or insomnia, taking a warm shower for 10 minutes before bedtime can help you sleep better. The sound and feel of the shower are relaxing to your senses. Additionally, your warm body entering a cold room causes a drop in your body temperature, telling your brain that it’s time to sleep.

Bake And Cook More

Although considered more of a chore by most people, cooking and baking are quite therapeutic in many ways. Cooking and baking provide a small project with a short time frame that can cause a person’s mind and thinking to focus on just the tasks at hand, help to reduce stress and anxiety. Completing these small, meaningful projects every day can also help you develop a feeling of accomplishment.

Puppy Love Is Real

Many people have already realized that petting or interacting with a dog can make them feel better, but they aren’t sure why. Researchers have determined that engaging with dogs and puppies increases your serotonin levels. This increased serotonin promotes reduced stress, anxiety, and depression.

Blanket Anxiety

Anxiety can keep you awake at night and prevent restful sleep. A study revealed that wrapping yourself in a weighted blanket can help reduce stress and promote a restful sleep since the weight mimics a hug which signals a feeling of safety and comfort.

Always Carry Earplugs

If you’re someone who becomes annoyed by certain noises, it would be beneficial for you to carry around a spare set of earplugs. Use them anytime you encounter an annoying noise. Those with high noise annoyance were found to be twice as likely to develop depression and anxiety, according to a German survey.

9 Tips For Pregnant Women Encountering Mental Health Difficulties

May 1, 2017 by Dr. Lori Gore-Green

Behavioral symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, uniquely impact pregnant women, who experience the complication and the effects of postpartum depression before they even give birth. For this reason, conversations about mental health and pregnancy should be held early and often.

Some women go through their entire pregnancy without experiencing morning sickness, swollen feet, and troubled sleeping. However, many don’t escape pregnancy without experiencing pre-baby anxiety. The stress and the “what ifs” can be overwhelming. Lancet Psychiatry published a report in 2015, which stated that two-thirds of mothers with severe depression experienced mood shifts during their pregnancy ahead of postpartum depression. Maternal depression isn’t the same for all women. Approximately 20 percent of mothers experience depression or anxiety after giving birth. Those findings also linked postpartum depression biological triggers and dramatic dips in hormone levels.

There are nine things every pregnant should know about maternal depression and the importance of focusing on mental health during pregnancy:

Document Your Emotional Responses

Pregnant women should take their feelings seriously, and track them. If you notice that you’re feeling sad more often than not, or you feel extremely worried, relay that information to your therapist, doctor, or midwife.

Depression is Blameless

Perinatal mood disorder can be a challenge, and often pregnant women want to blame themselves or their partners for these emotional obstacles, but it’s no one’s fault. There are a number of factors that contribute to pregnancy-related mood shifts.

You’re Not The Only One

Too many women believe they’re the only ones struggling with mental health symptoms, which are some the most common complications of childbirth. The stigma surrounding maternal depression often means that women are too embarrassed to seek out health. Convinced that they should be overjoyed with the prospect of motherhood, sometimes fail to tell others when that they’re struggling.

Seek Treatment Sooner

Therapy can help to ease stress and manage mood disorders. Choosing to deal with one’s mood disorders sooner will ultimately improve your piece of mind, and it will enhance the bonding between you and your child.

Treatment Will Benefit the Baby

Depression and anxiety never simply affect one person, and this is particularly true depressive episodes are affecting a pregnant person. It’s challenging to be a mother, so seeking treatment means that your child won’t have to deal with the emotion and sadness that might could put both you or your child at risk.

Treatments Work

Frank conversations with your primary care physician and your therapist can alleviate anxiety and perinatal depression. It can also help to create a sense of balance and offer an understanding of what balance may look like for a woman in her new life.

You’ll See Progress

If you’re as serious about your mental health as you are about your impending motherhood, you’ll find that you feel better after just a few session. Of course, everyone is different. Even if it takes a bit longer for your mood to improve, know that progress is on the horizon. Take medication appropriately and stay committed to your sessions.

Support Groups, Also

While some women choose isolation, others find strength in knowing that others are going through the same thing. Support groups are incredible because offer a supportive network of like-minded individuals who also need to know that everything in their lives will be okay.

Find Support Online

The internet is great for things outside of news, online shopping, and cyber stalking exes, it’s also a great resource for individuals seeking out others for support.

Online, you’ll find countless resources for mental health and pregnancy wellness. Some things you’ll want to do are to hydrate, do abdominal exercises, eat a well-balanced diet, educate yourself on mental health, take your vitamins and supplements, and rest appropriately.