Popular culture has a lot to say about women’s health, and much of it is pretty negative. But we’re going to help change all that with this roundup of the best TED talks about women’s health. And they’re all 15 minutes or less!
In these great TED and TEDx talks, health topics range from physical health to spiritual wellness, and all will help us become our best self. The talks focus on sexuality, sexual health, and our physical bodies, and all show that the ways in which we speak about women’s bodies and women’s health directly affects how we feel about it. And it’s not very good news. It’s difficult to talk about things we consider so personal: sexual health, our failings, our true selves. If disease, discomfort or sex isn’t ignored totally, it’s often spoken about negatively, and this habit becomes cultural norms. And women (and society as a whole) are suffering in the silence.
1. The Truth about PMS
In this first talk, we look at the truth about PMS. Popular culture makes it seem that we all suffer manic, aggressive, and hormonally challenged weeks each month, and yet the scientific evidence doesn’t show this to be true. As you can see in Robyn Stein DeLuca’s talk, the label of PMS has become meaningless with the wide array of ‘symptoms’ related to PMS; but there’s good news about PMS! Watch the video to learn more!
2. What’s so scary about talking sex?
Andrea Anderson, the head of Planned Parenthood Hawaii, was recently featured in TEDx talk in Honolulu. As a sex educator, she is continually shocked with how we speak about sex… and how little we really say. If you think about the names we give our sexual organs, or the fact that childhood and teenage sex education is still so controversial, it begs the question: what are we afraid of? What if we talked about sex and sexual behavior pragmatically, honestly respectfully? This video features the whole TEDx Honolulu; Anderson’s talk begins at 2:27:00.
3. Heart health is a women’s health issue.
What’s the biggest health threat to women? It’s not violence, or car accidents, or childbirth. It’s heart disease, and we’ve been talking about it all wrong for all these years. The best way to avoid heart disease? Educate yourself, and be mindful of your diet and focus on a plant-based diet to avoid heart disease and other lifestyle diseases.
4. Cavewoman Biochemistry
How can our biology catch up with our daily life? In this great TEDx talk from Dr. Libby Weaver, she talks about how modern women face pressures never before addressed by our biochemistry. Dr. Weaver will help us mend the mismatch with her ‘cavewoman biochemistry.’
5. Four Words to Feed Your Soul
And what about the health of our soul? Here Morgana Baily explains why it’s so dangerous to hide who we truly are. With four words, Bailey speaks for powerful words that can help us all find ourselves out in the open, and freer (and healthier) than we ever thought possible.
Image Credit: Woman jumping via Shutterstock
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