Mapping the Health Hazards of Being Female

The female body has been left behind by modern medicine. No wonder we are struggling from over-caring, over-giving, and over-functioning. Women are more stressed than ever before. Take a look at the telling statistics.

• Women have 2X the risk of depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease.
• We have 4X the risk of autoimmune disease.
• Diagnostic delays: Across 770 diseases, from diabetes to cancer, women are diagnosed 4 years later than men. For example, it takes 2-3X longer to diagnosis Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in women, owing to the long history of dismissing women’s symptoms. Women are diagnosed with cancer 2.5 years later than men. Conditions that affect women like endometriosis can take up to 10 years to diagnose, and longer in Black women.
• Less than half of medical schools have women’s health curricula.
• Research gaps: The health of women remains understudied, with significant gaps in evidence regarding conditions, disorders, and diseases that occur in women. Fundamental basic and translational knowledge gaps in many female-specific conditions and diseases with sex-specific presentations, symptoms, or responses to treatments have hampered the generation of robust scientific data needed to provide high-quality, evidence-based care to women.
• All this and more has led to a massive knowledge gap about the sex-based (biological) and gender-based (socially constructed) reasons for why women are at greater health risk compared to men.

While the root causes in part relate to biological differences in hormone levels, the X chromosome, and physiological states that men do not experience such as pregnancy, post-partum, perimenopause, and menopause—these striking disparities also stem from gender factors that are socially determined and we potentially have control over modulating them. The era of women getting the short end of the stick needs to end, but first we need to understand the factors that conspire to create the health gap in women.

Common Factors Contributing to the Health Disparity in Women

The factors that contribute to the greater health risk in women include biological, hormonal, and sociocultural factors.

Biological Factors: Women have distinct biological vulnerabilities that contribute to their higher risk of these conditions. Sexually dimorphic biological systems, including cerebral structures, neural correlates, and the immune system, play a significant role. For example, women have a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances, which are predictive of both depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, the overexpression of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in women leads to increased stress-related signaling pathways, contributing to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. To put it in perspective, women have 24 sexually dimorphic areas of the brain compared to men.

Hormonal Factors: Fluctuations in sex hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, across the female lifespan significantly impact mental health. Hormonal transitions during puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause are periods of increased psychological vulnerability. These hormonal changes can exacerbate sleep disturbances and stress responses, increasing the risk of depression, PTSD, and cognitive decline. Further, studies have shown that CRF overexpression as mentioned earlier results in sex-biased signaling, with females exhibiting increased tau phosphorylation and amyloid β plaque formation, which are key features of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Sociocultural Factors: Women are more likely to experience certain types of stress and trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, which are strong predictors of PTSD and depression. Sociocultural pressures, including gender inequality and societal expectations, further contribute to the higher prevalence of these conditions in women.

Conclusion

In summary, biological, hormonal, and sociocultural factors collectively contribute to the higher risk of depression, insomnia, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease in women. We need to understand the women’s health gap and how it affects us so that we can create systemic solutions rather than leaving individual women to figure out what works for them. We all need to work together to close the women’s health gap.

While we work on a system level to address the gap, please know that you’re not alone—there’s a growing movement of people, including experts and peers, committed to helping you find what truly works for your body and your life. Educating yourself, staying open to new approaches, and surrounding yourself with a strong support system—whether that’s friends, family, or a community that gets it—can lay the groundwork for lasting change. Your body is incredibly resilient despite these seen and unseen factors. Even when it feels like it’s working against you, your body has the potential to heal and thrive with the right tools, evidence-based information, and collaborative care.

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