I was having fun with the analogies...

I was having fun with the analogies...

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in a sea of health advice? As though navigating health information is like searching for a needle in a haystack? Curating the perfect playlist amongst a never-ending barrage of new music? Navigating an overwhelming buffet for the best breakfast combination? Finding reliable, relevant and trustworthy health advice these days is a mission - and I say that as someone who works in the health industry. In this article, we will learn together about health literacy, why women are overwhelmed and turning to alternative sources of health information and ways to find your needle in haystack/perfect breakfast/party playlist/life jacket.

Solutions

1. Improve health literacy

⦿ Talk to a medical professional you trust about completing a health literacy questionnaire to get an idea of where you are at. You can also try this (unofficial) online assessment tool (HERE) for a basic check (read the instructions first).

⦿ TED Talk on Health Literacy & Advocation 

⦿ Check out the Mayo Clinic Explains & Health Sketch YouTube series' for explanations on basic medical terms and conditions

⦿ When meeting with your doctor or treater, try preparing an agenda for what you want to discuss, taking notes and asking as many questions as you need - you are not being annoying, you deserve to understand what is happening with your health.

2. Improve Research Skills & Critical Thinking

⦿ TED-Ed video on skills to improve critical thinking 

⦿ Check out this short reading on How to Find Good Health Info Online by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

⦿ When completing your own research, use objective judgement. Assess the source, the authors motivation/potential bias, the funding, the amount of subjects involved, the limitations (which are usually mentioned within the discussion section), and the quality of the research. Check out the diagram below that explains the Hierarchy of Evidence Quality.

⦿ Complete your own research! For health strategies that are low risk and low cost (e.g. a meditation routine), run your own experiment and measure your results. Control as many factors as you can and record any changes you notice.

3. Improve Intuition: What I am about to say will not be everyone's cup of tea (and that's okay). Critical thinking is important in discerning the content of what we consume. However, I think our intuition is a limitless, untapped source of wisdom. Research is totally necessary, but as we've discussed in this article, there are often bias', conditioned perception, limitations, outliers and exceptions to the information we have regarding our health. Enter: Your gut feeling.

⦿ Stop excessively researching and asking others for their advice. Get still, quiet your surroundings, ask your questions. Then listen. Daily if possible or whenever you feel overwhelmed with information. If this sounds crazy, I understand. And if this is new to you, this practice might take weeks before you hear any intuitive thoughts come through.

⦿ When you come across a piece of information, ask yourself what your intuitive opinion is before you check the comments or consult with others for their opinions. Ask yourself about potential bias or judgement. Formulate your opinion and challenge it.

⦿ Check out this CNN article on Intuition and these tips from Dr Lissa Rankin 

4. Remember The Basics: The basics are not going to cure all diseases. And trying the new diet or exercise routine and purchasing another supplement might make us feel like we are taking action and are in control. BUT, if it is all getting too much and you are feeling totally lost, the basics might be what you need to gain some consistency.

⦿ Whole foods

⦿ Quality sleep (Sleep blog HERE)

⦿ Getting into nature

⦿ Stress management (Stress blog HERE)

⦿ Movement you enjoy

⦿ Reducing social media and prioritising stillness, mental health and connection

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey to learn how to better navigate the health system and the noise that is health advice. I hope that I can be a source of holistic and trustworthy information in the women's health world. If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out via this website or socials. All research cited within the article and more is below.Happy researching!

Alternative Sources of Information

Hopefully the information so far has provided you with an understanding for why generic medical advice women are receiving, along with gender bias and dismissal of their symptoms, is not quite hitting the mark. Women are being failed by the healthcare system and we are jaded. However, lets acknowledge the potential safety risks that accompany health info overload, TikTok medical "experts" and uninformed research.

Now, I am a big supporter of empowering everyone to educate themselves and make their own informed medical decisions. I am also a supporter of running your own personal experiments (within reason), listening to your body and following your intuition. In a world of clickbait, scams, influencer marketing and research to support pretty much anything if you look hard enough, it can be almost impossible to figure out what you believe and what is true for you. Not to mention that bio-individuality, placebo affect, beliefs and personal preference impact on health outcomes and research results; there are exceptions to every "rule". 

Research tells us that information overload from social media can have a significant impact on health anxiety and exhaustion (14) and that constantly seeking information can lead to emotional distress (15). We know from this article that health literacy is important, but in this day and age, we also require skills of discernment and social media literacy. So what is the plan of action?

Healthcare for Women

I want to talk about why health info overload may be even more challenging for women and why more women are seemingly turning to the internet and alternative treatment options instead of their doctor. Simply put, women's healthcare experiences and health outcomes overall are… less than ideal compared to our male counterparts. Women live longer than men, but have a greater risk of ill health and higher rates of chronic health and mental health conditions (4, 5). Why? I think it comes down to 3 main reasons - health system inequality, under-representation in literature and lack of funding to women's health issues.

Health system inequality

There is a difference in the way that women are perceived and treated within the healthcare system and I think that it explains why women may feel confused and frustrated by the information and care that they receive. It may also assist in mitigating some of the judgement that exists for those that don't follow "normal" recommended protocols. I want to note that the following statistics may anger you (as they did me) but I hope that they can also soothe the part of you that has ever been made to feel crazy by the medical system.

⦿ Women and girls in Australia experience delayed diagnosis and treatment times, over prescription and dismissal of pain according to the Australian Government Department of Health (6).

⦿1 in 3 women in Australia reported having their health concerns dismissed by physicians, compared to 1 in 6 men (7).

⦿Where 3 in 10 men with ED and 2 in 10 men with BPH are undiagnosed, 8 in 10 women with Menopause and 6 in 10 women with Endometriosis are undiagnosed (8).

⦿A 2008 study found that physicians were 5 times more likely to recommend knee surgery to a male patient than a female patient with the same symptoms and condition (9).

⦿More psychotherapy is prescribed for women with pain and more pain medication is prescribed for men with pain, demonstrating that women's pain is viewed as less intense; women are perceived to "over-estimate" their pain reporting (10).

⦿ Gender bias exists and is demonstrated in the interactions between doctor and patient, as well as the treatment decisions. Women are perceived by physicians to be more emotional; men more brave. (11).

Under-representation in Literature

In a 2022 review of the literature, it was demonstrated that not only are there inadequate amounts of women being included in medical literature, only a small proportion of research acknowledge this lack of diversity as a limitation (12). This is important because medical research is used to develop clinical guidelines for our physicians to utilise in their treatment and recommendations. If there are no women in the studies, we can't be sure that the treatment or information we receive is relevant, effective or safe for us! As an example, the review found that in clinical trials used to inform guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease prevention in women, female participation was just 30%. WHAT?? No wonder women are taking matters in their own hands and braving the internet to search for more relevant information. 

Funding for Women's Health

The 2024 World Economic Forum report demonstrated that approximately 1% of healthcare research and innovation is invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology (which was only 4%) despite the greater chronic illness and misdiagnosis rates in women than men (13). The wildest thing of all is that the report also found that for every $1 invested in women's health, there is a return of $3 in economic growth - but still, the investment is not there. What I take from this is that the gap in healthcare between women and men is not being addressed appropriately. The statistics above are disheartening to say the least, and I think that women are tired of waiting for change to come; they are taking it into their own hands.

Bio-individuality = every person is different and multi-faceted, meaning the have different medical and lifestyle requirements

Feel free to read this article that discusses health outcomes for First Nations people, migrants and refugees, LGBTQI+ people and people with disabilities.

Potentially creating, or revealing, division, judgement and confusion amongst us all!

Research for my fellow geeks:

• US Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Literacy (2004)

• OJIN article on Health Literacy Challenges and Strategies by N Egbert & K M Nanna (2009)

• Aust Government - Dept Health and Aged Care on Patient Related Barriers to Cervical Screening (updated 2023)

• Aust Government - Dept Prime Minister and Cabinet Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality Paper (2023)

• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation article discussing The Lancet Public Health Study (2024)

• Aust Government - Dept Health and Aged Care on Ending Gender Bias in Australia's Healthcare System (2023)

• S Dalzell of ABC News on the Dismissal of Women's Health Concerns (2021)

• D Burns & colleagues of McKinsey & Company on Closing the Data Gaps in Women's Health (2023)

• C M Borkhoff & colleagues article on Patient Sex and Physician Recommendations (2008)

• L Zhang & colleagues on Gender Bias in Pain Estimation (2021)

• A Samulowitz & colleagues on "Brave Men" and "Emotional Women" in Healthcare (2018)

• L Merone & colleagues - a Systematic Review on Sex Inequalities in Medical Research (2022)

• World Economic Forum on The Women's Health Gap (2024)

• Wu & Pei on Social Media Overload & Health Information (2022)

• J Hwang & colleagues on The Relationship Between COVID-19 Information Seeking and Emotional Distress (2021)

• I Kahleel & colleagues' review on Health Information Overload (2020)

• L Griese & colleagues on Navigation Health Literacy (2020)

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare article on Determinants of Health (2024)

• World Economic Forum on Conditions that Highlight the Women's Health Gap (2024)

• British Heart Foundation on Heart Attach Misdiagnosis in Women (2016)

• A O'Connell-Domenech article on the Struggle for Women to Prioritise Health (2024)

I was having fun with the analogies...

Health Literacy

Health literacy is essentially the ability to access and understand health information to make appropriate decisions (1). This includes skills such as basic literacy and numeracy, as well as complex processing and decision making, motivation, interpretation, discernment, memory, self-advocacy and communication. In today's age, it also includes the ability to utilise the internet and technology - a privilege not everyone is afforded. I also think that the level of health literacy required to navigate the current barrage of health information is increasing every year, meaning that our system demands more and more from us.

Even back in 2009, health literacy was believed to be a stronger predictor of health outcomes than social and economic status, education, gender and age (2). Reduced health literacy can mean reduced health outcomes, increased medical costs, more time spent at doctors/in hospitals, avoidance of treatment, a high likelihood of falling prey to misinformation and feelings of intimidation. Those at risk of lower health literacy are vulnerable groups, minorities and those with reduced access to internet and education. In 2023, the Australian Government reported that almost 60% of Australian adults have low health literacy (3).

My point is, health literacy is the first and potentially most important factor in improving your ability to navigate health information. Please see the recommendations at the bottom of this article for tips on improving yours!

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The article at a glance

To avoid contributing to the information overload, here is a summary of some of the main points if that is all your brain can cope with today (I get it):

⦿ Health Literacy = ability to understand, interpret and apply health information to ensure appropriate outcomes for your health - super important skill in navigating info overload!

⦿ Health system inequality, under-representation in health literature and lack of funding = Women may be feeling more frustrated and turning to the internet/alternative medicine to find answers for their health that they aren't getting from their doctors.

⦿ Getting health advice online can be a safety concern.

⦿ Info overload and constantly researching can = anxiety, exhaustion and emotional distress.

⦿ Solutions = Improve health literacy, improve research skills, improve intuition and rely on the basics when in doubt (refer to the solutions section for resources and actionable tips).