Unique Health Problems and Biological Changes in your 20's
Ladies and gentlemen, you’re in your twenties. Prepare to encounter and experience life!
For Him and Her
Sexually transmitted infections (or STIs). Your risks for certain diseases change with every decade. With you becoming sexually mature, your biggest concern now is sexually transmitted infection. I’m not saying you’re promiscuous. I am just saying that STIs are quite common.
These days, young adults tend to have more sexual partners. Chlamydial infections (caused by the bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis) takes the royal seat as being the number one sexually transmitted
TREATABLE BACTERIAL infection in New Zealand and in the world. In 2011, the national chlamydia rate was approximated to be 786 cases per 100,000 population. Other strong contenders include gonorrhoea and syphilis.
The best thing you can do about this is to stay updated, wear that thing you and I call a condom, and the most important of all, KNOW YOUR PARTNER. Or we can skip all three and just abstain from sex. Your choice buddy.
The Exciting OE (Overseas Experience). New Zealanders and Australians are so far away from the rest of the world. This is perhaps the reason why travelling overseas creates and brings so much excitement and adventure to our lives.
A lot of young Kiwi’s and Aussie’s want to broaden their experiences and go overseas for work or pleasure. The majority of them still head out to Britain, their gateway to Europe. But they’re also starting to fan out to other destinations like North and South America and Asia. Before you go on this much awaited rite of passage, read about our
travel tips when going abroad.
You’re not INVINCIBLE. You may think you have the recovering power of Wolverine or Spider-man, but guess what, you’re going to be wrong. I used the word going because you’re going to try and challenge your health anyway. That’s what we all try in our early 20’s, only to discover that we’re not as invincible as we thought!
Your immune system is at its height of reign my friend, but it never guarantees immunity from everything. So take care of your health now so that your future self can thank you later. If you catch something take ample time to recover and rest. You can even take supportive supplements like vitamin C and echinacea to give your immune system a helping hand. You can even have these handy to help prevent a cold or flu from taking you down.
In addition, your health and immune system status will benefit much from regular exercise. There are lots of fun forms of exercise to choose from (for our list of fun choices
click here). According to new research, making a commitment to exercise regularly decreases work-home conflict. Huh? Relax. It simply means exercise decreases stress levels in BOTH work and home environments. This translates to more enjoyable and productive scenarios with quality time increasing in both areas.
You’re not INVISIBLE. The journey to find out what and who you want to be in your life has begun. Career choices are sprouting up around you and you’re trying to pick the best one. This can be overwhelming and stressful. But don’t stress yourself out too much. Its not worth it and can negatively affect your health.
Don’t worry, just pick the thing you’re most passionate about. You’ll be spending most of your day doing it so you may as well enjoy it. Remember, we are no longer in times where you stay with one job for your whole adult life. In fact these days it's normal to change your profession at least a couple of time and sometimes as many as 7 times in your working life. So start with one thing you love doing and see where it leads you.
Orthorexia? Yes, that’s right. There’s a new player on the block and it’s not your usual anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. Orthorexia literally means “fixation on righteous eating”. It happens when your obsession to healthy food becomes unhealthy. Your strict healthy eating habits crowd out other activities in your life and destroy relationships. No slip ups or weekly cheat meals allowed here.
For Him
Calling all men out there, around 125 men every year are diagnosed with testicular cancer and about 5 of them die from it. It’s the second leading cancer in New Zealand among 25 to 44 year olds. Scared?
The Cancer Society recommends that men between 15 and 45 years of age, should familiarise themselves with how their testicles normally feel by checking up on them in the bath or shower from time to time. Stop giggling, it may save your life. If you notice anything odd about the family crown jewels, go see your doctor.
For Her
Your annual Pap smear should start around this time to check for HPV infection (Human Papillomavirus). Overall, it’s the most common sexually transmitted disease around the world. A Pap smear is primarily aimed at screening for cervical cancers, but it can also detect the presence of an HPV infection.
In New Zealand, there are two available vaccines to prevent up to 70% of cervical cancers. According to the NCSP (National Cervical Cancer Screening Programme) of New Zealand, the following guidelines should be practiced by every sexually active female:
At that same time, ask your healthcare provider about being screened for STI’s as well. Additionally, have a clinical breast exam to make sure there are no suspicious lumps in your breasts.
As you can see the 20’s are full of health and life challenges, but don’t let these get to you. Every stage of life comes with its own set of changes and challenges. Just get out and enjoy new, fun and safe experiences. After all, you’re only young once!
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