By Amanda Brown
Women’s Health Week has come and gone, with this year’s them being ‘do it anyway’ – which makes me think of the poem by the same name (often attributed to Mother Teresa).
The overarching theme of the poem is to do good anyway. Build anyway. Be happy anyway. Love anyway.
It makes me reflect on the importance of doing things for yourself; things that are aligned with your values, your core. While this poem talks about service to others, I want to borrow that energy but turn it inward. Towards you.
Women experience high rates of mental health conditions. And it’s no surprise; women are often the default carer, parent, and expected to show up for everyone else. However, within our caregiving nature, the time to care for ourselves often takes last place. Waiting to care for ourselves or our health until there is space or time. The problem is, that moment rarely comes.
So let’s not wait for a perfect time. We’re just going to do it anyway, with five small steps around the basics of good health: fuel, movement, rest, breath, and connection.
Not because you have to ‘overhaul’ your life, but because your health and your body is worth investing in.
FUEL
Can I be honest with you?
For a long time, medical research wasn’t really about women’s bodies. Clinical trials were, and still are, mostly run on male participants. Drug doses, health guidelines, even what “normal” looked like, all built around male physiology. With the emergence of research into women’s bodies, we are seeing that we don’t respond the same.
How what we eat affects us differently across our cycle, through perimenopause, and beyond.
That matters. And it also means your nutrition isn’t just about weight or energy. It’s information your body uses every single day.
Small step #1: Do the thing you know is good for you. Add a piece of real food on your plate. A glass of water before your coffee. That’s it. You don’t need a meal plan. You just need to start somewhere.
MOVE
I’m not going to tell you to go the gym or suddenly grind out 5k.
What I will tell you is this: movement is one of the most powerful tools we have for hormonal regulation, cardiovascular health, and mental wellbeing – and the research backs it for women at every life stage.
But you already knew that, didn’t you!
The gap isn’t in the knowing, but in the doing. Here’s what I tell my clients (and myself): you don’t have to want to. You just have to go.
Put your shoes on before you decide. Walk to the end of the street. See what happens.
The motivation usually comes after the movement. Not before. And sometimes its just about showing up and not what you get done!
Small step #2: Today, take ten minutes to move. Outside, if you can. That’s the whole ask.
REST
I want to talk about something women are not great at giving themselves permission to do: rest.
Here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: women are significantly more likely than men to experience insomnia and disrupted sleep, and it’s not just stress. It is directly tied to hormonal changes. Across our cycle, postpartum, and through perimenopause, our sleep changes. Chronic sleep deprivation affects everything. Mood, immunity, metabolism, emotional regulation.
Small step #3: I wont be popular for this one! Try to turn off your screen a little earlier tonight. Even fifteen minutes. Protect that wind-down window, and it may improve your sleep.
BREATHE
Stress is not just a feeling. It is a biological state – and when it’s chronic, it changes your body. Inflammation, hormonal disruption, immune function, cardiovascular risk.
As a psychologist, the power of mindfulness and breathwork is something I come back to again and again. Slow, intentional breathing directly activates the parasympathetic nervous system. It tells your body: you are safe. You can come down now.
And you don’t need an app, a retreat, or a free hour. You just need three breaths.
Breathe in for four counts. Hold for four. Out for six.
That’s it. Do that right now, thank me later.
Small step #4: Take one intentional pause today. Set a reminder if you have to. Step outside, close your eyes, and breathe.
You can’t remove all the stress. But you can take a moment to connect to your breath.
CONNECT
I saved this one for last because the evidence here genuinely moves me.
Social connection is one of the most powerful protective factors for women’s health; we do better together. We are talking about lower rates of depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, and early death when we connect with each other. Every increase in genuine connection is associated with better health outcomes across every stage of a woman’s life.
We are wired for each other. It is not a ‘nice-to-have’; it is a biological need.
Connection isn’t about big gestures – it doesn’t have to be a girls’ trip or a long heartfelt conversation – but it does require intentional action. This could look like sending that text to a friend, or organising a coffee date, or calling a loved one on the way home (hands-free, of course!). It’s the small regular doses of genuine human connection that matter.
Small step #5: Reach out to one person. Not for any particular reason; just to say you were thinking of them.
Your health doesn’t need to be your whole identity. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs a little attention from you, consistently. You are worth that. Do it anyway.
