The 9 most common questions women over 40 ask their doctors, according to a menopause expert

Staying healthy as a woman over age 40 starts with asking the right questions, doctors say.Females in this age group face new health challenges and can sometimes get lost in the shuffle of the traditional health care system, according to Dr.Alexa Fiffick, a family medicine physician and menopause practitioner at Concierge Medicine of Westlake in Cleveland, Ohio.As menopause is often viewed as a “taboo topic,” Fiffick — also a clinical fellow at Cleveland Clinic — is working to empower this group of women to take control of their health proactively. “To do that, they need to ask their doctors the right potentially life-saving questions,” she said.In a conversation with Fox News Digital, Fiffick shared the top 9 questions women should be asking — along with her answers.Women have a 50% greater chance of having a misdiagnosed heart attack than men, data shows. It wasn’t until 2020 that the American Heart Association identified menopause as an individual risk factor for heart disease.“This giant, stressful health event wasn’t taken seriously for a long time,” Fiffick said. “Finally, the science supports that menopause is a risk factor for heart disease.

Women absolutely must ask their doctors about their individual risks based on this information, coupled with their medical history.”For adults up to 65 years of age, experts recommend getting 150 minutes per week of exercise, combining moderate-to-vigorous aerobic workouts and strength training sessions.For women in their 40s, lifting weights becomes particularly important, according to Fiffick.“There is a lot of emerging evidence of the benefits of weightlifting — especially lifting weights that are considered heavy,” she said.“It’s been difficult for this age group in the past to lift heavier, because we were all raised to think that weightlifting builds a more masculine structure,” she said.“But it’s really important for bone health and to prevent falls — and it al...