Please Leave a Review!  THIS EPISODE COUNTS FOR CE! - but read the disclaimers it might not count for your state. Go here to take the test and get your free CE Credit!   With May being Women’s Health Month, Michelle and today’s co-host Machell Hudson, RDH, from the ‘Reflection Health’ podcast, welcome a guest with an abundance of experience in the field. Dr. Barbara Steinberg, DDS, is a clinical professor of surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine, as well as an adjunct associate professor of oral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine, and an internationally invited lecturer in the areas of dental treatment of the medically compromised patient and women’s health. She has also authored numerous articles and contributed to major textbooks on these subjects, and Dentistry Today has recognized her as one of its Leaders in Continuing Education since 2002.   In today’s episode, Dr. Steinberg discusses the importance of, and the impact of the pandemic upon, many crucial areas affecting women’s health, specifically: nutrition, exercise, stress, support systems, attitudes, routine screenings, eating disorders, intimate partner violence, and heart disease. She concludes by offering her very best advice for all listeners based upon her many years of experience and extensive knowledge and insight.   EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:     Interview starts: 2:44       Dr. Steinberg’s professional history   The impact of the pandemic on women’s health   Nutrition   Exercise   Sleep and practicing good sleep hygiene   Stress   Support systems   Positive attitudes and sense of humor   Routine screenings   Eating disorders and the role hygienists can play in helping to diagnose it   Intimate partner violence (IPV)   Heart disease   Dr. Steinberg’s very best advice     QUOTES:   “The average weight gain during the lockdown was about two pounds per month.”   “One of the very best forms of exercise is walking.”    “If you don't make time for exercise, you'll probably have to make time for illness.”   “Sleep deprivation can be one of the risk factors for coronary artery disease, anxiety, depression, migraines, decreased function of our immune system, increased sensitivity to pain, insulin resistance.”    “Stress just really affects our eating pattern, our sleeping pattern, our ability to concentrate. Stress is also now a risk factor for heart disease.”   “Even a minute a day of meditation will carry you through the day.”   “They say that people that have sex regularly, at least once every two weeks, responded better to stressful situations, and their blood pressure elevated less than those who didn't.”   “Encourage your patients to please keep up with not only their dental appointments, but also all their medical screenings that are germane for their particular age group.”   “People with eating disorders did absolutely terrible during this pandemic.”   “In this time of great uncertainty and disturbance, we face the added danger that isolation brings to those that are struggling with an eating disorder.”   “You'll have a lot of telltale signs in the…orofacial head-neck region that may be a telltale sign that they have an eating disorder that they don't want you to know about.”   “The bottom line is you need to get these people help.”   “If their health is in real jeopardy, I'm going to get the parents involved and the pediatrician.”   “Of the victims of intimate partner violence with physical abuse, 75% will have head and neck orofacial findings.”   “Make sure that before we dismiss them, they feel safe in going home. And if not, you have a responsibility to call up whatever resources you have in your area where you practice…you need to get them there safely.”    “But women also do not believe that some of the symptoms they're having could be cardiac in origin.”   “There are two signs that could be cardiac in origin that most women tend to say, “Oh, it's stress” -