Prime Time: The African American Woman's Complete Guide to Midlife Health and Wellness

Today seven million African American women are living in their prime, experiencing the joys, the challenges, and the opportunities of middle age. Now, at last, here is the book that specifically addresses our total health needs--physical, emotional, and spiritual. Written by a distinguished physician and clinical psychologist, Prime Time is the first complete guide that empowers us to take charge of our lives and attain the well-being we deserve.

In many ways, it's true that we are better off today than our foremothers were: We earn more money, command more respect. Yet in spite of these advances, we still experience more chronic health problems, endure more stress, and live shorter lives than women of other races. That's why Prime Time is both urgent and essential. This groundbreaking book not only lays out a detailed, practical plan for overall healing and for maintaining wellness, it also addresses the underlying attitudes and assumptions that lead so many of us to neglect ourselves and undermine our own health.

It's time for us as African American women at midlife to start putting ourselves first. We can save our own lives and stop ourselves from dying too soon. To do this, we each need to acquire up-to-the-minute information about our unique health concerns, adjust our diet and exercise program, and use the "power of prevention" to improve the quality of daily life. Prime Time helps you do all this and more by combining both traditional medicine and a holistic approach. It covers the full range of health options you can incorporate into your life, starting now--including self-tests and quizzes that reveal your health profile and vital tips on dealing with the often-overwhelming health-care system.

A central section on the Big Four--heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes--explores why black women run a high risk of developing these conditions, why they so often go undetected and untreated, and what we can do about them. Prime Time also deals powerfully and directly with the psychological and spiritual issues that stand in the way of our true well-being. Historically, African American women have been expected to function as "strong black women" to overcome the harsh realities with which we've been confronted. Anger and "attitude" have often become part of our protective shield. Prime Time provides sensible, usable, and even enjoyable methods you can employ to overcome anxiety and other negative moods, channel anger in life-affirming ways, and find "Prime Time Sisters" to share this wonderful journey with you.

Comprehensive, straight-talking, and grounded in science and spiritual truth, Prime Time is at once a guide to total health in middle age and a celebration of the strength, wisdom, and beauty of African American women in their second half of life.

Marilyn Hughes Gaston, M.D., is Director of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration, in addition to her duties as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States. She has served in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service since 1977 and currently holds the rank of Rear Admiral. Since 1987, she has served on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of Health Science and Howard University.  Working in the medical field for more than thirty years, Dr. Gaston is a member of the National Medical Association, has received numerous awards, and is a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gayle K. Porter, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist and a Principal Research Analyst and Mental Health Advisor for the American Institutes for Research. Dr. Porter has been on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University/Hospital, and is an adjunct professor at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. Throughout her thirty years as a health professional, she has won awards from many prestigious organizations including the Black Mental Health Alliance and the Association of University Women.  She is a member of the Association of Black Psychologists.