How to be a superwoman? Why are woman not able to focus on themselves? These were some of the topics that were discussed at ‘Me First - A Women’s Health and Wellness Conference’ organised by Indian Women Network (IWN) of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here on Wednesday.

Participants spoke on how they navigated through common issues in a woman’s life which stop them from placing themselves as first priority, how to spot unrecognised depression, importance of sleep, and other topics. Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender inaugurated the conference.

Panel discussion

During a panel discussion, Dr Manjula Anagani, chief consultant - Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Infertility, Maxcure Hospitals, said that because of multiple conditions and expectations from families including cooking, and deadlines at office, women tend to place themselves in the last priority.

“Break the barrier. Start giving attention to yourself and then people will give attention to you. Make people around you accommodate what you want,” Dr. Manjula said.

A specialist in Neurology and Sleep Medicine, Ramadevi Gourineni, managing director of Amara Hospitals, said that it is important for a woman to understand herself before expressing it to others. Responding to a question on unrecognised depression among career-oriented women, the neurologist said that if someone is not able to track down three things that they enjoy doing and look forward to, it is suggested to meet a specialist and get evaluated to see if the person has depression. She said that if someone has chronic depression or family history of depression, it may require some treatment. Apart form doctors, fitness and well-being experts too spoke at the conference.