So I admit that like most people, I have been obsessed with Dara Torres’s amazing 41-year-old abs. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Olympic swimmer Ms. Torres has become an iconic figure ever since a stunning Robert Maxwell photo of her appeared in The New York Times Magazine.

Dara Torres and her abs. (Robert Maxwell)

As my colleagues at the Rings blog have noted, Ms. Torres and her “phenomenally ripped” belly have become the “physical ideal for mothers, women at or approaching middle age, and just women in general.”

Estelle Parsons, 80, at home. (Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)

But I’m going to suggest a new candidate to represent the physical ideal for women, young and old and in the middle. As reported in today’s Times, Estelle Parsons, a star of the Broadway show “August: Osage County,” has been winning acclaim not just for her acting but for the high level of fitness her demanding role requires. What’s amazing is that she is 80.

While Ms. Torres has a head coach, a sprint coach, a strength coach, two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny, all at the cost of at least $100,000 per year, Ms. Parsons’s stamina is a tribute to a lifetime of simple physical fitness.

She lifts weights, swims 30 minutes twice a week and takes a 30-minute bike ride on two other days. She takes a break from exercise on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when she has two performances. She swims, hikes or bikes on her Mondays off work. She also cross-country skis and does yoga in her dressing room and at home whenever she gets a few minutes.

“I’ve always been a fit person,” Ms. Parsons said. “I’ve been acting all my life, and I’ve always felt you should be in shape. I’m used to devoting my whole life to the work and what it requires.”

To read more about this amazing woman, click here.

What do you think? Would you rather be a Dara or an Estelle?

Viagra doesn’t work as a treatment for women, most studies show. But new research suggests that among women who suffer sexual side effects as a result of antidepressants, the little blue pill may help.

Sexual side effects due to antidepressant treatment are common, affecting from 30 percent to 70 percent of men and women who use the drugs. In the first month of treatment, about two out of three patients will stop using antidepressants, often citing sexual side effects as a reason.

In a new study, researchers studied the effects of Viagra and a placebo in 98 women, average age of 37, who were using antidepressants for major depression. All the women also reported sexual side effects like lack of arousal or difficulty achieving orgasm. For eight weeks, the women took either Viagra or a placebo pill one to two hours before having sex. Read more…

Among the many challenges women with breast cancer face, here’s one most people don’t pay attention to: a smaller paycheck.

Breast cancer may take a toll in the form of missed work and lost wages. (C. M. Glover for The New York Times)

A new report, published online in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, highlights the financial toll breast cancer takes on women. The study focused on 459 Canadian women who were working at the time they were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. It found that the women lost, on average, more than a quarter of their typical income during the first 12 months after their diagnosis.

The researchers, from Laval University in Quebec City, note that while many studies have assessed the economic impact of breast cancer on the overall health system, few studies have examined the impact the disease has on the financial status of patients and their families. Read more…

Is coping with menopause harder in rural areas? (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg News)

Menopause — a time of hot flashes, poor sleep and mood shifts — can be a difficult time for any woman. But women who live in rural areas may suffer more, a new study shows.

The menopausal experience varies widely among women. It’s estimated that about 75 percent of women experience hot flashes, ranging from mild to severe. But many women report debilitating symptoms that interfere with family life, relationships and work. The impact of menopause often depends on where a woman is in her life. A woman who works in a relaxed office with other middle-aged women may be less troubled by menopausal symptoms than a woman who is caring for an elderly parent and can’t afford the heart-pounding, sweaty distraction of a hot flash.

Living in a rural environment can add extra pressures to coping with menopause, notes a report in the latest issue of The Journal of Advanced Nursing. Read more…

For years, scientists have shown a link between stress and poor health. But a new study highlights how in women, chronic daily stress may be far more damaging than major stressful events like divorce or job loss.

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia studied how stress affects the body’s ability to fight off the human papillomavirus, or H.P.V. The virus is spread during sexual intercourse, and while most infections disappear over time, common subtypes of H.P.V. can sometimes lead to cervical cancer. Read more…

The Internet is filled with unreliable health information and bogus claims. But sites dedicated to breast cancer information appear to have a high level of accuracy, a new study shows.

Texas researchers recently analyzed 343 Web pages, retrieved using search engines that consumers are likely to use when seeking information about breast cancer. The study, published online today in the medical journal Cancer, turned up 41 inaccurate statements on 18 of the Web sites, or an error rate of just 5.2 percent.

Previous studies of cancer-oriented Web sites have found a high prevalence of false or misleading information online, the authors noted. Although breast cancer Web sites have a surprisingly good track record for accuracy, the downside is that there is no reliable way for consumers to determine which sites contain accurate information, the researchers found. Web sites displaying complementary and alternative medicine were 15 times more likely to contain false or misleading health information than more conventional medical sites, the researchers said. Read more…

The diet book called “Skinny Bitch” has been flying off bookstore shelves, buoyed by the modeling pedigree of its authors and a frank “stop eating crap” message that distinguishes it from traditional diet books.

But this week, Salon magazine is taking “Skinny Bitch” to task, claiming it preys on the insecurities of dieters and people with eating disorders. “The only thing this weight-loss book will help you lose is self-esteem,” states the article.

As reported last fall in The Times, “Skinny Bitch” looks like a diet book for the chick-lit generation, but inside is a hardcore vegan message. Readers attracted by the book’s irreverent tone have been surprised to encounter chapters on meat and poultry farming practices.

Salon writer Julie Klausner says that in addition to the hidden vegan agenda, the book’s authors, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, have filled the book with “punitive dieting tactics that prey on women’s insecurities about their bodies.” Ms. Barnouin is a former model, and Ms. Freedman is a former modeling agent. Read more…

The smoking gender gap has narrowed. (Morris Mac Matzen/Reuters)

For centuries women have been told not to smoke. Today, it’s with good reason — smoking is killing women in record numbers.

But historically, the message that women shouldn’t smoke was mired in gender politics, as chronicled in a fascinating column in today’s Wall Street Journal. The column, Deja Vu, written by Cynthia Crossen, takes a colorful look back at early anti-smoking efforts aimed at women.

“A man may take out a woman who smokes for a good time, but he won’t marry her, and if he does, he won’t stay married,” editorialized The Washington Post in 1914.

“Young fellows go into our restaurants to find women folks sucking cigarettes,” argued New York alderman Peter McGuinness in 1922. “What happens? The young fellows lose all respect for the women, and the next thing you know the young fellows, vampired by these smoking women, desert their homes, their wives and children, rob their employers and even commit murder so that they can get money to lavish on these smoking women.” Read more…

Controlling unwanted body jiggling can be a pain. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times)

At a recent school function, a mother started talking to me about her exercise routine, but I interrupted with a more pressing question. “What sports bra do you use?”

Ask any woman who has jogged, jumped or cycled and she will tell you the importance of a good sports bra. My Well column in today’s Science Times looks at the often overlooked “jiggle factor” of exercise — the fact that bouncing belly fat, breasts and thighs can make exercise unpleasant and sometimes impossible for people who are overweight.

But every woman, regardless of size, knows about the jiggle factor. A recent study of breast biomechanics at the University of Portsmouth in Britain found that when women exercise, their breasts essentially move in a figure eight.

The first sports bra was created in 1977 when two runners, Hinda Miller and Lisa Lindahl, sewed together two jockstraps to create the Jogbra. The business was later sold to Sara Lee Corporation, which owns Playtex bras, and several other firms now make variations on the theme. Read more…

Cutting class? (Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)

Pregnant women are cutting childbirth class.

Although women are more obsessed than ever with health during their pregnancies, they seem to have lost interest in learning about the end of pregnancy, also known as childbirth, reports the November issue of Fit Pregnancy magazine. Read more…

Several years ago I got a call from a 30-year-old publicist who had just been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. It was becoming increasingly clear to her that cancer, particularly her form of it, was a disease for old people. “I can’t find anybody my age with cancer,’’ she told me.

While there’s never a good age to get cancer, people in their 20s and 30s can feel particularly isolated. The average age of a cancer patient at diagnosis is 67. Children with cancer often are treated at pediatric cancer centers, but young adults have a tough time finding peers, often sitting side-by-side during treatments with people who could be their grandparents.

In her new book “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips,” writer Kris Carr looks at cancer from the perspective of a young adult who confronts death just as she’s discovering life. Ms. Carr was 31 when she was diagnosed with stage IV epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a rare form of vascular cancer that had generated tumors on her liver and lungs. Read more…

For some women, big purses mean big trouble. (Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times)

Searching for my car keys the other day, I started removing items from my purse. My 8-year-old daughter stared in wonderment. “It’s just like Mary Poppins,” she exclaimed. “Stuff just keeps coming out of there.”

She was right. I had been carrying a small laptop, various chargers, a book, two magazines, files from work, a makeup bag, a hairbrush, a few bills to pay and a wallet. But I haven’t always carried my life on my shoulder. This is a relatively new phenomenon, started after I purchased a roomy canvas megabag from the Gap a few months ago. Read more…

(Posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate)

The death of a cartoon character from breast cancer has stirred emotions and controversy in the cancer community.

Lisa Moore, a character in the widely syndicated Funky Winkerbean comic strip, had been battling breast cancer in the funny pages since 1999. Earlier this month she stopped chemotherapy, dying in hospice care on Oct. 4. “A good cartoonist is one who can make people laugh,” Regina Brett, a breast cancer survivor and former president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, told ABC News. “A great cartoonist is one who can make people laugh in the midst of fear, sadness and uncertainty.” Read more…

Advertising Age highlights a short film created for the Campaign for Real Beauty, an effort to build self-esteem in young girls launched by Dove soap, a division of Unilever. As columnist Bob Garfield says, “In one brief minute, it indicts the culture’s obsession with Barbie-doll exteriors, raises the consciousness of girls and women and exposes the inner ugliness of the so-called beauty industry. And you can’t take your eyes off of it for a second.”

Despite praising the film, called Onslaught, Mr. Garfield also notes that Unilever owns the Axe/Lynx brand, a men’s deodorant backed by ads that portray women as “slinky sex toys.” And while the film makes a strong visual statement about yo-yo dieting, Mr. Garfield says, Unilever also owns Slim-Fast, a diet drink.

Says Mr. Garfield, “We’d like to believe that the values embraced here are invulnerable to the onslaught of market forces. But we don’t.”

Does alcohol threaten a woman’s health? (Owen Franken for The New York Times)

A new study linking alcoholic beverages to breast cancer has left many women in a panic. Should you give up evening cocktails? Should you stop cooking with wine?

The latest data, gathered by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., are based on the drinking habits of more than 70,000 women who supplied dietary information during health examinations between 1978 and 1985. The truth is, the findings aren’t nearly as scary as they sound. Read more…