20 Years of Strength + Sweat

In April of 2005, we launch our first-ever official print issue into a world that looks very different from today’s. A few months earlier, George W. Bush was sworn in for his second presidential term.

- Currie Engel

The iPod Nano is about to be released, and Hurricane Katrina is four months away from barreling into Louisiana. The terms GLP-1 and Apple Watch aren’t in regular circulation, and talking about topics like postpartum depression, eating disorders, and “my therapist” will get you funny looks. It has been only 12 years since a law finally mandated that women be included in clinical trials and 11 years since the FDA created its Office of Women's Health.

Our very first cover offers some directives we've long since retired, like “Easy Ways to a Flat Belly!” and “Tight ABS! Toned ARMS! Trim THIGHS!” But it includes others we still deeply believe in—stories that help women live their happiest, healthiest lives by providing essential service on how you can “Power Up Your Diet,” explore the “Secrets to Amazing Sex,” and get stronger with “New Weight Workouts.” Like you, we've evolved.

In the first editor's letter, executive editor Kristina M. Johnson explains the engine that she hopes will drive WH. “The truth about smart, successful women's lives, as we all know, is that they’re always slipping out of balance in one way or another,” she writes. “It’s easy to lose sight of the important things—your health, your peace of mind, your friends and family, and your dreams. That's where Women’s Health comes in. We want to help you keep growing every day, to strive to live the life that you consider perfect.” This mission still drives editorial decisions today.

When reflecting on what has changed in women’s health care over the past decades, nearly all of the WH advisors interviewed for this feature pointed to the same big achievements: better representa-tion—in the doctor's office, research, treatments and diagnoses, pain management protocols—and more information. In 2007, female ob-gyns represented half of all doctors in the specialty, says