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Women's health checks: the guides
Iron, bones, thyroid and sleep. The checks worth asking for and the numbers behind them.
4 guides by Sian Anderson. Every clinical claim links to its source. Information, not medical advice. Updated 21 October 2026.
Iron deficiency, an underactive thyroid, thinning bones and broken sleep are all more common in women, and all are easy to miss when you are busy and putting everyone else first.
These guides set out the blood tests and checks worth asking for, the numbers your results should sit within, and how weight loss changes each one.
The guides
Iron, tiredness and heavy periods: the blood test to ask for
Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient shortfall in UK women and heavy periods are the usual cause. What ferritin means, the foods that help, why tea and calcium get in the way, and how to take tablets without the stomach upset.
Bone health while losing weight: calcium, vitamin D and load
Fast weight loss lowers bone density a little, and women lose bone fastest after the menopause. The 700mg calcium target, the 10 microgram vitamin D rule, who should ask for a DEXA scan and the exercise that loads bone.
Thyroid checks for women: when weight will not shift
Women are up to ten times more likely than men to have an underactive thyroid, and the symptoms copy both weight gain and weight loss medicine side effects. The TSH test, levothyroxine timing with a slow stomach, and the thyroid warning on the leaflets.
Sleep and weight loss: the link that runs both ways
Short sleep raises appetite hormones and makes weight loss slower. Weight loss in turn improves sleep apnoea, which is under-diagnosed in women. The 7 to 9 hour target, the injection timing that stops night nausea, and the snoring questions to ask.
Where this overlaps
Bodies do not sort themselves into chapters. These guides from other sections come up again and again alongside this one.
- Tired all the time: the causes in women and the tests to ask for (Being heard: women and medicine)
- Perimenopause, HRT and weight loss medicines (Weight loss medicines and women)
- Hair loss on weight loss medicines: why it happens and when it stops (Weight loss medicines and women)
- Periods on a weight loss jab: what changes, and when to worry (Weight loss medicines and women)
- Heavy periods: what counts as heavy and the treatments that work (Periods, pain and hormones)
- Strength training at home: 20 minutes, no kit, twice a week (Strength and movement)
- Protein on a small appetite: how much, and how to fit it in (Eating well on a smaller appetite)
- Early menopause and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) (Menopause and midlife)
Women's health checks: questions
Which blood tests should women ask for when tired?
A full blood count and ferritin for iron, thyroid function, vitamin B12 and folate, and a coeliac screen are the usual starting set. The tired all the time guide explains each.