The vagina is designed to self-clean itself and should be treated gently. Its pH level is slightly acidic, helping keep bacteria and yeast under control. Douching, sexual contact, and period products can disturb this balance and lead to problems like bacterial vaginosis.
Jefferson nurse midwife Jessica Hayes shares advice to keep your vulva healthy through diet and lubricants. Here are her top suggestions!
Eat a Healthy Diet
Implementing lifestyle practices that promote vaginal health through healthy lifestyle choices is one way to prevent and treat conditions affecting this intimate area. Eating well-balanced meals, exercising regularly and getting adequate rest are proven strategies to boost immunity while encouraging beneficial bacteria that protect vaginal tissue.
A healthy diet helps the vagina maintain its ideal pH balance and thus protect against infections such as bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections, thus helping prevent infections like bacterial vaginosis. A diet rich in probiotic-rich foods like yogurt and kefir as well as eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is especially helpful for maintaining an ideal microflora balance. Water helps lubricate and hydrate, with sugary beverages like soda contributing to unhealthy yeast cells being fed into vagina. Furthermore, stress management techniques and practicing safe sex can all help minimize risks from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which could otherwise result in serious medical complications that require medical intervention.
Exercise Regularly
Physical activity is vital to overall health at any age or stage in life; yet many women fail to recognize that vaginal and pelvic floor exercises also benefit greatly from regular practice.
Strong pelvic muscles can help prevent issues like incontinence and reduce sexual intercourse sensations. Kegel exercises, commonly referred to as pelvic floor exercises, are an effective way of strengthening these muscles; for an additional targeted workout you could use Kegel cones; these weighted balls slide easily into your vagina, strengthening specific areas.
Squats and lunges can also provide great benefit, so be sure to wear loose clothing during exercise, changing after sweating, so your body can breathe easily.
Get Enough Sleep
The vulva is home to an intricate ecosystem of good bacteria that helps ensure it stays healthy, but certain health conditions and behaviors can upend that balance, such as sexually transmitted infections like herpes, chlamydia and warts; forceful sex; or conditions like pelvic inflammatory disease or scarring from surgery or cancer treatments.
Maintaining vaginal health involves more than using harsh soaps and products containing scents; practicing safe sex helps to avoid sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Douching disrupts the natural balance of bacteria and may lead to infections like bacterial vaginosis which may result in fishy-smelling discharge, swelling, or itching. For optimal vaginal health, take regular showers using gentle soap with soft washcloth wipe-down from front to back; sleeping naked or wearing breathable pajamas also promote airflow for improved vaginal health!
Avoid Harsh Cleansers
Clean your external part of your vulva daily with mild, unscented soap to avoid scratching and rubbing that could cause itchy irritation. Your vulva is self-cleaning; any excessive cleaning with chemical products could throw off its balance of bacteria in the area and allow infection-causing organisms to thrive.
Soaping your vulva with regular laundry soap may disrupt its acidic pH balance and increase yeast infections, so consider switching to specially formulated external washes designed for sensitive skin such as lactobacillus acidophilus probiotics as an alternative method for caring for it. Also try not wearing tight yoga pants when working out and changing out sweaty clothing as soon as possible, sleeping naked, and taking lactobacillus acidophilus probiotics as preventive medicine measures for an ideal environment within your vulva.
Practice Safe Sex
Attracting new experiences while practicing safe sexual activity is key to maintaining vaginal health, whether in a relationship or exploring solo. Opting for safer sex methods lowers pregnancy and STD risks while creating a more respectful sexual experience for all parties involved.
Condoms, cervical caps (such as diaphragms), dental dams and lubricants are some of the safer sex methods; however, no matter how carefully used none offer 100% protection from Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
Safe sex involves communicating openly with your partner(s) regarding sexual needs and desires, receiving regular STI testing, using fresh protection between uses, keeping toys clean between uses, as well as keeping fresh protection in their original packages to reduce the spread of STIs.
