US News and World Report reaches out to Heather Jeffcoat for an article entitled "Tips for Better Vaginal Health"

Here is an excerpt from this thorough and very informative article by Vanessa Caceres:

For women, vaginal health is an important part of overall health. However, vaginal health is often shrouded in mystery and a little confusion. How do you keep your vaginal area clean? What can make it prone to infection? What types of vaginal odors are normal, and which ones are not? Here's a guide to help address questions you might have about vaginal health.

If you’ve trained for a marathon or half marathon, you’re well acquainted with the dangers of shin splints, pulled muscles, and joint injuries.

And you probably take deliberate care to avoid them.

But it may surprise you to learn female distance runners face a little-known health risk that can have serious, even permanent, consequences.

I’m talking about Female Athlete Triad (FAT).

A recent article in the Journal Of Women’s Health Physical Therapy defines the condition by its three components: “low energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone density”. Those components form a chain reaction of problems that build on each other. Unchecked, each one can lead to long-term health issues from hormonal imbalance to lowered metabolism and immunities, to osteoporosis. But it’s easily ignored by those who suffer from it, and misdiagnosed by their doctors.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – pelvic pain isn’t in your head, it’s in your muscles.

But could it also be in your birth control?

That’s one of many questions a team of scientists from the European Society of Sexual Medicine set out to answer recently by taking a comprehensive look at the current body of research on how hormonal contraception can affect female sexuality.

Sadly, the first takeaway is no surprise. We need more research – a lot more. And of all the different facets of female sexuality they examined, pelvic floor and urological symptoms got the least attention from the scientific community.