As a menopause care specialist, I hear almost daily from women who are surprised that sex is painful or less satisfying. Their stories vary, but the theme is the same: “I thought having reached this point in my life— empty nest, career success or retirement— my partner and I could enjoy intimacy in a new, more leisurely way. But my body has betrayed me!”
Yes folks, it’s that time again! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year are just around the corner. But that also means that the dreaded flu season is lurking around the corner, too.
The pelvic floor has become a hot topic lately—common on the internet, talk show chatter and among friends, but what does it mean? The pelvic floor is a group of muscles covering your entire perineum (or bottom)—from pubic bone to tailbone and sit bone to sit bone. It’s located at the base of the pelvis and plays an important role in supporting your spine and organs and controlling urine flow, the bowels and sexual satisfaction! Not a small job for a group of muscles that is typically ignored.
So how do we find these muscles?
Years of leading Tobacco Free programs for Holland Hospital’s Healthy Life Programs have adjusted my high hopes of graduating big classes of “quitters” to the reality that just a trickle will show up ready to do the legwork required to abstain from tobacco. At a recent brainstorming session to tackle new programming ideas, one co-worker voiced the truthful blow: "quitting smoking is just not sexy!”
Do you get a ‘cold’ at the same time every year? Does it come on suddenly, especially when seasons change and last for weeks? It may be difficult to know if the symptoms you're experiencing are due to a cold or allergies. While the two share similar symptoms, their causes and treatments are different.
I spend most of my working hours at a place called Healthy Life Programs. For a person interested in her personal wellness, there couldn’t be a better environment for me. “Good Health” is in full swing around here. If you walk through our office, you’ll notice a nice kitchen with a full-size fridge. Open that fridge and you WON’T see sugary drinks, lots of sweet desserts, bags of take-out, or highly processed foods. You WILL see a glut of salad greens, multiple containers of low-fat yogurt and whatever fruit was on sale this week, and crisper drawers stuffed with fresh produce.