How to Have a Healthy Vagina for Woman – Flower Power® Feminine Health

How to Have a Healthy Vagina for Women

First, having a healthy vagina starts with good overall health, starting from exercise, eating a healthy diet, supplementation, sleep, and stress management. Exercise, especially, helps in maintaining good function down there. Running, walking, and kegel exercises help ton your pelvic floor muscles.

However, vaginal health plays a critical role in a woman's general health. That's because having vaginal issues can affect her sexual desire, her fertility even her capacity to have an orgasm during intercourse. Plus, vaginal problems cause relationship problems detrimental to the woman as they may impact her self-confidence.

Second, it's good to understand your cycle. You could have a Callender to assist you to know your menstrual cycle and point where you had an irregular cycle. This way, you can tell when you need to put on pads and tampons and when you don't. Through this article, you'll see what's a healthy vagina, the symptoms of vaginal problems and how you can keep your vagina happy. Let's go!

Healthy Vagina

healthy vagina

First, the vagina is part of the woman's reproductive system, referred to as the birth canal. There is a difference between the vulva and the vagina. The vulva is the outward vaginal opening. Other vital parts of a female reproductive system: the labia, clitoris, Bartholin's gland, Skene's glands, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, fimbriae, and ovaries.

Usually, you have regular vaginal discharges from sebaceous glands on the vaginal wall and the cervix. The secretions sustain vaginal health as the vagina is more like a self-cleaning oven. These secretions flow daily, cleansing vaginal cells. This process is natural, and you don't have to always use pads for them. Yet it's vital to maintain vaginal hygiene. Vaginal secretions help lubricate the vaginal during intercourse and protect it from irritation and injury.

In cleaning your genitals, you could use soaps to clean the outer area. But you should avoid using those feminine hygiene products in cleaning the vagina as they interrupt the natural balance of your vaginal bacteria.

A healthy vaginal discharge should have no odor, and it's primarily milky or clear. Other signs like vulvar irritation, pain in urination or during intercourse, vaginal discharge with different hues like yellow or green should not accompany it. That's because such colors indicate an underlying condition like a sexually transmitted infection, vaginal yeast infections, and others.

Signs or Symptoms of Vaginal Problems

woman's health

Vaginal discharge helps in determining vaginal problems. Normal discharge should be odorless and milky and should not come with other symptoms. If you notice a thick white discharge that resembles cottage cheese, it's an indicator of a yeast infection. In such cases, burning urination, vaginal itching, pain, and soreness in the vulva accompany the discharge.

You may also notice a grey, thick white, or yellow secretion. This discharge can indicate bacterial vaginosis. Plus, it's usually accompanied by itching and a fishy vaginal odor. When you notice a foul odor, it could indicate trichomoniasis. If your vaginal discharge is brown and bloody, it could mean irregular menstruation or a sign of another underlying condition.

You have a cloudy yellow discharge; chances are you have vaginal infections like Gonorrhea. Also, you may notice other color changes like pink or yellow, or green. In some other cases, you could observe an increase or a decrease in the amount of the secretions.

Other symptoms include vaginal bleeding after sex, during menopause, or in-between periods. This bleeding may be normal spotting, or it could mean you had an injury during sex. It could also mean you have simple hormonal imbalances because of contraceptives or indicate an underlying health condition. 

You don't need to visit your physical each time you experience vaginal discharge or irritation, especially with a history of a yeast infection. You could use over-the-counter drugs that help with itching. But don't over-indulge with such medications. Should your symptoms persist, you could consult your doctor.

How to Have a Healthy Vagina?

 tips to have healthy vagina

To have a healthy vagina, first, be responsible. When you become sexually active, ensure you are sexually responsible by having one partner. This way, you could avoid introducing multiple bacteria in your vagina, leading to vaginal infections. Also, even when you are sure of your partner, ensure you use a condom for intercourse. Condoms limit the number of bacteria introduced during sex.

Second, consider getting vaccinated. HPV is the virus that causes hepatitis B and cervical cancer. With these, your vaginal health is at significant risk. Having one partner may also help prevent hepatitis B because it's a sexually transmitted disease.

Doing everyday exercises like walking and running will help a great deal. But Kegel exercises will help you tone up your pelvic floor, ideal for vaginal health. These exercises also help decrease the chances of having Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.

Also, know your contraceptives and medications. You can discuss the use of drugs with your doctor. You could also learn the various side effects of the medicines before taking them. That's because some medications will affect the pH of your vagina, while you could have the ones with no such effects.

What Does a Healthy Vagina Smell Like?

vagina smells

A healthy vagina has a mild musky scent that's not unpleasant. The smell is slight as any solid or bad smell is unusual and may require consulting with your physician. The vaginal scent comes from vaginal discharge.

Thus a healthy vagina releases small amounts of secretions throughout the menstrual cycle, which has a scent that's no foul. These fluids show that your vagina is self-cleaning from dead and old cells, bacteria, and secretions, thus maintaining vaginal health. This mechanism helps in preventing vaginal infections.

Therefore, while assessing your vaginal health, be sure to note the time of your vaginal discharge, its color, and the scent.

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7 Tips on How to Keep Your Vagina Happy

1. Consider Cotton Underwears

Skimpy panties made from silk, lace, or other synthetic fabric are aesthetically appealing. But they limit the air circulation down there, which increases the chances of having vaginal health problems.

These underpants trap moisture from your sweat. Plus, the reduced circulation causes a high temperature in your pubic area. This environment promotes the growth and multiplication of harmful anaerobic bacteria.

Instead, you could consider loose cotton panties. That's because cotton is a breathable fabric. As such, it allows proper circulation promoting your vaginal health, and thus prevents infections. Plus, loose cotton underwear is comfy, light, and lowers the chances of skin rash.

2. Eat Wisely

woman eating healthy food

Some foods like yogurt, leafy veggies, cranberry juice, fruits, soy products, etc., help keep your vagina healthy and happy. These foods help in sustaining the beneficial bacteria in your lady parts. They also lower the chances of having a solid order.

These foods are opposed to onions, garlic, some spices, asparagus, refined carbs, etc. These foods are a terrible idea for your vaginal health as they can affect your moisture balance down there, which causes an odor.

Alcohol causes vaginal dehydration. Moreover, you will have problems with vaginal lubrication during intercourse. Other foods like sugars and sweets increase glucose elimination in your urine. Increased glucose elimination creates a conducive environment for vaginal yeast.

3. Consider Boosting Your vaginal Healthy Bacteria

happy woman

In the vagina, you have good bacteria known as normal vaginal flora. Such include lactobacilli species that secrete lactic acid, maintaining the vaginal ph balance levels. With reduced circulation, bad sexual habits, and sex toys, you can cause bacterial growth. Boric acid suppositories also help.

Their overgrowth causes conditions like bacterial vaginosis, which paves the way for other infections. However, you could have a natural deficit of healthy vaginal bacteria. Therefore, consider probiotics that boost your levels of lactobacilli. Note, supplementation is an excellent option in eliminating your risk factors

4. Have Safe Vulvovaginal Health Practices

After peeing, you don't wipe from back to front as some often do. You could introduce anal bacteria in your vagina. Instead, swipe from front to the back. In the same way, while having anal sex, don't allow him to shift from back there to the vagina without changing the condom. But you could switch from the vagina to the anus.

Plus, you do not want anal bacteria anywhere near your vagina. They create infections like genital warts. What's more? Always use condoms when intimate with open partners or with new ones. It keeps your lady parts happy.

On the other hand, sex toys are a terrible idea. You could injure yourself. Ensure that you clean well before you have vaginal sex. You could also clean your vulva and the whole pubic area to reduce the chances of introducing bacteria to your system. Also, ensure the partner cleans theirs well too.

5. Avoid Soaps

Vaginal pH ranges between 3.8-4.5. When you use soaps or other feminine hygiene products, chances are, you'll alter the vaginal pH. You'll also affect the moisture and the temperature balance.

Moreover, the harsh chemicals present in these products could wipe away the good bacteria and irritate the vaginal wall. This irritation could result in itching and yeast formation. To keep your vagina clean, use unscented soap and clean once a day.

6. Maintain Hygiene

vagina hygiene

Women's health and vaginal infections are influenced extensively by their hygiene habits, whether it's during pregnancy or regular times. Thus, remember to pat dry and wipe lady parts after a shower. Instead of a bath, consider a shower because the dirty water flows without chances of getting into your vagina.

During your periods, change tampons or sanitary pads often. Here, avoid panty liners, sanitary pads, or tampons for a normal healthy discharge as unnecessarily they increase moisture which causes harmful bacteria to grow and spread.

7. Don't Douche

Douching seems like a good option when you have an unpleasant odor in your vagina. If you must clean your vagina, consider non-scented soaps and clean the vulva, not the vagina.

Women love smelling summery flesh which is the primary reason for douching. However, you need to know that your genitals have a unique personal scent. But you could adjust your diet. Pineapples could make your vaginal smell sweeter. Some spices like asparagus have the opposite effect.

Conclusion

In conclusion, having a healthy vagina requires overall body health. Body and pelvic floor exercises, having a balanced diet in your meals could go a long way in having vaginal health. However, several steps could significantly help to maintain your health down there.

You could limit alcohol consumption and smoking. These two drugs can cause bacterial vaginosis, affecting bacterial growth in the birth canal. Plus, alcohol impairs sexual function, and nicotine inhibits arousal, let alone the fact that substance abuse causes poor mental and physical health. Poor mental health will affect vaginal health.

For your everyday health, regular pelvic exams, practicing safer sex, eating healthy, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and other underlying health conditions go a long way in having vaginal health.


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