...and pelvic floor health
So I bang on about pelvic floor health a lot. Why? Cos it's really important. Why? Cos it is. Why? Just go and tidy your room like I asked.
People sometimes ask me why is important at all. And whether they really REALLY need to do the exercises at all. Or what a pelvic floor is. And so that's the point of the pictures above. Looking at them, we can see the pelvic floor is holding up your bladder and bowel and if you have one, your uterus. You don't want these things not being held where they are. If they're not, you can get leaking - of wee and of poo - and you can be in pain, and in pain during sex. That's not the full list. And that's why we want to look after our pelvic floor health.
Part of this is about doing pelvic floor exercises. If you don't know what they are, I recommend heading here: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/womens-health/what-are-pelvic-floor-exercises/. And yes, if you've had a baby (or babies) you really do need to do them. And I'm afraid, if you haven't, I really recommend you do them. Women are physiologically more prone to pelvic floor dysfunction than men, even if they've not been through birth. And yes, I'm afraid men ideally should be doing them too. How boring for everyone. And they are boring. Really boring. But they're a lot less boring than the list above of potential consequences...
Too many women think it's ok that (especially after they've had a child) that they sneeze and then a bit of wee comes out. Or it's ok they'll never go on a trampoline again. Two things here. 1. If you have a dysfunction maybe you shouldn't just be doing any old exercises, or the exercises you used to do, or the exercises a PT who doesn't really really know their stuff here advises you to do. It changes not just the work you should(n't) do, but also how you should(n't) do the work you do. (n't) 2. If you have an untreated dysfunction it's not ok. It's just not ok. And it's not ok that your friends, and your colleagues, and your mums and sisters and generations of women have put up with it. And it's not ok that generations of (largely male) scientists and doctors have broadly ignored this. You shouldn't be living with it. Do your exercises. Go see a women's health physio. Let's take control back. Partly that's a good idea because bouncy castles are AMAZING. And partly because in menopause these symptoms can really come to the fore. Whether this is due to damage caused during birth and never dealt with, damage cause during birth which was dealt with but leaves a weakness or damage caused by menopause or HRT seems to be up for debate still, which again is an indication that just not enough study has been done on this. But it also means at least we can agree on one thing. Do your exercises.
And tidy your room. It's a f*cking tip.