Why Pelvic Health is an Integral Part of Women’s Health in 2022 and Beyond
National Women’s Health Month takes place each year during the Month of May, and serves as a reminder for women to prioritize their health and wellness. These days we’re talking more than ever about health in general, including mental health, which not too long ago was still considered a private matter hardly, if ever, to be discussed. But as we tackle the challenges of today and achieve progress in some areas by normalizing what was previously considered taboo, we remain largely silent on some of the health issues that affect women. One such issue is stress urinary incontinence, or bladder leaks, caused by things like menopause, high-intensity exercise, or childbirth, which can alter the strength of the pelvic floor over time. The silence around this exceedingly common problem (it affects 1 in 3 women) means the subject of pelvic health continues to lack clarity for a lot of women. It's 2022, and we’re ready for a change. In celebration of this year’s National Women’s Health Month, and in honor of every woman trying to live her best life, let’s open the discussion of women’s wellness by starting with the much-needed conversation around pelvic health.
Talk Therapy Helps Everyone
Sometimes prioritizing your health is as simple as having an open conversation with someone you trust. While we wait for mainstream culture to catch up, help yourself (and other women!) by normalizing the conversation around this perfectly natural, and again, very common issue. The more we feel shame about something like bladder leaks, the less likely we are to talk about it, increasing our chances of feeling alone and isolated in our experience. But with millions of women facing the very same issue, there’s hardly any reason to feel that way at all. Try and remember that our beautiful bodies are taking us through this complicated journey of life and along the way will keep surprising us in ways both good and unexpected. It’s part of the fabric of the human experience, so we might as well share it with one another, and perhaps bring some levity to it if we can.
Get Online
In case you’re finding it difficult to talk to the people in your life or just want to take your mind off things, the internet offers us so many options to find like-minded individuals for just about anything. Prioritizing your health could mean something as simple as joining an online book club or an e-community of bakers or yoga-devotees. It might just be what you need to help you grow your community and gently remind you that your world is so much bigger than any single issue.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New!
The one exercise we’re all somewhat familiar with when it comes to strengthening the pelvic floor muscles responsible for controlling the bladder is the almighty Kegel. But what if they don’t work? According to Dr. Ruth Maher, co-inventor of the INNOVO, 50% of women can’t do Kegel exercises appropriately. This is probably why many women report doing Kegel exercises for years and are still having accidents. Despite their best efforts, this continues to happen because given the location of the pelvic muscles it’s inherently difficult to gauge whether you’re doing the exercise correctly! A clinically proven alternative, INNOVO delivers 180 perfect and complete pelvic floor contractions over each 30-minute session and literally does your Kegels for you while you sit back and relax. It effectively strengthens and re-educates your pelvic floor muscles, so you can live a leak-free life because sometimes taking care of your health means being willing to try something new.
Prioritize Sustainability
2022 sure feels like a good year to ditch the pads, doesn’t it? Especially considering that it takes a single pad 400 years to decompose. But when we say prioritize sustainability, we’re not just talking about the environment, we’re talking about you. When you sincerely prioritize your health, you shift your focus to long-term goals, not short-term solutions and create sustainable health for yourself. For instance, if you’re trying to lose weight, you make the deliberate effort of repeatedly making the right food choices over the instant gratification of fast food or of choosing the daily walk over inaction. When you commit to using INNOVO consistently, you prioritize the long-term benefits of being leak-free in potentially as little as 4 weeks, over the short-term solution of daily pads. You co-create a pad-free future for yourself and the planet. After all, true health is sustainable in every way.
Define What Self-care Looks Like
30 minutes a day. Can you give yourself that? 30 minutes of laying down and watching a show, reading a book or catching up with a friend on the phone while INNOVO strengthens your pelvic floor for you while you sit back and relax. Because those 30 minutes will happen either way. Those weeks will pass either way. With 87% of women defined as dry or nearly dry at the end of twelve weeks of 30 minutes a day (5 days a week), if you prioritize health enough to give yourself the gift of 30 minutes, you get back the freedom of no more pads or liners. The freedom of being able to laugh freely with friends and family, sneezing or coughing without having to cross your legs, and to exercise without worry. You define what self-care looks like every single day.
When it comes to women’s health, a thriving picture of wellness includes a holistic perspective that addresses the body, the mind, and the spirit. And when you make the powerful decision to take action; when self-care becomes a verb in your life, everything changes.
