Imagine a week all about you, dedicated to celebrating you and your health, especially your below the belt health. Womens Health Week is that time to set aside time for you and check in on your health. A time to set things straight and get it front and centre as a legit priority…. because it doesn’t help to put things off or keep things all wrapped up and not dealt with, so they drag on and on.
Womens Health Week – All about you!
Womens Health Week, 5 to 11 September, is that time that’s all about you, including our Mums, Nannas, Sisters, friends and all! Along with our community partners at Jean Hailes we’re focusing on our pelvic floor health now and even for a lifetime!
Did you know more than 1 in 10 young women experience incontinence?
More than 1 in 10 of us deal with incontinence or bladder leakage and pelvic floor problems. We think that’s more than 1 in 10 too many. Research shows that this increases as we get older.
So, incontinence is something we talk about a lot in Australia — like if we’re new mums or senior citizens. It’s not something we talk about much if we’re young women, because no one really tells us it’s even a thing. And because no one tells us it’s a thing, the more than 1 in 10 of us who have to deal with it every day, can feel like we have to do this in silence, feeling embarrassed, stressed and like we’re complete weirdos!’
Shout it from the rooftops!
Young women all over the world have had these things we have to deal with silently, that just make us feel totally alone and like we are broken or different. Well, no more!
Here at Go Against the Flow (GATF), we believe it’s always a good call to get things sorted if you’re dealing with stuff that you can do things about….and actually get help with!
GATF was started with one main goal – to let young women know about incontinence; that it does happen, but it doesn’t have to! Improving and even preventing or reducing the risk of incontinence is possible. Getting onto doing the things – like good habits – that set you up for good health for a lifetime we believe is a super good call in achieving this! Making sure you’re drinking well, staying hydrated, having a healthy diet with good fibre intake, having good toilet habits, exercising at least 30 minutes a day and getting familiar with training your pelvic floor muscles are all good healthy habits to have to help reduce the risks of incontinence.
Healthy down below – good pelvic health
Getting aware of our health below is what we’re about – empowering you to get a real handle on things, learn how to look after yourself and be in control!
Incontinence and pelvic floor problems can be experienced in similar or different ways as well as happen for a lot of different reasons:
- Leaking while sneezing, coughing, or exercising is a heart sinking feeling if you’ve ever experienced it.
- The moment you pee a little (or a lot) even when you make every effort possible to hold it in.
- It might be that you’re having a poo that is too big or hard to comfortably push out – causing you to strain and maybe not completely empty.
- It may also be that you find sex painful or have pain in your pelvic area for no reason?
When your pelvic floor muscles are too weak, or too tight/stiff you can experience these symptoms and more.
A workout with a difference – training your pelvic floor muscles
Pelvic floor muscle exercises are a big part of understanding how we get familiar with how things work down below. This includes things to do with controlling the ins and outs of our pee and poo (bladder and bowel) function and even our sexual health and function!
So, training our pelvic floor muscles is super important in getting familiar and keeping them strong and responsive…and that includes being able to relax and release them from any tension too! Just like if you’re working your abs or your biceps or triceps – tightening and then relaxing them!
Join on in with a week dedicated to YOU!
For this Women’s Health Week, we’ll have some helpful information on how to better understand our Pelvic Health and things to do to take better care of ourselves now and beyond. We’ll also have some really practical ‘to dos’ when life gets a little stressful and one young woman’s incredible journey to share her story to inspire you! So, check out our Socials and Website additions and join on in with making it ‘All about You’!
