Summer is finally here! The summertime is an opportunity to prioritize your health and wellbeing, especially for women. There are several different aspects which comprise healthy living such as nutrition, exercise and mental wellness. It is important to balance these components, so your body is healthy all around.
If you don’t know where to start, Foothills Urogynecology has a few tips and tricks to help reinforce summer wellness for women. Let’s start off with everyone’s favorite topic: food! An important nutritional tip is not skipping breakfast. Starting your day with a nourishing meal is needed to break your body’s overnight fasting period and replenish your glucose levels to boost energy.
A crucial part of a balanced diet is consuming vital nutrients for your body to perform. Women are more likely than men to develop osteoporosis, so it’s important to ensure you’re getting your daily intake of calcium. Vitamin D is essential to help with the metabolism of calcium. Sources of vitamin D include sunlight, eggs and milk. Magnesium helps increase the absorption of calcium from the bloodstream to your bones. Almonds, spinach and broccoli all contain considerable amounts of magnesium and strawberries contain vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants. The nutrients in strawberries help your sex hormones stay balanced, diminish PMS symptoms and increase chances of fertility.
Staying hydrated this summer is one of the most important aspects of living a healthy lifestyle. In the summer, temperatures increase and so do outdoor activities. These factors make it very easy for our bodies to have increased water loss. Luckily, watermelon contains 92% of water which helps replenish the hydration you need. Watermelon also helps regulate the flow of urine. It eliminates inflammation from infection and kills bacteria. As a result, this helps reduce Urinary Tract Infections (UTI).
Another essential factor to your health is physical movement. Here are some tips to get the best out of your workout. First, ease into your routine. Walking can be a great type of exercise as it’s one of the most accessible ways to workout. The long-term Nurses’ Health Study found that walking three times a week (30 minutes per day) can lower a woman’s risk of heart disease by 30% to 40%.
For more intense exercise, running for the same amount of time helps increase bone density and cardiovascular health. This is important as most females’ estrogen levels drop during menopause, causing increased bone loss. On average, women lose up to 10% of their bone mass in the first five years of menopause, according to the National Library of Medicine. Running helps strengthen those muscles, allowing women to maintain healthy bone density.
Taking care of your mental health is as important as nutrition and exercise for your body’s wellbeing. The sun is proven to elevate your mood, including benefits like improving your sleep cycle and strengthening your immune system and bones.
Foothills Urogynecology emphasizes the importance of sleep for women. During your menstrual cycle, women experience hormonal changes, such as sudden drops in progesterone, which can affect the body’s temperature control. As a result, sleep quality can also be impacted.
Anxiety can also arise in the summer due to the lack of structure in people’s days, according to a New York coalition. Journaling can lead to mindfulness techniques such as grounding and gratitude. Meditation is another way to maintain strong mental wellbeing. When women meditate three times a week for 30 minutes it helps reduce stress and increases creativity.
To get the most out of your summer, try these suggestions to see if you notice a positive change in your wellbeing. For more information on women’s health, visit www.urogyns.com.
