A Dermatologist’s Guide To Intimate Aging Skin Care
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Yes, the vagina is self-cleaning and indeed broadly self-maintaining in all ways, but that doesn’t mean that the vulva doesn’t deserve some love when it comes to skincare. Here’s how:
The first step is: paying close attention
Because often, especially after a certain age, it can go sadly neglected. Here’s what it’s good to know:
Vaginal and vulvar tissues are hormone-responsive (i.e. responding to estrogen and/or testosterone), so hormonal shifts during menopause can cause dryness, thinning, loss of elasticity, irritation, painful sex, infections, and urinary symptoms, collectively called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM).
But, hormonal changes are not the only factor: dryness and itching from reduced collagen and blood flow; shifts in vaginal microbiome increasing infection risk; urinary frequency and bladder control issues; sagging or pale labia; lowered clitoris; thinning or graying pubic hair; benign growths like seborrheic keratosis or melanotic macules; genital warts (re)appearing; and an increased risk of skin cancer in the vulvar area.
This latter is particularly important, as many women don’t examine this area, so issues like skin cancer may go unnoticed. Self-checks with a mirror, followed up by medical evaluation of new spots or growths, can make a big difference to catching a problem early.
While the vaginal microbiome is generally best left to look after itself unless there’s a clear problem, vaginal moisturizers (often hyaluronic acid-based) help with dryness and irritation; lubricants (water, oil, silicone, or hyaluronic acid-based) make sex more comfortable.
For even better results, prescription vaginal estrogen (cream, ring, or tablet) thickens tissues, restores lubrication, and improves suppleness with minimal systemic absorption if that’s something you wanted to avoid for any reason.
For more on all of this, as well as some in-clinic medical options, enjoy;
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Skin Care Down There (Incl. Butt Acne, Hyperpigmentation, & More)
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When can my baby drink cow’s milk? It’s sooner than you think
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Parents are often faced with well-meaning opinions and conflicting advice about what to feed their babies.
The latest guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends formula-fed babies can switch to cow’s milk from six months. Australian advice says parents should wait until 12 months. No wonder some parents, and the health professionals who advise them, are confused.
So what do parents need to know about the latest advice? And when is cow’s milk an option?
What’s the updated advice?
Last year, the WHO updated its global feeding guideline for children under two years old. This included recommending babies who are partially or totally formula fed can have whole animal milks (for example, full-fat cow’s milk) from six months.
This recommendation was made after a systematic review of research by WHO comparing the growth, health and development of babies fed infant formula from six months of age with those fed pasteurised or boiled animal milks.
The review found no evidence the growth and development of babies who were fed infant formula was any better than that of babies fed whole, fresh animal milks.
The review did find an increase in iron deficiency anaemia in babies fed fresh animal milk. However, WHO noted this could be prevented by giving babies iron-rich solid foods daily from six months.
On the strength of the available evidence, the WHO recommended babies fed infant formula, alone or in addition to breastmilk, can be fed animal milk or infant formula from six months of age.
The WHO said that animal milks fed to infants could include pasteurised full-fat fresh milk, reconstituted evaporated milk, fermented milk or yoghurt. But this should not include flavoured or sweetened milk, condensed milk or skim milk.
If you’re choosing cow’s milk for your baby, make sure it’s whole milk rather than skim milk. Mr Adi/Shutterstock Why is this controversial?
Australian government guidelines recommend “cow’s milk should not be given as the main drink to infants under 12 months”. This seems to conflict with the updated WHO advice. However, WHO’s advice is targeted at governments and health authorities rather than directly at parents.
The Australian dietary guidelines are under review and the latest WHO advice is expected to inform that process.
OK, so how about iron?
Iron is an essential nutrient for everyone but it is particularly important for babies as it is vital for growth and brain development. Babies’ bodies usually store enough iron during the final few weeks of pregnancy to last until they are at least six months of age. However, if babies are born early (prematurely), if their umbilical cords are clamped too quickly or their mothers are anaemic during pregnancy, their iron stores may be reduced.
Cow’s milk is not a good source of iron. Most infant formula is made from cow’s milk and so has iron added. Breastmilk is also low in iron but much more of the iron in breastmilk is taken up by babies’ bodies than iron in cow’s milk.
Babies should not rely on milk (including infant formula) to supply iron after six months. So the latest WHO advice emphasises the importance of giving babies iron-rich solid foods from this age. These foods include:
- meat
- eggs
- vegetables, including beans and green leafy vegetables
- pulses, including lentils
- ground seeds and nuts (such as peanut or other nut butters, but with no added salt or sugar).
You may have heard that giving babies whole cow’s milk can cause allergies. In fact, whole cow’s milk is no more likely to cause allergies than infant formula based on cow’s milk.
If you’re introducing cow’s milk at six months, offer iron-rich foods too, such as meat or lentils. pamuk/Shutterstock What are my options?
The latest WHO recommendation that formula-fed babies can switch to cow’s milk from six months could save you money. Infant formula can cost more than five times more than fresh milk (A$2.25-$8.30 a litre versus $1.50 a litre).
For families who continue to use infant formula, it may be reassuring to know that if infant formula becomes hard to get due to a natural disaster or some other supply chain disruption fresh cow’s milk is fine to use from six months.
It is also important to know what has not changed in the latest feeding advice. WHO still recommends infants have only breastmilk for their first six months and then continue breastfeeding for up to two years or more. It is also still the case that infants under six months who are not breastfed or who need extra milk should be fed infant formula. Toddler formula for children over 12 months is not recommended.
All infant formula available in Australia must meet the same standard for nutritional composition and food safety. So, the cheapest infant formula is just as good as the most expensive.
What’s the take-home message?
The bottom line is your baby can safely switch from infant formula to fresh, full-fat cow’s milk from six months as part of a healthy diet with iron-rich foods. Likewise, cow’s milk can also be used to supplement or replace breastfeeding from six months, again alongside iron-rich foods.
If you have questions about introducing solids your GP, child health nurse or dietitian can help. If you need support with breastfeeding or starting solids you can call the National Breastfeeding Helpline (1800 686 268) or a lactation consultant.
Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University; Naomi Hull, PhD candidate, food security for infants and young children, University of Sydney, and Nina Jane Chad, Research Fellow, University of Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Dandelion Greens vs Red Lettuce – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing dandelion greens to red lettuce, we picked the dandelion greens.
Why?
It wasn’t close, despite the continuing search for a vaguely bitter salad leaf that might be able to compete!
In terms of macros, dandelion greens have more than 3.5x the fiber, as well as more carbs and protein, not that people are probably eating them for those things. In any case, a clear win for dandelions, being the most nutritionally dense in this category.
In the category of vitamins, dandelion greens have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, C, E, K, and choline, while red lettuce has more of vitamins B5 and B9. Another easy win for dandelions, even before considering just how good they are at delivering vitamin K in particular (a 55g cup of dandelion leaves gives 3.5x the recommended daily amount of vitamin K).
Looking at minerals, dandelion greens have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, while red lettuce has more selenium. One more very clear win for dandelions.
When it comes to polyphenols, both are good, but dandelion greens are next-level good with about 15x more in total, meaning another very convincing win for dandelions here.
Adding up the sections makes for an overwhelming win for dandelion greens; by all means enjoy either or both though; diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Dandelion: Time For Evidence On Its Benefits? ← for more than just its nutritional qualities
Enjoy!
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Body Image Dissatisfaction/Appreciation Across The Ages
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Every second news article about body image issues is talking about teens and social media use, but science tells a different story.
A large (n=1,327) study of people of mixed genders aged 16–88 examined matters relating to people’s body image, expecting…
❝We hypothesized that body dissatisfaction and importance of appearance would be higher in women than in men, that body dissatisfaction would remain stable across age in women, and that importance of appearance would be lower in older women compared to younger women. Body appreciation was predicted to be higher in men than in women.❞
As they discovered, only half of that turned out to be true:
❝In line with our hypotheses, body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women, and importance of appearance was higher in women than in men.
However, only in men did age predict a lower level of the importance of appearance. Compared to men, women stated that they would invest more hours of their lives to achieve their ideal appearance.
Contrary to our assumption, body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men.❞
You can read the study in full here:
That’s a lot of information, and we don’t have the space to go into all parts of it here, fascinating as that would be. So we’re going to put two pieces of information (from the above) next to each other:
- body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women
- body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men
…and resolve this apparent paradox.
Dissatisfied appreciation
How is it that women are both more dissatisfied with, and yet also more appreciative of, their bodies?
The answer is that we can have positive and negative feelings about the same thing, without them cancelling each other out. In short, simply, feeling more feelings about it.
Whether the gender-related disparity in this case comes more from hormones or society could be vigorously debated, but chances are, it’s both. And, for our gentleman-readers, note that the principle still applies to you, even if scaled down on average.
Call to action:
- be aware of the negative feelings of body dissatisfaction
- focus on the positive feelings of body appreciation
While in theory both could motivate us to action, in reality, the former will tend to inform us (about what we might wish to change), while the latter will actually motivate us in a useful way (to do something positive about it).
This is because the negative feelings about body image tend to be largely based in shame, and shame is a useless motivator (i.e., it simply doesn’t work) when it comes to taking positive actions:
Why Shame Only Works Negatively
You can’t hate yourself into a body you love
That may sound like a wishy-washy platitude, but given the evidence on how shame works (and doesn’t), it’s true.
Instead, once you’ve identified the things about your body with which you’re dissatisfied, you can then assess:
- what can reasonably be changed
- whether it is important enough to you to change it
- how to go about usefully changing it
While weight issues are perhaps the most commonly-discussed body image consideration, to the point that often all others get forgotten, let’s look at something that’s generally more specific to adults, and also a very common cause of distress for women and men alike: hair loss/thinning.
If your hair is just starting to thin and fall, then if this bothers you, there’s a lot that can be done about it quite easily, but (and this is important) you have to love yourself enough to actually do it. Merely feeling miserable about it, and perhaps like you don’t deserve better, or that it is somehow a personal failing on your part, will not help.
If your hair has been gone for years, then chances are you’ve made your peace with this by now, and might not even take it back if a fairy godmother came along and offered to restore it magically. On the other hand, let’s say that you’re just coming out the other end of a 10-year-long depression, and perhaps you let a lot of things go that you now wish you hadn’t, and maybe your hair is one of them. In this case, now you need to decide whether getting implants (likely the only solution at this late stage) is worth it.
Note that in both cases, whatever the starting point and whether the path ahead is easy or hard, the person who has dissatisfaction and/but still values themself and their body will get what they need.
In contrast, the person who has dissatisfaction and does not value themself and their body, will languish.
The person without dissatisfaction, of course, probably already has what they need.
In short: identification of dissatisfaction + love and appreciation of oneself and one’s body → motivation to usefully take action (out of love, not hate)
Now, dear reader, apply the same thinking to whatever body image issues you may have, and take it from there!
Embodiment
A quick note in closing: if you are a person with no body dissatisfactions, there are two main possible reasons:
- You are genuinely happy with your body in all respects. Congratulations!
- You have disassociated from your body to such an extent that it’s become a mere vehicle to you and you don’t care about it.
This latter may seem like a Zen-level win, but in fact it’s a warning sign for depression, so please do examine that even if you don’t “feel” depressed (depression is often characterized by a lack of feelings), perhaps by taking the (very quick) free PHQ9 Test ← under 2 minutes; immediate results; industry-standard diagnostic tool
Take care!
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Prozac’s Effect On Neuroplasticity
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change over time, in accordance with our experiences, and what things we practise.
For example, before the ubiquity of GPS, taxi-drivers tended to get unusually well-developed in areas of the brain associated with memory and spatial reasoning. In contrast, your writer here, a person who does a lot of reading and writing and also uses at least 3+ languages daily, doubtlessly has overdeveloped language centers. A visual artist might develop much better visual centers. And so forth.
These changes are in large part physical, and very easy to measure (with the right equipment). It’s not hard to see when a certain part of the brain has proportionally more volume than usual, for example.
So, what does Prozac have to do with it?
More than a mood-brightener
Aside from the obvious primary intended effect of antidepressants (i.e., to treat depression by increasing relevant neurotransmitter levels), antidepressants have a bad reputation for side effects.
For example: How Serious Are Antidepressant Side Effects?
Some side effects are often exaggerated in popular (mis)understanding, such as: How Much Weight Gain Do Antidepressants Cause? ← the answer being: often less weight than people gain per year when not on antidepressants (although weight gain can happen, especially if one was previously under-eating while depressed)
When it comes to Prozac (the most well-known brand name for fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which works by increasing serotonin levels in the brain by decreasing the rate at which the brain “loses” serotonin), it’s worth initially noting that while serotonin is mostly associated with happiness, it does other things too; see: Serotonin For More Than Just Happiness
The study we wrote about in that article found that it’s not just a matter of how much serotonin we have, but also where in the brain in accumulates, and which parts of the brain get prioritized. Sound familiar?
Recently, researchers (Dr. Ilida Suleymanova et al.) investigated the effects of serotonin on neuroplasticity, and found that indeed fluoxetine (Prozac) does more than boost serotonin—it also reshapes how certain brain cells manage energy and plasticity.
This happens as quickly as the first two weeks; for example, parvalbumin interneurons in the prefrontal cortex, which normally keep brain activity balanced, became less rigid after two weeks of treatment (which makes further changes much more possible), bearing in mind that since depression is linked to overly rigid brain circuits, this means that fluoxetine can “soften” these networks, allowing rewiring and flexibility.
- Specifically, mitochondria in these rigidity-inducing braincells got disempowered by reduced expression of energy-production genes (remember, people think of genes as unchangeable, but they can be turned on and off by hormones/neurotransmitters, amongst other things).
- Even more specifically, genes tied to adaptability were upregulated, and perineuronal nets that restrict plasticity were weakened.
To read this paper in full, see: Chronic treatment with fluoxetine regulates mitochondrial features and plasticity-associated transcriptomic pathways in parvalbumin-positive interneurons of prefrontal cortex
This becomes extra important as we age, because neurogenesis (the brain’s ability to produce new brain cells) is an important factor in neuroplasticity.
Contrary to popular belief, we continue to do this all the way through life, albeit it does usually slow down in older age, but there are things that affect how much this happens, and when.
To learn more about that, see: Building Your Brain At Every Age
Finally, if you’ve been considering antidepressants but haven’t been sure if they’d be right for you, then before you rush to your doctor to get a prescription for Prozac, you might want to check out: Antidepressants: Personalization Is Key! ← because it makes a difference which one you pick
Alternatively, if you don’t love the idea of having to keep taking something, you might consider: Psychedelics: Yes Even Once? ← since a single dose can have a lasting (positive!) effect on cognitive flexibility
Want to learn more?
You might like this book we reviewed a little while ago:
Take care!
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One More Reason To Prioritize Sleep To Fight Cognitive Decline
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We’ve talked sometimes at 10almonds about how important sleep is for many aspects of health, including for brain health, and including in later life.
There’s a common myth that older people require less sleep; the reality is that sleeping less and not dying of it does not equate to needing less.
See also: Sleep: Yes, You Really Do Still Need It!
And: How Sleep-Deprived Are You, Really?
Quantity is not everything though; quality absolutely matters too. We’ve written about that here:
The 6 Dimensions Of Sleep (And Why They Matter) ← duration is just one dimension out of the six
We’ve even gone into some more obscure, but still very important things, such as: How Your Sleep Position Changes Dementia Risk
We’ve also talked about the role of sleep in memory (and forgetting): How Your Brain Chooses What To Remember
With that in mind…
Some more recent science
This study was about spatial memory, but what’s important (in our opinion) is that it’s about solidifying recent learning.
Researchers measured brain activity in rats for up to 20 hours of sleep following spatial learning tasks. Initially, the neuronal patterns observed during sleep mirrored those from the learning phase. However, as sleep progressed, these patterns transformed to resemble the activity seen when the rats later recalled the locations of food rewards. Interestingly, this reorganization happened during non-REM sleep, which means it wasn’t just a case of “the rats were dreaming about their day” (which is a well-established way in which memories do get encoded), but rather, the newly-learned experiences were being actively encoded in the rest of sleep.
This is critical, because in age-related cognitive decline, it’s very common for very long-term memory (VLTM) to remain intact, while LTM and short-term memory (STM) crumble. For example, someone may remember many details of their life from 20 years ago, but forget where they currently live, or what happened in the conversation two minutes ago.
In other words, the biggest problem is not the storage of memories, but rather the encoding of them in the first place.
Which sleep facilitates!
And it’s also important to note that part about it being the rest of sleep, because when the brain is sleep-deprived, it’ll tend to prioritize REM sleep, which is important, but that means cutting back on other phases of sleep, and from this study, we can see that memory & learning will be amongst the things adversely affected by such cuts.
Here’s the paper, for those interested:
Sleep stages antagonistically modulate reactivation drift
And for those who prefer lighter reading, here’s a pop-science article about the same study, which explains it in more words than we can here:
But wait, there’s more!
Sleep resets neurons for new memories the next day, study finds
So, once again… It is absolutely critical to prioritize good sleep.
Want to know more?
Check out:
Calculate (And Enjoy) The Perfect Night’s Sleep
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‘Active recovery’ after exercise is supposed to improve performance – but does it really work?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Imagine you have just finished a workout. Your legs are like jelly, your lungs are burning and you just want to collapse on the couch.
But instead, you pick yourself up and go for a brisk walk.
While this might seem counterintuitive, doing some light activity after an intense workout – known as “active recovery” – has been suggested to reduce soreness and speed up recovery after exercise.
But does it work or is it just another fitness myth?
gpointstudio/Shutterstock What is active recovery?
Active recovery simply describes doing some low-intensity physical activity after a strenuous bout of exercise.
This is commonly achieved through low-intensity cardio, such as walking or cycling, but can also consist of low-intensity stretching, or even bodyweight exercises such as squats and lunges.
The key thing is making sure the intensity is light or moderate, without moving into the “vigorous” range.
As a general rule, if you can maintain a conversation while you’re exercising, you are working at a light-to-moderate intensity.
Some people consider doing an easy training session on their “rest days” as a form of active recovery. However, this has not really been researched. So we will be focusing on the more traditional form of active recovery in this article, where it is performed straight after exercise.
What does active recovery do?
Active recovery helps speed up the removal of waste products, such as lactate and hydrogen, after exercise. These waste products are moved from the muscles into the blood, before being broken down and used for energy, or simply excreted.
This is thought to be one of the ways it promotes recovery.
In some instances active recovery has been shown to reduce muscle soreness in the days following exercise. This may lead to a faster return to peak performance in some physical capabilities such as jump height.
Active recovery can involve stretching. fatir29/Shutterstock But, active recovery does not appear to reduce post-exercise inflammation. While this may sound like a bad thing, it’s not.
Post-exercise inflammation can promote increases in strength and fitness after exercise. And so when it’s reduced (say, by using ice baths after exercise) this can lead to smaller training improvements than would be seen otherwise.
This means active recovery can be used regularly after exercise without the risk of affecting the benefits of the main exercise session.
There’s evidence to the contrary too
Not all research on active recovery is positive.
Several studies indicate it’s no better than simply lying on the couch when it comes to reducing muscle soreness and improving performance after exercise.
In fact, there’s more research suggesting active recovery doesn’t have an effect than research showing it does have an effect.
While there could be several reasons for this, two stand out.
First, the way in which active recovery is applied in the research varies as lot. It’s likely there is a sweet spot in terms of how long active recovery should last to maximise its benefits (more on this later).
Second, it’s likely the benefits of active recovery are trivial to small. As such, they won’t always be considered “significant” in the scientific literature, despite offering potentially meaningful benefits at an individual level. In sport science, studies often have small sample sizes, which can make it hard to see small effects.
But there doesn’t seem to be any research suggesting active recovery is less effective than doing nothing, so at worst it certainly won’t cause any harm.
When is active recovery useful?
Active recovery appears useful if you need to perform multiple bouts of exercise within a short time frame. For example, if you were in a tournament and had 10–20 minutes between games, then a quick active recovery would be better than doing nothing.
Active recovery might also be a useful strategy if you have to perform exercise again within 24 hours after intense activity.
For example, if you are someone who plays sport and you need to play games on back-to-back days, doing some low-intensity active recovery after each game might help reduce soreness and improve performance on subsequent days.
Similarly, if you are training for an event like a marathon and you have a training session the day after a particularly long or intense run, then active recovery might get you better prepared for your next training session.
Conversely, if you have just completed a low-to-moderate intensity bout of exercise, it’s unlikely active recovery will offer the same benefits. And if you will get more than 24 hours of rest between exercise sessions, active recovery is unlikely to do much because this will probably be long enough for your body to recover naturally anyway.
Active recovery may be useful for people with back-to-back sporting commitments. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock How to get the most out of active recovery
The good news is you don’t have to do a lot of active recovery to see a benefit.
A systematic review looking at the effectiveness of active recovery across 26 studies found 6–10 minutes of exercise was the sweet spot when it came to enhancing recovery.
Interestingly, the intensity of exercise didn’t seem to matter. If it was within this time frame, it had a positive effect.
So it makes sense to make your active recovery easy (because why would you make it hard if you don’t have to?) by keeping it in the light-to-moderate intensity range.
However, don’t expect active recovery to be a complete game changer. The research would suggest the benefits are likely to be small at best.
Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia and Lewis Ingram, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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