2019-04-01 Women's Health

WOMEN’S HEALTH APRIL 2019

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“Alexa, Keep Me Healthy”

The key to early cancer detection is knowing your body inside and out—and

Amazon’s smart assistant, Alexa, is here to help. Just download the

Breast Cancer Care Skill on the Amazon Alexa app on your phone, then say,

“Alexa, open Breast Cancer Care.” She’ll walk you through the eight steps

of a breast self-exam, helping you notice changes in size, thickness (or lumps),

skin texture, redness, swelling, pain, nipple shape, and discharge, so you

can report them to your doc right away. The goal is to get as familiar with your

breasts as possible—do it once a month, or at least a few times a year.

Source: 2018 survey from the Peanut app

The percentage of millennial

mamas who say that sex is

just as good—if not better—

after baby. The secret may be

doing Kegel exercises to

tighten your pelvic floor:

70 percent swear by them.

PMS After

Your

Period?

Yep, it can happen. It’s called post-menstrual syndrome,

or POMS, and it affects about 5 percent of us, says gynecol-

ogist Tanmoy Mukherjee, MD, associate director of the

Mount Sinai Division of Reproductive Endocrinology. POMS

causes sleep issues, anxiety, and mood swings (ugh) for

several days after your period ends. It may be linked to a

higher sensitivity to hormonal changes, serotonin imbal-

ance, or magnesium and calcium deficiencies, but research

is limited. (Some physicians don’t consider it a separate

condition from PMS or its extreme version, PMDD—premen-

strual dysphoric disorder.) If your ongoing symptoms bug

you, log them in a journal for at least three months and

bring the info to your gyno, says WH advisor Kate White, MD.

If the crappy feels line up with your cycle, your doctor may

rec birth control to balance hormones or an SSRI prescrip-

tion to manage heightened anxiety or depression.

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WARM UP SEXUAL HEALTH