September is Menopause Awareness Month, and this year we want to draw attention to an often overlooked aspect of menopausal care – intimate fitness. Now, don\u2019t worry, that doesn\u2019t involve anything kinky, or even breaking a sweat! Intimate fitness during menopause is all about keeping your vagina healthy and cared for, mainly through gentle exercises called Kegels (we\u2019ll get to those in a little bit!)<\/p>\n
During menopause, hormone levels start to fluctuate, and this causes changes in a woman\u2019s body. Your pelvic floor <\/a>can become weakened due to these hormone changes, leading to stress urinary incontinence. Stress incontinence is one of the\u00a0four main types\u00a0of urinary incontinence in women. Put simply, it\u2019s when you have bladder leaks from simply coughing, laughing, sneezing<\/a>, or even when you are exercising<\/a>.<\/p>\n Menopause can also bring changes to the vagina and the external female genitals (the vulva). In the following video, Intimina\u2019s Medical Advisory Board Member and Women\u2019s Health Nurse Practitioner Susan Wysocki explains that as estrogen levels decline, the vagina becomes drier, it can lose elasticity, and the blood flow to the area changes, which\u00a0 can affect everyday comfort and intimacy.<\/p>\n