4 Things Your Period Says About You

Periods are like snowflakes—you'll never find two exactly alike. Some women have heavy and short periods, some light and long, and others sometimes skip a month. Most of what we know about our menstrual cycles seems to be an average of all our unique flows. 

While your period may not follow the average flow—as very few do—it should be close. If you're noticing periods that fall to the extreme, like really heavy periods or no periods at all, you should check in with a doctor. Here, 4 things your period could be telling you: 

No Periods

Could be a sign of: Polycystic ovary syndrome, low body fat, thyroid dysfunction, stress

The most common causes of missed periods are obvious: pregnancy or menopause. But if you're too young for menopause and can't possibly be pregnant, missed periods could mean you have problems with your thyroid, have a hormonal imbalance that causes cysts to grow on your ovaries, or are just way too stressed. Another possible cause: your weight. "Someone who is underweight for her height can have no periods because there isn't enough fat on her body," says Rima Mehta, MD, director of gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital. "Women who are athletes or run 3 to 5 miles a day are sometimes too lean to have a normal period, and my recommendation to them is simple: 'You need a couple of sandwiches.' "

Consult a doctor when: You've been without a period for 3 to 6 months. 

Painful Periods 

Could be a sign of: Endometriosis, fibroids, vaginal scarring

It's no secret that periods are painful. Every month your uterine muscles contract and release to push blood out—and those contractions mean just about everyone will feel some pain. It's only a problem, according to Mehta, when common medications like ibuprofen or Midol don't help and if you regularly avoid going out with friends or even miss work because of the pain. One of the most common causes of life-interruptingly painful periods, according to Mehta, is endometriosis, a condition that causes the tissue you shed with each period to grow outside your uterus in places like your ovaries, fallopian tubes, and lower abdomen. Endometrial tissue that grows outside your uterus still breaks down and bleeds during each menstrual cycle, but because it has no way out of your body, the tissue builds up and can cause pelvic pain. Although there is no cure for endometriosis, surgery or pelvic floor physical therapy has helped many women manage the discomfort. Scarring from previous surgeries or structural abnormalities in your uterus—usually caused by noncancerous tumors called fibroids—can also make periods painful. In both cases, doctors recommend minimally invasive surgery to remove fibroids and scar tissue.

Consult a doctor when: You've had painful periods for 3 months and can't get relief from over-the-counter pain relievers.

Heavy Periods 

Could be a sign of: Fibroids, hemophilia, hormone imbalance, blood thinners

For most women, a period starts out heavy and then tapers off toward the end of the cycle. But "heavy" means you have to change your pad every couple of hours. If you find yourself changing your pad or tampon more than once an hour or if you have a steady flow for more than 7 days, your period crosses the line from "heavy" to "abnormally heavy." And if you're constantly on edge about whether you'll bleed through your pad and end up with an embarrassing bloodstain on your pants, it's considered "extremely heavy," according to Aaron K. Styer, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center and Harvard Medical School. If every period causes you this stress, it could mean you have either too much or too little of one of the hormones that regulate menstruation—estrogen and progesterone—or that you have fibroids (yep, those again). Abnormally heavy periods are also sometimes a side effect of nonhormonal birth control methods like intrauterine devices (IUDs). They can also be a sign of uterine cancer, though that's rare, Styer says.

 

Consult a doctor when: You're changing multiple pads or tampons every hour, regularly bleeding through your clothes, avoiding spending time with friends or going to work, or getting dizzy, weak, or short of breath.

Infrequent Periods 

Could be a sign of: Fibroids, hormonal imbalance, polyps

Aunt Flo doesn't always visit every 28 days. A normal menstrual cycle is anywhere from 21 to 35 days from the start of your period to the start of your next period. It's absolutely normal for women to have as few as nine periods a year, Styer says. Anything fewer than that could indicate you need to see a doctor. If you've noticed a sudden change in your menses, don't worry too much. Even women whose periods come like clockwork will likely miss a month or two at some point, and your period changes as you age, so a "normal" period for you could be something completely different at 40 than it was at 30. Hormone imbalances and fibroids again top the list of reasons periods can be few and far between, but polyps—benign growths on the inner wall of your uterus—can also be to blame. To treat polyps, your doctor might prescribe medications that regulate your hormones and lessen the symptoms, or might remove them through minimally invasive surgery.

Consult a doctor when: You have eight or fewer periods per year, or if your cycle was always regular but you've had no period for 3 months.

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The Best Migraine Remedy For You

Medication is a proven way to treat — and prevent — migraines. But medication is only part of the story. It's also important to take good care of yourself and understand how to cope with migraine pain when it strikes.

The same lifestyle choices that promote good health can also reduce the frequency and severity of your migraines. In fact, knowing how to manage migraine pain with lifestyle and behavioral measures, as well as medication, can often be the most effective way to handle migraines. Lets see what is the best migraine remedy for you:

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Mammogram Confusion - When Should I Do My Mammogram?

When do I start getting mammograms and how often should I get them?

When should I start getting mammograms? 

While many doctors say that 40 should be the starting age for mammograms, not everyone is on the same page. The American Cancer Society recommends that women should have their first mammogram at age 40 and then every year following. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends starting at age 50 and then every two years. "The problem is that the younger you are, the more dense your breasts," says Sara Gottfried, MD, an obgyn in San Francisco and author of The Hormone Reset Diet. When you start screening at a younger age, you are balancing the risk of the procedure—radiation and false positives, as well as false negatives due to dense breasts—versus the benefits of earlier detection." 

Breast anatomy

Can I figure out what my breast cancer risk is?

Yes, kind of. Risk is most commonly calculated using the Gail Model, which will tell you your 5-year risk of developing breast cancer and your lifetime risk. But it won't tell you when to start getting a mammo or how often to get it. There's currently no clear-cut way to do that. But research being done right now might lead to a future paradigm for weighing the relevant risk factors:

• Carriers of the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes 
• Having a mother or sister with breast cancer 
• Having your first period before 12 
• Older than 30 for first baby 
• Over 55 when starting menopause 
• Past or current use or oral contraceptives 
• Those who drink 2 to 5 alcoholic beverages a day 
• Dense breasts on mammogram 
• Greater bone density 
• History of a benign breast biopsy 

Angelina Jolie done two mastectomy due to discovery of BRCA gene carrier

Can I lower my risk for breast cancer? 

Yes. The following "protective factors" are associated with a lower risk of having breast cancer, says Jan R. Penvose-Yi, MD, from Tri-City Medical Center in San Diego, CA:

• Regular exercise
• Breastfeeding 
• Having several children 
• Keeping a healthy BMI 
• Having ovaries removed before age 35 

Breast feeding reduces the risk for breast cancer

What's this about dense breasts and mammograms? 

"Having dense breasts means that on a mammogram at least 50% of the breast tissue appears white," says Maggie DiNome, MD, director of the Margie Petersen Breast Center at John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. 

"That means a small breast cancer, which would also be white, might hide in those dense areas of tissue. It's like trying to find a polar bear in a snowstorm." Adding a second type of screening can overcome the limitations of a mammogram. 

"In addition to mammograms, there are further screening tools for dense breast tissue such as Tomography and the Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS). These are designed specifically for women with dense breast tissue," says Sonja L. Cerra-Gilch, MD, section chief of breast imaging and intervention at Aria Health.

Do dense breasts get less dense over time?

Yes, according to Claudia Mason, MD, a board member of Susan G. Komen South Florida. Thus, it's sometimes easier to detect cancer on mammograms as you age. This is one of the reasons some doctors believe in starting mammograms at age 50. If your breasts continue to be dense after menopause, you should be monitored closely by your doctor, says Wulf H Utian, MD, medical director of The North American Menopause Society.

Sp if I do have cancer, how likely is a mammogram to actually detect it?

The older you are, the more likely it is to successfully find cancer. "Randomized trials have shown that the sensitivity of mammography and clinical breast examination is higher in older women," says Penvose-Yi. "It has been estimated that mammography detects about 73% of breast cancers in women in their early 40s and 85% of breast cancers in women in their early 60s."

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One Glass Of Red Wine A Day Equals One Hour At The Gym?

Are you addicted to going to the gym? Look at those muscular monster working on their muscles and beautiful slim shape beauty jogging on the track. no matter what is your purpose to go to gym, what we actually have here is a wonderful discovery for regular gym-goers, but which is also good for people who do not go to the gym at all.

Gym Works

Are you sometimes the worse for wear to go the gym and have your regular ‘glass of workout? It’s not a big deal – you can have another equally effective glass. A new study suggests that a glass of red wine could mimic the benefits gained by going to the gym for an hour.

The researcher Jack Dyck, in his research conducted at the University of Alberta-Canada, discovered that a red wine compound called resveratrol provides some of the same benefits as an hour of cross training. 

“We were excited when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training. I think resveratrol could help patient populations who want to exercise, but are physically incapable. Resveratrol could mimic exercise for them or improve the benefits of the modest amount of exercise that they can do. We immediately saw the potential for this and thought that we identified a ‘improved exercise performance in a pill,”

says Jack Dyck’s, the lead researcher. So, next time if you decide you want to skip the gym session, and have a glass of wine with the girls you really have no reason to be guilty. But, there are many people who are physically incapable of hitting the gym that this discovery really could be beneficial for. Expectedly, your next question is:

Red or white wine?

Remember this: Only a glass of red wine counts because a glass of white wine or a shot of tequila will not have the same effect! So, drinking only ONE glass of red wine can improve your physical strength and performance.

But you must stop at the first glass and say: Let’s call it a day! You must not chug one, two or more glasses of wine in order to get better results! Because you will only get drunk and get more calories to burn next time you go the gym!

Only one Glass, I swear

And wine experts certainly know that grape sugariness is the most important thing for producing quality wine brands. The standards of performance that oenologists use to judge wine quality include the following:

Balance

The relationship of four components — sweetness, acidity, tannin, and alcohol — to one another. A wine is balanced when nothing sticks out as you taste it, like harsh tannin or too much sweetness.

Choose your Wine

Length

Used to describe a wine that gives an impression of going all the way on the palate — you can taste it across the full length of your tongue — rather than stopping short halfway. Many wines today are very up front on the palate — they make a big impression as soon as you taste them — but they don’t go the distance in your mouth. They are short.

Try not to Spills

Depth

This is another subjective, unmeasurable attribute of a high-quality wine. We say a wine has depth when it seems to have a dimension of verticality — that is, it does not taste flat and one-dimensional in your mouth. A ‘flat’ wine can never be great.

Color of the wine

Complexity

There’s nothing wrong with a simple, straightforward wine, especially if you enjoy it. But a wine that keeps revealing different things about itself, always showing you a new flavor or impression — a wine that has complexity — is usually considered better quality.

Smells it

Finish

The impression a wine leaves in the back of your mouth and in your throat after you have swallowed it is its finish or aftertaste. In a good wine, you can still perceive the wine’s flavors — such as fruitiness or spiciness — at that point. Some wines may finish hot, because of high alcohol, or bitter, because of tannin — both shortcomings. Or a wine may have nothing much at all to say for itself after you swallow.

Taste

Typicity

In order to judge whether a wine is true to its type, you have to know how that type is supposed to taste. So you have to know the textbook characteristics of wines made from the major grape varieties and wines of the world’s classic wine regions.

Spring seems to be delayed, so while there’s still a bit of chilly nip in the air treat yourself to a glass of a delicious full-bodied wine. Instead of going to the gym, warm up with your quality glass of wine!

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Drinking THIS Could Significantly Cut Your Most Annoying Menopause Symptoms

If someone were to tell you a drink exists that could slash your heart disease risk and relieve menopause symptoms, would you assume it was something disgusting involving cod liver oil? Or maybe that it was bottled by unicorns? Of course you would. But you'd be wrong. You actually stand to gain both health perks from a plain old beverage available basically everywhere: tomato juice. 

We already knew that tomatoes themselves were both delicious and also an anti-cancer food. But according to a new study, drinking the juice might actually be better for you than eating the fruit whole. 

The study, published in Nutrition Journal, involved 95 women (ages 40 to 60) who had at least one menopausal symptom, such as anxiety, irritability, and hot flashes. Participants drank 200 mL—roughly 4/5 of a cup—of unsalted (ah, the hitch! Unsalted!) tomato juice twice a day for eight weeks. 

Researchers at the Tokyo Medical University in Japan tracked the women's heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol and also evaluated their menopausal symptoms at 4 and 8 weeks. After just four weeks of drinking the juice, those with triglyceride levels higher than 150 mg/dL saw a substantial decrease to around 70 mg/dL (the American Heart Association recommends levels under 100 mg/dL). Meanwhile, menopausal symptoms were reduced by 16%. 

The likely reasons for the improvements: Bioactive components like 13-oxo-ODA, a fatty acid that's only found in tomato juice and that prevents metabolic syndrome, and esculeoside A, a phytonutrient that supports heart health. Tomato juice also has more lycopene, which can help reduce menopausal stress, and antioxidants (a result of heat activation during the canning process). 

"Another substance naturally found in tomato juice is a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, which can help relieve hot flashes and reduce stress," says Steven A. Rabin, MD, a Los Angeles-based obstetrician and gynecologist specializing in patients with menopause. 

You won't find the compounds above listed on any nutrition label, and so far we don't know how much variability there is among tomato-juice brands. For now, the best you can do is to buy any unsalted tomato juice you can find, suggests Masakazu Terauchi, PhD, one of the study's authors. Of course, a USDA-approved organic juice is always best. As Rabin puts it, "there aren't any known downsides to adding a serving or more of tomato juice to your diet," and there are plenty of upsides—including the fact that it doesn't taste like cod liver oil.

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5 Ways You're Hydrating Wrong

Taking in enough fluids seems simple, right? Just drink more water. That will help, sure, but there are probably a few hydration mistakes you're making—without even realizing it. Fix these 5 missteps to make sure you're getting the H2O you need: 

Mistake #1: Drinking Water during Your Workout, but Not Before

Even if you sip on something regularly while you're at the gym, you may be prone to headaches if you haven't hydrated ahead of time, too. You should aim to drink at least 8 ounces of water about half an hour before you exercise, says New York City-based trainer Larysa DiDio, founder of PFX Fitness. 

Drink half an hour before exercise

Mistake #2: Insisting on eight glasses a day

It's time to kick this adage to the curb: The Institute of Medicine actually recommends 11.4 cups per day, although hydration needs vary from person to person. The exact amount of H2O you need is dependent on your size and weight. And since you can also get water from foods like fruits and veggies (an apple, for instance, can provide an entire cup of water), you may not need to guzzle as much if you're eating water-rich meals and snacks. In general, though, if you take your weight and divide it by two, that should give you roughly the number of ounces of water you need in a day, says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. 

8 Glass of water is just a suggestion

Mistake #3: Avoiding drinks like coffee and tea 

It's a commonly held belief that coffee and tea are dehydrating because of their caffeine content—but that's a myth, says New York City-based nutritionist Lisa Cashman, RD. "While the caffeine in coffee and tea can be a diuretic—which causes fluid loss—the fluid in them typically makes up for it." So your daily Starbucks habit is still better than sipping on nothing.

As long you drink, you will get the water needed

Mistake #4: Hydrating too Infrequently

If you feel thirsty, then yes, you should probably drink water. Same goes for when you're exercising or it's hot outside. But—contrary to common belief—these aren't the only times when you need to rehydrate, says Gans. "You also need to hydrate while you're sitting at your desk at work, not just at the gym," she says. "I even have a sticky note on my computer that says, 'Drink water.' " Gans suggests sipping consistently throughout the day. If you don't, you could set yourself up for conditions like kidney stones and UTIs. 

Sudden intake of large amount of water will cause health problem

Mistake #5: Confusing the Need for Water with The Need for Food

Drink before you eat to make sure your hunger pangs are actually, well, hunger pangs. Many people confuse the need for H20 with the need for food, says Gans. She recommends eating meals and snacks as you normally would—but also getting into the habit of drinking plenty of water with them. She also suggests setting a bottle of water on your nightstand. "First thing in the morning, drink it," says Gans. "If it's the first thing you see, you can set yourself up with hydration for the rest of the day."

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4 Diseases You Had No Idea Could Be Contagious

Wash your hands before you eat, cover your mouth when you sneeze, opt for the fist-bump over the handshake…you know all the ways to protect yourself from commonly contagious sickness. But there are some conditions that antibacterial soap or a tissue can't protect you from. Here, 4 things you never knew you could catch:

Cavities

You can floss, brush, and avoid sweets all you want, but if your mate doesn't follow the same routine, you could fall victim to his or her poor dental hygiene. Researchers from the University of Helsinki, in Finland, found that oral bacteria that cause periodontis, gingivitis, and dental caries (aka cavities) can be passed between adults living in close contact with each other. 

The study, published in the journal Oral Microbiology and Immunology, followed 20 married couples, ages 37 to 70 years old, who had been married for at least 10 years. In four of the couples, both members had bacteria associated with periodontis and gingivitis. Three of those couples also harbored mutans streptococci bacteria (the main cause of cavities). Researchers found that the specific DNA of the bacteria was similar between members of a couple, yet different between unrelated subjects, suggesting transmission of the oral bacteria between spouses.

Kissing can transmit bacteria

Cancer

No, you cannot just catch any cancer from someone suffering from the disease—but you can catch the human papilloma virus (HPV), seriously increasing your risk of developing cancers of the cervix, penis, anus, mouth, and throat. 

According to research from Duke University, more than 6 million people in the US become infected with HPV each year (the disease spreads through sexual contact with an infected person). And while most people can clear the infection on their own within 1 to 2 years with little or no symptoms, the infection persists in some people—and the longer the infection persists, the more likely it is to lead to cancer.

Get yourself a vaccination for protection

Autoimmune Disease

As if living with celiac disease isn't miserable enough, those battling the gluten allergy may need to worry about exposing their loved ones. According to research published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, first-degree relatives and spouses of those with celiac disease are at an increased risk of developing nonceliac autoimmune disease, like Crohn's disease, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or ulcerative colitis. Researchers found that over a 10-year period, 4.3% of celiac relatives and spouses developed nonceliac autoimmune disease, compared with 3.3% of relatives of control subjects (those without celiac disease). Researchers speculate that the susceptibility is a result of sharing gut bacteria. 

Obesity

Call it infectobesity: Turkish researchers recently discovered a virus in the adipose tissue (body fat) of obese adults: human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36). People exposed to Ad-36 are 300 times more likely to be obese than those who haven't been exposed. Worldwide, more than 15,000 people in nine different countries have been tested for antibodies to the virus (usually the body fights off the virus, but the damage is already done), and with remarkable consistency, people who are obese are far more likely to show signs of infection.

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