No, she is no longer living, but she was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was a true crusader for women’s rights, public health, and of course, for world peace. As a social work activist, Addams’ actions were guided by the theory that physical and social landscapes influence cultures. This focus on symbolic interactions helped transform societal views of poverty, minority and immigrant rights, and the field of public health. She also co-founded the Hull House in Chicago, which came to be the best-known settlement house in the country. Other notable achievements include serving as a U.S. Senator (1855-70) and president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

What a resume!

Photo Credit: tommo4074 (via flickr)

During pregnancy, it might be hard to get the motivation to go to the gym and exercise. Fitness expert Joan Pagano suggests four strengthening exercises that can be done from home, without any equipment. These exercises aim to maintain and develop muscle strength, and also help prepare for the physical delivery of the baby.

1. Squat: Develops strength in the lower body and reduces lower back pain.

2. Standing Push-Up: Builds upper body strength.

3. Pelvic Tilt: Helps realign the pelvis, eases lower back muscles, and strengthens ab muscles to better support the fetus.

4. Back Extensions: : Builds spine muscle strength and helps maintain posture.

Doing these exercises every other day, with 15-20 reps for each exercise, will keep you strong and fit during pregnancy.

For more details on the exercises, read Joan’s article here.

Greetings from WHF Headquarters!

We’re hard at work on exciting new projects and initiatives and it’s time to retire our beloved Sisterhood sticker. We’re going for a new tagline and we’d love your help in picking the best one!

All you have to do is pick the line you like best and vote- as simple as that. Vote and pass it along!

A  study led by Amanda J. Cross, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, showed that consuming large amounts of processed red meats over a long period of time may increase the risk for bladder cancer.

Processed meats – such as hot dogs, pepperoni, and deli meat – usually contain the preservatives nitrate and nitrite. During the cooking process, natural chemicals in the meat combine with these preservatives to form certain compounds. These compounds are then excreted through the urinary tract, and their contact with the bladder lining can lead to bladder cancer.

In the study, participants who processed large amounts of processed meat consumption were 30 percent more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who consumed lesser amounts of processed meat.

Read the article here.

Your $25 ticket includes:

• “The Mechanics of Sex” with keynote speaker Holly Herman, Renowned Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
• “Setting the Mood For a Sensual Mood” with Early to Bed owner, Searah Deysach
• Hosted Beer and Wine(that means it’s free for 2 hours!)
• Delicious chocolate goodies and warm, yummy Hamburger Mary’s Appetizers
• Raffle prizes from local Andersonville vendors and fabulous goodybags
• LIVE AUCTION of a signed Indigo Girls Guitar paired with a private performance by the fabulous Kimi Hayes for your next party!

Spots open to the first 100 who register, go to

www.sexchocolateandyourpelvicfloor.org and purchase your tickets today!

Outraged CNN commentator Mike Galanos complained, “Why can’t we just let kids be kids?!” His complaints involved the education of five-year-olds on “explicit” (as opposed to implicit?) body parts and terms including penis, vagina, anus, nipples and testicles. He suggests we “leave this to the parents to handle these … issues of morality.”

It seems this commentator’s angry response is at the core of part of the problem. Why the defensiveness? What’s the fear?  These are body parts just like eyes, fingers (head, shoulders, knees and toes). They are responsible for important bodily functions in addition to those of sexual activity and reproduction.  If you have the parts, shouldn’t you know the proper names and proper functions?  Why are words like wee wee, balls and boobs preferable to the proper terms?

Do we really think that teaching children about their body parts will lead to risky sexual behavior?  Treating these body parts as dirty, naughty and intentionally keeping information from children until they are in the throes of disorienting and confusing puberty may have serious consequences.

Let’s consider the consequences of the approach in the United States to date where we provide very little orientation and education on sexual health yet tolerate a great deal of sexualy explicit media in mainstream society.

The United States has shamefully high rates of unplanned teenage pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted infections compared to other developed countries. The birth rate in the United States for girls 15-19  is 52.1 per 1000 women. This is ten times higher than the country with the lowest teenage pregnancy rate, Netherlands, a country that teaches children about love and sexuality at a young age.

Health outcomes of children born to teen parents are significant including low birth weight, risk of infant mortality and as they grow up, a greater risk of educational failure, juvenile crime and becoming teenage parents themselves.  The U.S. also has the highest abortion rate among girls 15-19 years of agem,  30 times higher than the country with the lowest abortion rate.  The rate of sexually tranmitted infections among youth in the U.S. is startling – with a rate of Chlamydia infections at 1131 per 100,000 compared to Belgium at a rate of 12 per 100,000. Twelve.

In fact, a total of  1 in 4 American youths are infected with an STI.  While the social costs of these conditions are significant, the economic costs at the health care system level of these high rates of infections and consequences of teenage pregnancy should not be ignored.

To date our “not under my roof!” and “don’t look behind the curtain!” attitude is not working. We should take some lessons from the Netherlands, who provide comprehensive sexual health education across the life course, destigmatizing and demystifying education.

It may make adults (myself included) who received very little information and education when they were children (or teens!) uncomfortable, this notion of arming children with information about themselves. But the encouragement of healthy dialogue may be the key to empowering and trusting youth to know and respect their bodies and make smart, healthy choices as they grow up.

Let me tell you the story of “Brian” – name changed to protect the innocence of this darling 12 year old boy. Brian and his family were hiking with us in Maine and, on the very first day, the poor kid went into the bushes to relieve himself 3 times in an hour. Being concerned, I asked his mom if he was OK – maybe he had a medical condition I didn’t know about.  “Oh, he’s fine,” she said, “We just say he has the bladder of a squirrel.” After spending three more days with this family, I finally had to talk to the mom about things like “normal voiding behaviors” and overactive bladder and I encouraged her to bring Brian’s potty habit (and I hope it IS just a habit) up to his pediatrician when they got back home.

This week I spoke to Brian’s mom and she told me she did get an appointment with his pediatrician, but she is wondering if it had to do with his drinking more soda and eating more junk food than normal while they were on vacation.  Maybe, right?  Or it could be a bad habit that this boy has already developed – Feel the urge, gotta go.  Or he could have overactive bladder or some other medical condition.  The point is, he probably does not have the bladder of a squirrel!

What hit me the most about this whole experience were two things:

1. You can never truly escape pelvic health – the opportunity to have conversations present themselves everyday.  And I’m not even a healthcare provider in this field!  I wonder what the physical therapists, urologists, nurses, urogynecologists and others that practice pelvic medicine do on their vacations?
2. We are a culture used to “coping” – even little boys like Brian and Brian’s family – and we don’t know enough to even wonder if it’s normal to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes.  I mean, when’s the last time we were “taught” anything about bladder control?  Unless you are a patient, probably it was when you were being potty trained at 2 or 3.  And that wasn’t really “learning” – it was trying not to get in trouble.

I am really interested to hear about the doctor visit for Brian and I will just ask you to pay attention to the kids in your life. Can you imagine what Brian’s life would have been like at 50 if he kept this up?  I could imagine him being teased for years, at a minimum. I could imagine him managing his fluid intake to avoid drinking so he wouldn’t have to “go”.  I could imagine a lot of things and I just hope none of them happen.

So, in closing, change the world – have a conversation!

Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that suppressing an immune system can decrease chances of future UTI. Researchers infected rats with UTI, and for some rats, the infection progressed to a persistent condition called chronic bacterial cystitis. This chronic infection causes the immune system to work in overdrive. Immunodeficient rats were less susceptible to the chronic infection, whereas rats treated with antibiotics for the infection showed increased risks for developing further UTI.

In an overworking immune system, the reaction to the harmful bacteria can be too strong by not only destroying the bacteria, but also damaging the tissue surrounding the urinary tract. Bacteria can make its way through the infected tissue, leading to severe or chronic infections.

UTI affects 50% of all women, and 20-30% has a recurrence of the infection. Symptoms include heightened urge to urinate and frequent, painful urination. Results from this study can have implications for vulnerability for reoccurring UTI in women.

Read the article here and the research article here.

Photo Credit: Lululemon Athletica

We have an exciting new development at Women’s Health Foundation!

True to our mission of “Improving the Pelvic Health of All Women” we have made significant inroads to present our educational materials to non-English-speaking women, via our Pelvic Health Community Initiative. To broaden our reach, we are offering a scholarship to our upcoming Total Control Instructor Training class for a bi-lingual (Spanish/English) woman!

The training will be held October 22 and 23 at the Galter Life Center in Chicago. The scholarship recipient must have a background in Healthcare or Exercise, have financial need, and live in the Chicago metropolitan area. The training class will be conducted in English. For consideration, please contact Anna Albrecht at: anna@womenshealthfoundation.org.

Photo Credit: Lululemon Athletica

Congratulations to Kate!  With 59% of the vote from our lovely readers, Kate will receive a $100 gift card to ActivewearUSA.com for new workout clothes!

Kate’s winning comment:

Husband in the military fulltime and in grad school part-time and I work with a nonprofit so service to our country along with 1 child and another on the way takes up most of our time and money! I’d love to be that Mom running/walking throughout our neighborhood but I can’t afford the clothes (I literally laughed when I saw this because I actually have a sports bra with duct tape on it) and running shoes so old they can probably run by themselves at this point. So in my painting shorts and duct tape bra I walk/hop up my stairs at home but it’s truly not enough- this would get me outside.

Kate, we implore you- throw the duct-taped bra away now. We’ll be in touch to delivery your prize.

To all of you who entered- thanks for commenting!  As a thank-you, ActivewearUSA.com is giving you a 10% discount! If you left a comment and would like to claim your discount, email us for the code. Our thanks to ActivewearUSA.com for allowing us a great opportunity to get each other fit and well.