Vaginal Health, Impact of Lifestyle Behaviors on

How does one's lifestyle impact vaginal health? What is a healthy vagina? A healthy vagina contains adequate amounts of bacteria and other microorganisms, has an odorless discharge that changes in amount and consistency throughout the menstrual cycle, and has an acidic environment. Vaginal bacteria, such as lactobacillus, help maintain an acidic vaginal environment with a pH [Page 1102]ranging from 3.5 to 4.5. An acidic environment helps suppress the overgrowth of pathologic or “bad” bacteria. When this natural environment of the vagina gets disrupted and there is an overgrowth of disease-forming bacteria, the vagina becomes less acidic, which leads to the genesis of vaginitis. Moreover, with sexual exchange, an infectious agent can be introduced into the vagina, leading to sexually transmitted infections such as herpes simplex, ...