HER

Recovery after surgery is challenging. Learn how to stay productive without pushing yourself too hard.“Your strongest muscle and your worst enemy is your mind. Train it well.” -Unknown Resuming activity after surgery is challenging, especially if you were a busy body prior to your procedure. The body wants to move. The mind knows recovery is necessary. Compromise between the two will help your mind and body. Don’t do too much. You may want to find a trainer who can supervise your rehabilitation and regrouping efforts. This outside perspective can keep you from pushing yourself too much, while still allowing you to get physical benefits from the workout. Don’t wallow after life presents you with challenges. Consider the cause of the surgery as a speed bump. Get your strength back and accept support. Use that to enhance other people’s lives as well. Listen in as fitness expert Liz Corah shares the lessons she’s learned from surviving meningioma surgery.

Being healthy and fit can help your recovery time.HER Radio fitness expert Liz Corah didn’t feel well one day after teaching. After absolutely no symptoms, she experienced a grand mal seizure.  Doctors found a softball-size tumor in her brain, referred to as a meningioma. A meningioma occurs when the lining of the brain decides to make too many cells. This is more common in women than men. Liz’s fitness level improved her ability to recover. The average patient takes five to seven days of hospital care after the operation. Liz was out in three. Liz asked her doctor how she could recover as quickly as possible. She was told to eat healthy and stay fit. She dedicated herself to the best possible health before the surgery. In short, the healthier you are, the easier it is to recover. Liz also worked on keeping her morale high so she would recover faster. She wanted to be strong and productive. She packed five outfits and makeup. Paying close attention to her body’s responses, she got dressed the first day and insisted on taking a short walk down the hall. She spent time chatting at the nurse’s station instead of returning to her room. Feeling productive can work wonders for your morale and help you heal. Listen in as Liz shares her story.

Follow these three simple steps to improve security on your mobile device.You conduct so much of your daily life every day on your mobile devices. What sensitive information do you keep on your phone? What if someone gets a hold of your phone? Not only can they hack your accounts, but they can also find personal information like photos of your family. How can you protect yourself? 1. Enable Password/Fingerprint Encryption. Most smart devices have a lock screen with a code. Newer iPhones are encrypted for fingerprints. If you don’t have it set up on your phone now, look into setting it up. 2. Set up Two-Factor Authentication with all key services. The way someone can hack your account is by getting your name and password. Many people use the same name and password across several accounts. If they hack your login from one site, they can take it to other sites. Many of these sites now send a secret code to your cell phone number if activity is suspicious. Google, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook and Apple provide these services. Look it up to see how to set it up on your favorite sites. 3. Be aware of photograph GPS Data. Smart phones always know where you are. They apply GPS data to all of your photographs. This is generally a great service. But, when you post a photo to social media it often has the GPS data attached to it. Someone can pull that photo and look at the GPS information to find out where you live. Look for an EXIF app to remove that info from your photos. Listen in as tech expert David Sparks shares his advice for mobile device security.

Your nervous system and gut are intimately connected.Your emotional state is tied directly to gut health. The neurotransmitters in our brains and our guts originally came from the microbes through evolution. The gut microbiome contains 100 trillion microorganisms living inside our digestive system. The microbes take advantage of the close communication system with the nervous system. They communicate with the areas of the brain that are crucial for emotions and a sense of well-being. Your emotions involve your brain, gut and the microbes. If you’re upset, it affects the other parts of the system. Disturbances can come from many angles to shift the system out of balance. In fact 98% of the body’s serotonin is packaged and influenced by the gut. Serotonin changes the behavior of the microbes. Garbage food upsets the gut and messes with your emotions. Comfort foods change the microbes, leading to inflammation and influencing mood. It’s all connected. Look at what you're eating and how it's affecting your mood. Listen in as Dr. Emeran Mayer discusses the relationship between your gut and emotions.

Listen in as Pam and Michelle answer your personal health questions.It's YOUR time on HER Radio. Be a part of the show... send your comments and ask your questions by email, [email protected]. It's time to Ask HER. Today, on HER Radio you wanted to know: What happens to your body when you stop taking birth control? There isn't really a waiting period to bring your body back to its baby-making ways. You may get pregnant right away, but bodies do vary. Any symptoms you may have had before taking the pill could return, like PMS symptoms, acne and irregular periods. It may take a few months for your body to get used to normal hormone production, so periods may be irregular. You may also feel yourself ovulate. Why is it so difficult to lose those last 10 pounds? It depends on how much you just lost. If you dropped 40 to 100 pounds then don't lose perspective of the accomplishment you just achieved. The last bundle of pounds is harder to drop because you burn fewer calories in daily activities when you are slimmer. Amp up the intensity of your training so you cook those calories more efficiently. Try HIIT (high intensity interval training). Stay as physically active as possible. Make sure you're burning 400 calories a day so you can have that deficit and lose the weight. A fitness tracker may help. Don't expect overnight results.  How long should I stretch before and after working out? And what kind of stretches should I be doing? Be careful with your stretches. Most people would do well by loosening up with high kicks, back kicks, hip circles, simple squats against the wall and light lunges. Brisk walks can help with stretching. Don't do anything radical with jerking movements. Dynamic movement counts more than anything else. If you have a personal health question that you want answered, Pam and Michelle encourage you to send them in to [email protected].

Reduce your stress in a minute (or less) with some simple tips.Yoga is proven to reduce stress. The nice thing about yoga is that you can practice it anywhere. Stop and notice your posture. Move into mountain pose, which is standing or sitting with healthy alignment. Ears over shoulders, hip bones toward the ground. Good posture facilitates breathing. Breathing is one of the best stress-relief mechanisms available. Watch your breath and live in the present moment. Abdominal breaths slow the heart rate and calm the blood pressure. Listen in as yoga expert Carol Krucoff shares simple tips for stress relief in a minute or less.

Sex talk with your doctor may not give you the answers you really need.Women's sexual health needs are often unmet. Sexual concerns aren't always voiced in medical appointments. Internet searches sometimes lead to websites that don't address solutions, and all to often offer products for sale. The main sexual concerns women have are: Interest and desire Pain from absence of estrogen and lack of lubrication Arousal and orgasm There are new devices on the market to address these concerns. Fiera is a clitoral device that provides gentle suction and vibration. It is used in preparation for a sexual encounter. It engorges the area with improved blood supply, awakening the genital tissues so intercourse enjoyment is more possible. Intensity combines pelvic floor muscle stimulation and strengthening. Orgasm is contraction of the pelvic floor muscles. Toning and improving those muscles can improve orgasm. It also has a vibrator attached, which many women find pleasurable. Chronic disease is an important part of your health discussion with your doctor, but so is sexual health. If you can't talk to your doctor about sex, find a new provider. Listen in as Dr. Barb DePree shares what you need to know about female sexual concerns.

Stress, sleep deprivation and social jet lag are doing a number on your body.Stress, sleep deprivation and social jet lag are all messing with your health. Stress raises cortisol. This leads to weight gain and chronic disease. Sleep deprivation raises your stress level. You wind up feeling lousy. Getting too little sleep is no longer a reason to brag. Social jet lag happens when you stay up late and get up early. You try to manage the sleep deficit on the weekends by sleeping in. When bedtime rolls around again, you can't get to sleep and wind up staying up late again. The catch-up sleep didn't really work. Sleep is necessary to combat these things that are throwing you off. Sleep allows your body to create leptin and also helps manage cortisol. Leptin is the hormone that allows you to feel satiated so you don't overeat. High cortisol levels lead to comfort food cravings, meaning you can't get enough of the fats, salts and sugars your mom used to make. You need sleep so your cortisol levels are high in the morning and decrease over the course of the day, only having little peaks after meals. Improve your health by getting more sleep. Put down your electronics at night. Go to bed by 10 or 11 p.m. Don't consume caffeine or alcohol at night. Exercise in the morning to get back into the groove. Listen in as Dr. Theodore Friedman shares how to remedy the damage caused by stress, sleep deprivation and social jet lag.

You can work through that trauma by engaging your body.When life gets you down or you have a traumatic experience, it's all too easy to curl into a ball and hide out from the world. Broken hearts can lead to over-consumption of ice cream and self-quarantine. But, limiting your movement is one of the worst things you can do. Maybe you should run a marathon the get through that break-up. Getting physical can treat trauma. Running a marathon can help you work through emotions. Swimming, working out and dancing can sort out some of the hurt and anger. Creative pursuits like writing, painting and making music are also great for handling trauma. There are large traumas that you easily recognize. A big break-up, loss of a family member or treasured pet, car accidents and major events are obvious traumas. Smaller traumas like job stress, losing your job and other bad news can collect to act as a large trauma.  Invest in your recovery process. Empower yourself by putting on those tennis shoes and get moving. Listen in as Dr. Ken Yeager shares how to cure your broken heart with activity.

Find out where stretch marks come from and how to make them look better.Growth spurts, weight gain and pregnancy are common causes of stretch marks. Every woman has them. Some stretch marks are more obvious than others. Sadly, you can't prevent or control stretch marks. The skin stretches faster than new skin can grow. You don't always notice them until you lose weight. The best you can do is to improve the stretch mark and make it look a bit better. Try a cream with retinol, caffeine, vitamin C or niacinamide. Firming creams may help. Don't open up vitamin E capsules and try rubbing the oil on your stretch mark. Instead, find a cream with vitamin E that is meant for skin application. Red stretch marks are new. White stretch marks are older. Don't try to tan to make them go away. Tanning breaks down the collagen in your body and makes the contrast between the stretch mark and surrounding skin worse. Listen in as Dr. Doris Day shares how to treat your stretch marks.