Women should have a pelvic exam as part of their yearly physical. Your doctor will be able to check for any signs of illness during your visit. This is the time to ask any questions or discuss any concerns or symptoms you may be having. You should not douche, use a tampon, have sex, or use any medicine or cream in your vagina two days before your visit. The exam should not take more than 10 minutes. If you are sexually active, you should ask your doctor to screen you for sexually transmitted infections(STIs). Many people do not experience symptoms when they have some STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HPV. Yearly screening will help with identifying and treating these infections before they have any lasting effects. You should use condoms if you are sexually active. This can prevent your partner from passing a STI to you. You should still get tested regularly even if you use condoms. You should wear underwear that keeps your genital area dry and does not hold moisture. Cotton is the preferred fabric. You should also avoid wearing tight fitting clothing because it can trap heat and moisture around your genital area. If you work out or go swimming, you should change out of your wet clothes as soon as possible. When you are on your period, you should change your tampons and pads regularly. Make sure your non-cotton underwear, leggings, workout gear, and pantyhose have a cotton panel in the crotch area Your vagina is a self-cleaning organ. You should not do anything that may upset the natural balance if your vagina because it can lead to an infection. Wash the area around your vagina with plain, unscented soaps and rinse with plenty of water. You should not douche, use feminine sprays, or scented tampons. These can upset the natural bacterial balance of your vagina and cause irritation. Remember your vagina is self-cleaning. Foods live and active cultures can help keep the right pH balance in your vagina. Probiotics is another common term for these cultures. Good sources of probiotics are yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, and miso. Make sure your yogurt label says "contains live and active cultures." Eating one cup of yogurt a day is adequate. When you use the bathroom, make sure you wipe from front to back. Wiping from back to front will spread yeast and bacteria from your anus to your vagina or your urinary tract. Spreading bacteria through improper wiping can cause bacterial vaginosis or a yeast infection.

Summary: Get regular checkups. Wear proper clothing. Clean your vagina properly. Eat yogurt with active cultures. Wipe properly.

If you and your family have certain pairs of shoes you wear almost every day, a convenient way to keep them in one spot is to have a designated mat for everyday shoes. Keep it near the door or coat rack, and have family members kick off their shoes and line them up neatly so they'll always know where to find them. You could also get a shoe cubby for this purpose. Reserve it for the shoes that are worn most often, like school shoes and tennis shoes. Have a separate spot reserved for wet shoes that need to dry out. This could be a mat on a covered porch or a mat in your entryway. If you have a big collection of shoes, you'll need a second storage area for the shoes you don't wear very often. Shoe racks make it easy to organize shoes in a closet or along a bedroom wall. Choose a plastic or wooden shoe rack and group shoes by purpose, lining them up neatly and putting them away after each use. If you have an old wooden ladder, consider using it to make a unique shoe rack. Just paint the ladder to match your room, then place it sideways against a wall. Line up your shoes on the rungs of the ladder for easy storage. Another great solution is to get a wooden pallet from a home improvement store. Mount the pallet to your wall ( use a stud-finder to make sure you mount it securely with screws) and store your shoes by inserting the tips of the shoes into the slats. You might not want to use this method for your most expensive leather shoes, since it can cause creasing, but it's great for tennis shoes, flip flops and the like. If you're low on storage space, pick up an over-the-door shoe bag from the store and start using it to store your shoe in pairs. This keeps them off of the floor and organized so they don't clutter up your closet floor. If you're storing shoes that you don't plan on wearing for a month or more, it's best to store them in a box. You can store shoes in their original shoe boxes or use clear plastic containers so you'll be able to see what shoes you've stored. Old wine boxes are good substitutes for shoe boxes if you can't locate a pair's original box. Wrap the shoes in acid-free tissue paper to keep them safe during storage. You can also use silica gel to keep the materials shoes are made from fresh. You can purchase a container of silica gel from a craft store.

Summary: Have a designated mat for everyday shoes. Use a shoe rack. Store shoes in door-hanging shoe bags. Put them in boxes for longer storage.

If your boyfriend is disrespectful, you often won't feel like you're being heard in the relationship. Do you feel like your boyfriend truly understands you? Do you think he knows your needs and wants? If not, he may be disrespecting you. You may feel like your boyfriend does not know basic things about you, such as personal boundaries and what you like to do. This may be because he talks over you or dismisses you. Listening is a basic sign of respect. Someone who does not listen to you does not likely respect you. Think about how you feel about your role in the relationship. Disrespectful people will often make their partners feel unworthy. In a healthy relationship, you will feel you deserve love and respect. You may find yourself consistently having thoughts like, "I don't deserve him" or "It's my fault he yells. I don't deserve to be treated well." You do deserve respect. Every human deserve as much. If you consistently feel unworthy of basic aspects of respect (being listened to, being treated with kindness, having your needs met, etc.) then your boyfriend may be being disrespectful towards you. Disrespectful people can create toxic relationships with those around them. If you're being perpetually disrespected, think about your overall energy level. Do you feel tired most of the time? Do you feel drained and exhausted? If so, your boyfriend may be disrespecting you. A disrespectful partner can affect how you behave. If you're with someone who doesn't respect you, you may often feel like you're at your worst. Do you feel like you're not the person you used to be? Do you feel like you're no longer able to keep up with things like your friends, hobbies, and social life and are just doing the bare minimum? Do you feel like you're not dealing as well in social interactions? Maybe you've been more short tempered or dismissive lately. This is a sign you're not being respected and lashing out at others.
Summary: Think about whether you feel heard. Examine if you feel unworthy. Evaluate your overall energy level. Think about your behavior.