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Sometimes it’s the simplest sales approaches that prove to be the most effective. When the staff at Women’s Fitness Center in Harrisonburg, Va., began strategizing about how to boost sales during the typically slow month of December, it decided to “give” a little to the community in the hopes of “receiving” a little in return.

The goodwill formula turned into a coat-drive that not only produced much-needed goods for local charities, but increased memberships for the fitness facility. “A Warm Coat Gets You a Hot Deal” was offered in stages beginning November 30, 1995, with a kickoff “sale” on memberships. The donor of a new or used coat that day received a $65 discount off the club’s $75 enrollment fee, and the sale continued through December with a $40 discount to donors bringing in coats for men, women or children. Read more »

Q: I recently had my first child. Can you tell me how I can regain tightness in my vaginal muscles?

A: Postpartum women are often instructed to perform pelvic-floor (Kegel) exercises. Dr. Arnold Kegel, an American obstetrician and gynecologist, first described and promoted exercises for the pelvic floor in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Kegel exercises are designed to improve the tone of the muscles, ligaments and fascia that are collectively referred to as the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor controls urination and defecation, enhances the sexual response to orgasm and provides support to the pelvic organs. Many women are unaware that they have muscles in this area that can be strengthened just like their biceps or quadriceps. Read more »

Dermatologists can often help women avoid problems during pregnancy. According to Dr. Barbara Reed, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, “several medications used to treat skin, hair and nail conditions have been known to result in birth defects.

A good rule is to avoid every drug which is not necessary to maintain health during pregnancy”. These drugs include isotretinoin often prescribed for severe nodular acne can cause low set ears and cardiac problems in a fetus.

The anti-fungal agent fluconazole has been associated with birth defects along with minoxidil during pregnancy and during breastfeeding.

Over the counter agents also pose a threat such as ibuprofen, aspiring and nutritional supplements. The best rule of thumb is for women to work with their physician when they decide to become pregnant.

Finally pregnancy can cause changes in the skin such as melasma or darkening of the skin, pruritic and urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy which is a benign rash arising in the third trimester and Pemphigoid Gestationis which is a rare itchy spread of blisters on the trunk.

Simon Hinton on why he thinks the female of the species can be more deadly than the male.

Of course there does exist a very nasty type of man who really hates women – the genuine misogynist. These men are normally undesirable little twerps who women can’t help laughing at, and because women scare them, they hate you (giggling girls have never done much for an inferiority complex). But fortunately most guys don’t fall into this category, and find women to be the most gorgeous, delightful, strangely complex and beautifully indecipherable creatures. Read more »

There are three main types of estrogen produced by the female body:
Estradiol—Produced by the ovaries, this is the primary estrogen produced during your reproductive years. Read more »

I have been walking for a month, not missing a day. My problem is pain and stiffness in my hips — they feel tight, too. Am I doing something wrong?

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A few days after conception , the embryo implants in your uterine wall and sends chemical messages to alert your body that it is pregnant. Your menstrual cycle stops, your cervix develops a mucus plug, the wall of your uterus softens, and the protective cocoon around the embryo develops. In order to insure proper development during these first crucial weeks (when you probably are not aware that you are pregnant), you must have adequate amounts of folic acid in your body to prevent neural tube defects in the embryo. In the fifth week of pregnancy the primitive S-shaped heart begins to beat. At six weeks of pregnancy, the embryo’s spinal cord and major organs are starting to form, as are the head, facial structure, arms and legs. Light hair is also beginning to grow.

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Like the non-stress test, the mother is attached to a Doppler ultrasound machine that monitors contractions and fetal heart rate, but the stress test includes giving the mother a small amount of oxytocin, a hormonal drug that stimulates uterine contractions. A variation of this test substitutes nipple stimulation for oxytocin; stimulating the mother’s nipples with hot towels or by hand can also bring on contractions.

Natural Fertility Medications
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Is it feasible for you or your spouse to stay home with your new baby? According to Andy Dappen, author of Shattering the Two-Income Myth, families can live well on one income if both partners are committed to the goals and in agreement about how the family will benefit. Dappen suggests couples start exploring the one-income prospect by tallying the time and money it takes to earn each spouse’s income. Oftentimes, couples will find they spend a large portion of time and money actually earning that income – through time spent preparing for work and commuting as well as money spent on commuting, work clothes, dining out, taxes and hiring others to maintain their home. It clearly takes money to make money. Read more »

Tofu? The food of the “radical” vegetarians? Science tells us that it is good for us, even better than the garden burgers, but how do you use it? Read on…
Until 5-10 years ago, tofu was not mainstream–it wasn’t even in the general supermarkets until just a few years ago. Tofu’s stereotype was that associated with Oriental cuisine, and food for the strict vegetarian. Though it is true that meat still reigns as the major entree for most people, more people are beginning to realize the benefits of eating tofu, even just for a few meals a week.
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