With women taking on more and more roles every day, it is crucial that they look after their wellbeing. This means having a healthier lifestyle, which should include working out regularly, getting plenty of sleep, minimizing the effects of stress, and avoiding unhealthy habits.
It also includes having a healthy diet. This entails eating more nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, and good-quality proteins.
Ladies will also do well to add more probiotic-rich foods to their diet. This is because probiotics for women offers various health benefits that females should never underestimate.
These health benefits include
1. Maintaining the balance of bacteria in the intestinal flora
Most ladies tend to be more susceptible to certain digestive issues, which include constipation and irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. However, many choose to do nothing to resolve these health problems. Additionally, some take antibiotics in an effort to address them.
Taking antibiotics, especially when it is not necessary, causes an imbalance in the gastrointestinal system, wherein the good bacteria become depleted. This usually leads to the symptoms continuing to show and not disappearing at all.
Probiotics help reduce the symptoms of constipation and mild to moderate IBS and diarrhea, even without the need to take antibiotics. They have the same effect on antibiotic-associated looseness of the bowels.
Additionally, probiotics can aid the body in recovering healthy microorganisms, which helps keep the ratio of good to bad bacteria in balance.
2. Providing relief for traveler’s diarrhea
For women who often travel for work or pleasure, packing a probiotic medicine is a must to minimize the symptoms that come with traveler’s diarrhea.
This particular type of gastrointestinal disease is similar to regular diarrhea. However, patients often get it when they are in a different country or are coming from one.
Symptoms include loose or watery stool, the frequent need to have a bowel movement, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pains or cramps, among others.
Since diarrhea causes an imbalance between good and bad bacteria in the gastrointestinal system, eating more foods rich in probiotics and taking in a supplement will help fix this issue.
Additionally, it will help provide relief to the other symptoms that accompany diarrhea.
Because of these reasons, probiotics are a highly recommended diarrhea treatment medicine for both male and female adults.
3. Supporting digestion
Microbes in the lower intestinal tract aid the body in digesting food. When there are more good bacteria in this part of the body, digestion continues to work smoothly. As a result, bowel movements become regular, which can help women keep a healthy weight.
To ensure the lower intestinal tract has sufficient good bacteria, consuming more probiotic-rich foods and supplements is a must.
Moreover, probiotics can reduce different gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating, gas, and constipation.
4. Boosting immunity
Various studies show that probiotics can support and improve one’s immune system. They do so by enriching and replenishing the healthy bacteria in the body.
Additionally, these good microorganisms aid the body in producing vitamins and enzymes, which in turn, helps keep your intestines happy.
All these help the immune system guard the body against unfavorable organisms that can cause various illnesses, including the common cold, allergies, and diarrhea.
5. Treating and preventing yeast infection
Vaginal yeast infection or vaginal candidiasis is one of the most common vaginal infections that women suffer from. It is often caused by a yeast organism called candida albicans.
Like the gastrointestinal system, the vagina is a microbiome. As such, it should have a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria.
Vaginal candidiasis occurs when this healthy balance is upset by stress, hormonal fluctuation, illness, or dietary changes. The candida albicans grow in number, thus overwhelming the good bacteria.
Having a well-balanced, low-sugar, and high-fiber diet helps treat and avoid this infection. The increased intake of fiber can also nourish and encourage the growth of good bacteria in the vagina that can fight harmful yeast organisms.
Taking a women’s daily probiotic supplement with the lactobacillus strain can also help maintain the female’s microbiome. This is because lactobacilli are the most prevalent healthy bacteria in the vagina and urinary tract. Some women face the infection again and again, for them probiotics for recurring BV are really beneficial.
6. Helping improve mental health
Various studies show that there is a strong connection between the gut and brain.
Stress, which is one of the biggest factors affecting the mental health of both men and women, can also impact the balance of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, can also have negative effects on the digestive and immune systems.
All of these can affect a person’s physical and mental health.
Helping the body get more probiotics can help it respond to and deal with stress better.
Increasing one’s intake of bifidobacterium, for instance, can assist the body in reducing the hormone levels associated with stress and anxiety. Lactobacillus plantarum, on the other hand, can aid in lowering a person’s stress levels.
Higher levels of probiotics in the gut can also improve a person’s quality of sleep, particularly after a stressful event.
7. Supporting the wellbeing of expectant moms
Keeping the gastrointestinal system healthy is a must for moms-to-be. As already mentioned, there should be more good bacteria than harmful ones in the gut.
When expecting moms have a healthy gut, they will have a better digestive system. As such, they will have a regular bowel movement and avoid constipation, which is a common issue pregnant women have.
Since probiotics also help boost the immune system, soon-to-be moms should increase their intake of these nutrients to ensure they don’t get sick easily, which always impacts the health of their baby.
Moreover, unborn infants get their nutrients and good bacteria from their mothers. When the baby absorbs these healthy microorganisms, their immune system starts to develop.
It is also worth adding here that some studies show that certain strains of probiotics improve the fertility of women. For ladies trying to conceive, it would be worth asking their OBGYN for their recommendations.
Lastly, moms-to-be should also ask their OB gyne which types of probiotics they can or should take if they want to take a supplement or add certain probiotic-rich foods or beverages to their diet.
Probiotics provide several health benefits to ladies. Adding foods and beverages that contain good bacteria and the right supplements in your diet is, therefore, a healthy step to take.