Dr. Shiva Singh Shekhawat

Are you pregnant and waiting to be a mother for the first time? Pregnancy is an ideal time for you to start taking care of yourself emotionally and physically. It is not a very simple thing and is associated with several complexities. Here are nine ways, following which you can undergo a healthy pregnancy:

1. Consult your doctor or midwife immediately
   • After finding that you are pregnant, get in touch with your doctor or midwife for organizing antenatal care.
   • You will need to get important pregnancy advice and prepare for scans and tests that are required.
2. Eat properly
   • Consume a healthy and balanced diet on a regular basis comprising carbohydrates, protein servings, and fish.
3. Take supplements
   • Take pregnancy vitamin supplements in case you are not getting the essential nutrients from your everyday diet.
   • Consume folic acid and vitamin D in large amounts during pregnancy.
4. Maintain proper hygiene
   • For keeping away from a condition known as listeria, you should avoid food items that may harbor the listeria bacteria, such as unpasteurized milk, under cooked meals, raw and under cooked meat, and many more.
5. Work out regularly
   • Regular exercise is important during pregnancy.
   • Go for yoga, swimming, walking, and aquanatal classes as you need to build your endurance and strength. This prepares your body to deal with pregnancy.
   • Practice pelvic floor exercises as these help in having a toned pelvic floor that ensures you of a smoother childbirth.
6. Avoid alcohol
   • ?Alcohol is unsafe during pregnancy, and you should totally try to avoid drinking. Heavy drinking during pregnancy is fatal for your baby in several ways.
7. Avoid caffeine
   • ?Avoid having mild stimulants such as coffee, cola, and tea when you are pregnant. The high caffeine amounts may increase the chances of miscarriage
8. Avoid smoking
   • Smoking during your pregnancy may lead to complications such as miscarriage, premature birth, or low birth weight of your baby.
   • Smoking also triggers placental abruption, ectopic pregnancy and nausea, followed by vomiting. Hence, you should totally quit smoking.
9. Undertake pelvic floor exercises

It is also very important for you to get sufficient rest when you are pregnant. You are bound to get tired easily because of pregnancy hormones that are in high levels. Try taking naps during the day if your night sleep is disrupted. Try relaxation techniques such as yoga, stretching, massage, deep breathing, and visualization. For a healthy pregnancy, without any complication or hazards, these also play an important role.

Breast cancer is a medical condition that refers to the uncontrolled growth of cells in the breast. These cells can be like small tumours or lumps. The tumour can be malignant if it is found that the cells are growing into surrounding tissues or are spreading. It occurs mostly in women.

Breast cancers can originate from any part of the breast. Most of these cancerous growths start in the milk-carrying ducts. There are also cancerous growths in the glands that produce milk. These are known as lobular cancers. In rare cases, cancer may also start from the breast tissues. These are known as sarcomas and lymphomas.

Here are some of the ways to get prevented from the possibility of developing breast cancer:

1. Check your weight: It is important that you maintain a healthy weight. You don’t need do follow the hard and fast dieting charts or starve. But eat a balanced diet and exercise a bit to maintain a stable and healthy weight throughout. Being obese or overweight increases the chance of developing breast cancer.
2. Be Active: A sedentary lifestyle devoid of activities is something that invites diseases. It has been found that women who are physically active and exercise for at least 30 minutes a day are at a low risk of developing breast cancer.
3. Don’t avoid fruits and vegetables: It is important for you to have a balanced diet. Include lots of leafy vegetables and fruits in your diet to avoid the possibility of developing any form of cancer. Don’t drink excessive alcohol on regular basis. Remember a healthy diet is a key to a healthy life.
4. Don’t Smoke: Smoking increases the chance of developing heart diseases, stroke and 15 types of cancers. It also increases the risk for breast cancer.
5. Breastfeed your baby: It is mandatory for good health that you breastfeed your baby. Exclusive breastfeeding is best for the health of your baby as well as yours. It lowers the chances of developing breast cancer.
6. Avoid Birth Control Pills: These pills have side-effects. They increase the risk of developing breast cancer. It also increases the chances of developing heart diseases and ovarian cancer.
7. Avoid Post-Menopausal Hormones: Post-menopausal hormones have an adverse effect on the health. They increase the risk of some diseases while lowering the effects of other ones. It should be taken for a shorter period and its prolonged use must be avoided.

Amenorrhea is the medical condition wherein a woman misses the menstrual periods. Girls aged 15 or more who have not yet started menstruating are at the maximum risk of this condition. The most common cause of amenorrhea is pregnancy. Other causes of amenorrhea include problems concerning the reproductive organs or glands that help to regulate hormone levels. Treatment of the underlying conditions often resolves amenorrhea.

Some of the main causes and solutions of amenorrhea are:

1. Dieting: In some women, dieting may cause amenorrhea. This is reversible, simply by eating a balanced diet.
2. Anorexia: Women who suffer from anorexia nervosa are highly likely to suffer from amenorrhea. In this case too, the only solution is to eat a healthy balanced diet.
3. Obesity: In some women, being overweight can cause amenorrhea. They should restrict the amount of fat consumed and should exercise daily to maintain an ideal body weight.
4. Vigourous Exercise: However, extreme exercise is also a cause of amenorrhea. More than 8 hours of vigorous workout, in a week, for a prolonged period of time, can cause amenorrhea. Try to strike a balance between the right kind of exercises and the time devoted to them.
5. Emotional stress: Excessive stress can often cause normal menstrual cycles to be disrupted. This can be cured by simply dealing with the cause of stress. Once stress levels come down to normal, so will menstruation.
6. Addiction: Excessive consumption of alcohol or smoking of cigarettes can also cause amenorrhea. Maintaining a safe distance from all such intoxicants is advised.

Once the cause of amenorrhea is determined, treatment is directed at correcting the underlying disease, which should restore normal menstruation. In case of any anatomical abnormalities of the genital tract, surgery may be advised. Treatment with medications such as dopamine agonists, Glucophage or oral contraceptives is also helpful. Hormone replacement therapies are used in those cases wherein a lack of estrogen is the cause behind it.

A word of caution
While many individuals and companies have marketed herbal therapies as a successful treatment for amenorrhea, none of these have been conclusively proven to be of help. In fact, some of these have been associated with serious and even fatal side effects, though in rare cases. Some preparations have been found to contain high levels of toxins. Before deciding to take a natural or an alternative remedy for amenorrhea, it is best to seek the advice of a healthcare practitioner.

Amenorrhea is very easily avoidable by eating healthy and balanced diets, exercising moderately, maintaining ideal body weight and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption and smoking.