What do you know about pH? I know we all heard that eating your pineapple is supposed to make your vagina taste good. However balancing your pH is a little more than just cleaning your parts and eating pineapple. No worries though! I'm going to explain what pH is, what yours should be, and why it's important.
What in the HECK is pH???
"The term ‘pH’ stands for ‘potential of hydrogen,’ which is the measure of a solution’s hydrogen ion concentration."(theholistichealthapproach) This means that in order for a substance to have a pH it has to have free hydrogen or hydroxyl ions. I know this is a little complicated because we are stepping into chemistry! But a simple rule is if it’s aqueous (contains water) it has a pH.
Common things we use in or on our bodies and whether or not they have pH:
*I don’t want to go too far into technical, chemistry terms but, these substances’ molecular structure has free H ions even though we consider these dry products.
It's important understand and know the pH of the things that we put in and on our bodies for several reasons:
1) Our bodies are very sensitive to pH changes. When our pH is out of whack it can cause things like acne, eczema, dry skin/hair, oil skin/hair to more serious things like infections and disease.
2) Unwanted chemical reactions. Have you ever been washing dishes with bleach and you notice your hands start peeling? That's because the pH of the water is WAY too high due to the bleach.
3) pH affects everything in and around us. pH is crucial for gardening, cosmetics, cooking, and so much more! Did you know the reason for mold is because of pH?
What is a pH Scale?
Now that we know what pH is and what has a pH and what doesn't, let's understand what a pH scale is and how it works!
http://acidsandbases-101.weebly.com/ph--poh.html
0=battery acid 1=stomach acid 2=lemon juice 3=pop 4=tomato juice 5=black coffee 6=milk 7=pure water 8=egg 9=baking soda 10=milk of magnesia 11=ammonia 12=soap water 13=bleach 14=drain cleaner
(These are rough measurements give or take)
Anything that is too alkaline or too acidic will eat through skin and objects (as you can see battery acid, stomach acid, drain cleaner) Acids can be used to neutralize alkalis and vice versa. That's why you get a reaction when you use baking soda and vinegar. But remember if you are trying to clean you don't want to neutralize your cleaner. You want your cleaners to be on the stronger side of weak acids or weak alkali.
Food and cleaning products aren’t the only things that have pH balance. “Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.” (USGS) So as we know already if something has water it has a pH. YES! Every organ in your body has a pH! Let’s look at the balanced range for your body.
All body: 6.2-7.6
Vagina: 3.8-4.5 (slightly higher after menopause)
Blood: 7.35-7.45 very narrow window; it’s important that your blood remains neutral.
Skin: 4.5-5.5
Urine: 4.6-8.0
Saliva: 6.2-7.6
Stomach Acid: 1.5-3.5
“If the lungs or kidneys are malfunctioning, your blood’s pH level can become imbalanced.” (healthline.com). If your blood pH is below it means that you have acidosis if it’s high then it’s alkalosis. There are several types of each medical condition so the cause of the condition has to be determined by a medical provider. But as I talked about in the article “Not Your Mama’s Sex Talk,” Minor infections that are uncured can cause serious illnesses including change in blood pH.
For example, if you notice symptoms of a vaginal infection or a UTI; you decide not to go to the doctor (these infections can be easily treated in a couple of days). These infections will just spread farther up your tract system, affecting your kidneys; your kidneys will start to hurt and not be able to filter toxins out of your body; this will lead to toxins in your blood; all the while throwing off the pH in every organ.
We may not be able to test every pH in our body at home, but we can test the ones that can alert us that our body may become vulnerable to illnesses and/ or disease. The easiest ones to check are your vagina pH, your saliva, and your urine. You can either buy litmus strips that range from 0-14 or you can buy strips that are specific to each pH (these strips will give you a more precise measurement).
Tips for testing:
When testing your pH for your vagina make sure that you wash your hands throughly and don't touch the end that you are swabbing. You don’t want to contaminate the sample.
When testing your saliva, you want to do it in the morning before you brush your teeth or even drink water. This will ensure that you aren’t changing your pH giving you false results.
When testing your urine, you want to test first thing in the morning. For best results you want to test after you have slept at least 6 hours without getting up to use the restroom. You want to pee outside the cup just a little bit before aiming in the cup. ( Your kidneys have had time enough to filter your system to gather acidic toxins. Later in the day, your urine becomes more alkaline due to the filtration.)
Believe or not we have just scraped the surface about pH! I just want to introduce the basics so that we as women can understand our bodies better! We have explored what pH is, how it affects us on a daily basis, and how to check our own pH! Now we know that it’s important to have an overall balanced pH because it is crucial to our health!
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