How can I avoid yeast infections?

Ways to avoid vaginal yeast infections include lowering sugar intake in the diet, taking probiotics, avoiding moist environments like wet swim suits - and sleeping commando! Watch as sexual health expert Jen Landa, MD, provides some helpful ideas.

Transcript

00:00

Whether you take them by mouth or whether you use them vaginally, you want to take probiotics because those are the good bacteria that help squeeze down

00:08

the yeast content and keep that yeast content down to a minimum. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:19

A lot of women ask me how they can avoid vaginal yeast infections. And there are a lot of ways you can actually help yourself.

00:26

One is by looking at your diet. Sugar in the diet will encourage yeast because yeast feed on sugar.

00:33

Also, probiotics-- whether you take them by mouth or whether you use them vaginally, you want to take probiotics because those

00:40

are the good bacteria that help squeeze down the yeast content and keep that yeast content down to a minimum,

00:47

because we always have yeast there. It's just when it gets out of control that it becomes a yeast infection. So those probiotics will help you keep that in control.

00:55

Other things you can do is you want to avoid the hot, moist environment vaginally. So you want to, right away, when you get home from the gym,

01:04

you want to take off those sweaty gym clothes right away. You don't want to sit around in a wet bathing suit at all. You want to dry your parts very well

01:13

after having those experiences like going to the gym or swimming or anything like that. And so you want to make sure to keep the vagina dry.

01:22

You also want to make sure that when you're using the panty liners that they're the breathable type of panty liners so you can get air down there.

01:30

You also want to go without underwear when you can. So when you go to sleep at night, you might not want to wear underwear.

01:36

You might want to let the air get at everything. And those are some of, I think, the best tips to prevent a vaginal yeast infection.