Women’s PH Balance Symptoms, Best Vitamins and More
March 24, 2022
Vaginal pH is a major factor in women’s vaginal health. According to research, the normal pH level for a healthy vagina is about 3.8 to 4.5, which means it’s on the acidic side. Its acidity also slightly decreases as you get older, with its pH level rising closer to 5. In this article, we discuss women’s pH balance in depth and explore how to maintain a healthy vaginal pH.
What Is pH?
It might make sense to first start off with understanding what pH is in the first place. In chemistry, every substance lands somewhere on the pH scale between acidic and basic (alkaline). This scale measures the acidity of a substance and ranges from 0, being the most acidic, to 14, being the most basic or alkaline. 7 is considered as neutral.
Examples of different levels of pH on the pH scale include drain cleaner, which is very alkaline and has a pH of 14; battery acid, which is very acidic and has a pH of 0; and water, which is typically neutral at a pH of 7 (though certain chemicals can make water more acidic, and certain minerals can make water more alkaline).
The actual meaning of pH denotes "potential of hydrogen" and is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in an aqueous solution.
Different parts of your body have their own pH balances. Saliva, for example, has a normal pH range of 6.2-7.6 with 6.7 being the average pH. The stomach’s pH is acidic with a typical range of 1.5 to 3.5 pH. As mentioned, the vagina has its own pH and is typically about 3.8 to 4.5.
What Is Women’s pH Balance?
Vaginal pH balance, sometimes referred to simply as women’s pH balance, refers to maintaining a healthy average pH level in your vagina. Your vagina is home to many different types of healthy, acid-producing bacteria. To prevent dryness and to maintain a chemical balance, your vagina also regularly produces fluid that contains acids. This fluid helps to protect the vagina from pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
As you can imagine then, women’s pH balance is very important as it can help to protect the vagina from getting an infection. Vaginal pH also plays a role in pregnancy and hormonal balance.
What Can Cause an Unbalanced Vaginal pH?
Several factors can disrupt pH balance in the vagina and can make you more susceptible to infection:
- Menstrual cycle. Changes in hormones caused by menstrual cycle, pregnancy, or menopause can all affect vaginal pH level.
- Douching. This method of cleaning the inside of the vagina involves squirting a mixture of fluid into your vagina with a tube or other tool and can potentially raise your pH.
- Lubricants. These are used to reduce dryness in the vagina during sex. Some lubricants have a pH that is higher than the vagina’s, and can potentially kill healthy bacteria in the vagina, resulting in an infection.
- Medication. Antibiotic medications can also kill beneficial bacteria that help to maintain vaginal pH balance. Some people also experience a change in vaginal pH because of birth control pills.
Existing health conditions, diet, and lifestyle can also influence vaginal pH balance.
Symptoms of Unbalanced Vaginal pH
Certain symptoms can occur from a vaginal pH imbalance. Common women’s pH balance symptoms:
- Strong, fish-like odor coming from the vagina
- Vaginal itching
- Swelling and irritation around the vagina
- Burning sensation while urinating
- Pain or burning sensation in the vagina during intercourse
- Vaginal discharge
The acid pH level of the vagina helps to kill potential pathogens like bacteria, parasites and fungi. Therefore, having an unbalanced vaginal pH can make you more susceptible to infections like yeast infections and UTI’s.
The symptoms mentioned above are symptoms of common infections that result from an unbalanced vaginal pH, such as yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, or trichomoniasis.
How to Maintain A Healthy Vaginal pH Balance
Maintaining a healthy vaginal pH balance is much easier when you are educated on what women’s pH balance is, and are aware of the factors that disrupt vaginal pH balance. Once you’re aware, you can avoid the factors that often lead to an unbalanced vaginal pH and cause unhealthy women’s pH balance symptoms.
That being said, there are still some steps that can be helpful to take to ensure you maintain a healthy vaginal pH:
- Avoid douching. The best way to clean the vagina is on the outside with soap and water. Vaginal douches that aim to clean the inside of the vagina are likely to disrupt the delicate balance of bacteria in your vagina and lead to an unbalanced pH.
- Use condoms during sex. Unprotected sex can increase your risk of infections. Using a condom can help to keep bacteria and other germs away from your vaginal area, helping you maintain a healthy bacterial balance, and therefore a healthy pH level.
- Eat foods for women’s pH balance. Certain foods can help you maintain a healthy vaginal pH balance. The entire body is host to trillions of bacteria that make up what is called our microbiome. The vagina has its own microbiome and depends on healthy bacteria to maintain balance. Consuming probiotic-rich foods can help maintain vaginal pH balance. You can also supplement with probiotics for women’s pH balance. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that can help restore balance in your microbiome. Some probiotic-rich foods for women’s pH balance that you can include in your diet are yogurt, kim chi, tempeh, sauerkraut and kombucha.
- Wear proper clothing. Wearing clothing that is too tight can reduce the air flow to your vagina, which can lead to vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina). Wearing cotton underwear, looser-fitting pants, and tights with a cotton patch around your vaginal area are all ways to support a healthy vaginal pH.
- Take women’s pH balance vitamins. pH balance pills help to maintain the pH levels of your vagina. These pills usually contain certain probiotics for women’s pH balance as well as certain nutrients that support overall health.
What to Do If You Have an Unbalanced Vaginal pH Level
It is important to correct an unbalanced vaginal pH level as soon as possible, as it can lead to a more serious illness or disease if left untreated. For example, untreated vaginal pH imbalance can significantly increase your risk of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs, infertility, and pelvic inflammatory disease).
If you notice that you are experiencing any of the women’s pH balance symptoms mentioned above in this article, consider:
- Taking an at-home pH test. There are many at-home pH test kits that you can purchase for testing your vaginal pH. These kits come with a certain type of paper that you partially insert into you vagina. After a few seconds, the paper will change color. The color of the paper corresponds to a certain pH level that you can then compare to a color chart on the kit showing the full range of colors and corresponding pH levels. Keep in mind that this will only show you the pH level of your vagina, and will not be able to inform you if you have any kind of infection.
- Talk to your doctor. Your doctor can help you diagnose any infections that might have that could be linked to your vaginal pH level. The doctor can also prescribe antibiotics and other treatments to ease your symptoms. Remember, however, that antibiotics are often a cause of an unbalanced vaginal pH as they can kill off beneficial bacteria as well. If you have an infection of some kind they may be necessary, but just remember to take some good probiotics for women’s pH balance after a round of taking antibiotics.
Summary
Vaginal pH is a major factor in women’s vaginal health. According to research, the normal pH level for a healthy vagina is about 3.8 to 4.5, which means it’s on the acidic side. Its acidity also slightly decreases as you get older, with its pH level rising closer to 5.
The term pH denotes "potential of hydrogen" and is a way to measure the acidity of a substance using a scale that ranges from 0, being the most acidic, to 14, being the most basic or alkaline, with 7 being considered as neutral.
Vaginal pH balance, sometimes referred to simply as women’s pH balance, refers to maintaining a healthy average pH level in your vagina. Your vagina is home to many different types of healthy, acid-producing bacteria. To prevent dryness and to maintain a chemical balance, your vagina also regularly produces fluid that contains acids. This fluid helps to protect the vagina from pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
As you can imagine then, women’s pH balance is very important as it can help to protect the vagina from getting an infection. Vaginal pH also plays a role in pregnancy and hormonal balance.
Several factors can disrupt pH balance in the vagina and can make you more susceptible to infections like yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, or trichomoniasis. If untreated, vaginal pH imbalance can significantly increase your risk of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs, infertility, and pelvic inflammatory disease.
For this reason, it is important to restore and maintain a healthy pH level in the vagina. This can be done by avoiding factors that disrupt pH balance and taking steps like using condoms during sex, wearing proper clothing, eating foods for pH balance, or supplementing with probiotics or women’s pH pills.
If you are concerned that you may have a pH imbalance or a vaginal infection, consider taking an at-home pH test and consulting with your doctor.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7789027/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618584/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3818598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5143676/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9215184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470302/
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