When you’re young, there are so many things you don’t expect will ever happen to you. You think you’re invincible, that your skin will stay smooth forever and that cellulite will never find it’s way to the back of your thighs. Cellulite? The word probably never even entered my vocabulary back then. Boy, how things change…
When I was about thirty, I remember going swimming with a friend who was ten years younger than me. Yes she was gorgeous, slim and looked like a supermodel. I was (only) thirty. She probably thought I was ancient. I apologised several times about her having to witness the orange peel skin on my thighs; each time she looked at me as if I was mad. She was actually a lovely girl and she was looking at me like that because I had no orange peel on the back of my legs. Well, not the kind of orange peel that has since crept up on me. Now, aged 40. I’m starting to understand how silly I was.
No-one told me how the body starts to change as you approach your forties. No one told me I should expect hairs to start sprouting out of places normally associated with the male of the species. Chin hairs? No, not me. Never. I think I might have screamed when I first spotted one of the thicker and darker varieties appear overnight. Is that a beard? Eeeeek!
But none of that even compares to what happens down there. Oh no, I’m talking about the muscles that start to lose their grip as you age. I remember following a Cindy Crawford workout video in my twenties where she talked about how we should practise Kegels daily. Kegels? What the heck are Kegels? And boy do I wish I’d listened.
“Pelvic floor exercise, also known as Kegel exercise, consists of repeatedly contracting and relaxing the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor now sometimes colloquially referred to as the “Kegel muscles”. The exercise needs to be performed multiple times each day, for several minutes at a time, for one to three months, to begin to have an effect”
Wikipedia
When I was about eighteen, my (now)husband’s family was gathered together one evening to organise what they would wear for a fancy dress party the following day. It was decided the women would dress as men and the men as women. That night, there was so much hysterical laughter between them, that two of the ladies literally peed themselves! I wasn’t there to witness the hilarity but I remember being mortified (and amused obviously) that these things could happen. Perhaps had lights by TENA been in existence back then, they could have avoided some embarrassment.
Now, as a forty year old woman, I know these things can happen. There have been numerous occasions in recent years where I could have done with lights by TENA myself. Usually, because of intense laughter and the lack of doing Kegel exercises over the years. So if you’re reading this and you’re young, what are you waiting for? Get contracting those muscles*. If not, get yourself some lights by TENA – you can even sample them, discreetly, for free.
Bladder weakness, periods, ladies beards, etc, could all be described as taboo subjects, but why? These things happen to us all – some more so than others but most happen as we age. Like it or not, it’s simply true. So why not talk about it? Talking helps us cope and we certainly should do it more often. lights by TENA would love to hear your stories, and you could even win the fabulous grand prize of an overnight UK city break with £500 vouchers to spend at Selfridges or a weekly prize of £50 Love2Shop vouchers. Go to www.noonetoldme.co.uk for a chance to share your story.
* My PFF is a pelvic floor app by lights by TENA’s which can help women exercise their pelvic floor to help avoid light leaks.
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