I keep getting UTIs! What can I do? (I’m a female.)

This can be tricky. As you may or may not know, the pee hole (urethra) for females is very short. It is a tiny hole in front of your vagina and and is less than 2 inches in length. This makes it really easy for bacteria to get into the bladder from the outside world. (Compare this to the urethra of a male which is generally about 5 times longer because it goes through the penis.) Anything that exposes the urethra and bladder to more bacteria can be an issue, though some struggle with UTIs (urinary tract infections) more than others. While nothing has been shown 100% to eliminate UTIs, there are some practices that have been shown to be beneficial:

• Drink lots of water (like 2-3 liters)! This will ensure that you are flushing out any bad bacteria regularly.

• Urinate after having sex. While this doesn’t work for everyone, it certainly doesn’t hurt. The more bacteria that collects around the urethra is a potential UTI, so pee it out if you can!

• Wipe from front to back. Again, it doesn’t work for everyone, but wiping back to front just brings more bacteria from the anal area to the vaginal area…which isn’t necessary!