What Throws Your Vag Out Of Whack

Aas the proud owner of a vagina, you’re probably familiar with common down-there issues like STIs, UTIs and yeast infections. But it’s time you started paying closer attention to a more complicated factor in your below-the-belt wellbeing: your vagina’s ph level.

- Ashley Oerman

PH stands for power of hydrogen, and it measures how acidic something is (the more hydrogen ions, the more acidic). Somewhat confusingly (hey, we don’t make the science rules!), 0 is the most acid packed and 14 is the least. A healthy vagina is naturally acidic, with a pH sweet spot of around 3,8 to 4,5. And this is crucial because levels above 4,5 can make you more susceptible to STIs (including HIV) and bacterial vaginosis (BV), which thrive in less acidic environments, says Lauren Streicher, Medical Director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. More proof that your pH is a BFD: new research has linked elevated vaginal levels to a higher risk for cervical cancer, likely because the less acid you have, the less able your body is to fight off the sometimes-cancer-causing HPV virus. So yeah, think of a primo pH as your first line of defence against all sorts of woes.