The inside story of your body: the women’s edition | members only

VAGINA: During the reproductive years, I am this gently corrugated tube in the middle of your body that is so stretchy it can clamp onto a tampon, then when you’re pregnant, turn around and

deliver a baby. A rich supply of blood vessels just under the surface makes me (barring infection or disease) self-cleaning, self-moisturizing and an all-around trouper. ME: I’ve always

heard the expression “use it or lose it.” Is that true? Does sex keep you in good shape? VAGINA: Kinda. Frequent sex stimulates circulation, enhancing elasticity and lubrication. But the

main reason for all this moisture and elasticity is estrogen. Estrogen feeds the blood vessels in the walls of the vagina and maintains the pH balance, which helps avoid vaginal infections.

It keeps the lips of the vagina — the labia — plump, the pelvic floor muscles strong and the lining of the bladder elastic, meaning at 30 we don’t have to run to the bathroom every 10

minutes. ME: [_Sigh._] Things change. VAGINA: They do. With menopause, estrogen recedes like the ocean at low tide. The labia become flatter and less pink; that fabulous self-lubricating

quality may cease, leaving sex feeling a little bit like rubbing two sticks together. The vaginal tissues can contract, pulling back from the urethra, which in turn leaves it more exposed to

bacteria, and that means urinary tract infections may become more common. Urinary incontinence is also annoyingly common; about 43 percent of women 50 to 65, and 51 percent over 65, have

had the experience of coughing or sneezing and then realizing, yikes. ME: Is there anything a girl can do to keep her vagina in midseason form? VAGINA: Plenty. Regular Pap smears can catch

any changes in cervical cells that, left untreated, could lead to cancer. ME: [_Shudder_.] VAGINA: I know, Pap smears aren’t comfortable. Best to always ask for a smaller speculum. Kegel

exercises (basically, squeezing those muscles that surround the vagina) can strengthen the pelvic floor and reverse urinary leakage. Estrogen patches and pills are mostly used to relieve

symptoms like hot flashes, but for the vagina specifically, there are creams and suppositories that deliver estrogen almost entirely to the vagina alone. Or there’s the prescription cream

DHEA, which breaks down into estrogen and testosterone. (There’s also a relatively new non­estrogen oral medication called Osphena, which specifically acts on vaginal tissues.) And then

there are vaginal laser treatments, which essentially wound the interior skin, causing it to plump and fluff while it rebuilds collagen. (And yes, it hurts.) Plus, there are dozens of

lubricants on the market. They work. Laura Edelbacher YOUR OVARIES: THE BABY MAKERS OVARIES: Vagina, schmagina! This whole perpetuating-­the-species thing is really all about us. ME: OK,

what’s your story? OVARIES: We are the organs that house a woman’s oocytes, or eggs. By the time you reached puberty, you had about 400,000. (Sounds like plenty, but consider that men have

about 300 million sperm in one ejaculate.) Infertility drugs can make the body produce a bunch of eggs at a time, but you are not getting more than you started with. ME: What else do you

do? OVARIES: We produce the hormones necessary to release the egg and care for it if it becomes an embryo. And we produce testosterone, too, even after menopause, which helps protect bone

mass and libido. ME: I always thought it was Colin Firth who protected my libido. As long as we’re talking hormones: What the hell was PMS about? OVARIES: Well, this isn’t an exact science,

but PMS has to do with an upsurge in progesterone — which can have the side effect of making you very, very edgy — and then its sudden drop right before bleeding. ME: That’s one thing

about being young I don’t miss. OVARIES: Yeah, but here’s the tough news: Ovaries are pretty much the first part of a woman’s body to show her age. In our teens and 20s, the chance of

getting pregnant on any given cycle is about 25 percent. After 40, the chance of natural pregnancy per cycle is about 2 to 5 percent, which is why many women 40 and over seek out scientific

interventions like IVF. ME: I was 40 when I had my kids, through IVF, and the doctors referred to me as a “geriatric mother.” OVARIES: There’s more bad news: Because it doesn’t cause obvious

symptoms, ovarian cancer is often not detected until it has spread beyond the ovaries. Quitting smoking and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce your risk. But a lot of aging, including

cancer risk, comes down to estrogen. We stop producing it almost entirely after menopause, which affects just about every system in the body, from the quality of the nails on your toes to

the quality of your gray matter. UTERUS: For the love of God, is it my turn yet? ME: Don’t be so hysterical. Laura Edelbacher YOUR UTERUS: AIRBNB FOR BABIES ME: See, the word “hysterical”

derives from the Greek word for uterus, and a hysterectomy is … UTERUS: Yeah, leave it to a dude to link lady parts with craziness. But we are wondrous. Hollow and muscular (and sometimes

tipped this way or that in ways that can cause sexual or urinary issues), I, the uterus, sit between your rectum and your bladder within your pelvis. (This explains why pregnant women often

have to pee or poop more frequently.) The “doorway” connecting the vagina to the uterus is called the cervix, and the two tubes emanating from it that look like deer horns are the fallopian

tubes.