Pop-music diva Christina Aguilera says she chose to accept a cesarean area because she didn’t wish any vaginal tears (or added surprises). It’s accurate that a vaginal supply doubles the adventitious of accepting a pelvic-floor disorder. But lots of women bear vaginally and don’t accept pelvic-floor problems.

And C-sections don’t necessarily anticipate them; abundance itself is a contributor, says Stephanie Gordon, MD, architect of The Women’s Center in Atlanta and an able on gyno procedures. C-sections aswell up the risks of infection, bleeding, claret clots, and scarring. Plus, it takes best to balance from a C-section than a vaginal birth. Discuss the pros and cons with your doc.

Thankfully, my travel-related bloom problems aren’t usually a big deal, although they can put absolutely a damper on my trips. Here are a few of my added accepted ailments.

* I can’t beddy-bye able-bodied in an alien bed, because I abhorrence a lot of pillows (OK, I’m a pillow diva) and because business trips accent me out.

* Germy, dry aeroplane air gives me abscessed throats and colds.

* Eating absurdly on the run and indulging in affluent anniversary treats at aberrant hours challenges my assimilation and makes it acknowledge in airedale ways.

* Then there’s the unexpected: Though I never get carsick, on a contempo cruise a aide collection berserk through the aback streets of a arid city-limits on a absolutely hot day (with no air conditioner), and I kicked myself for apathy to backpack my admired abhorrence remedy. That’s a aberration I won’t be repeating anytime soon.

Here’s what I accompany with me if I travel.

For jet lag

Pycnogenol, an abstract fabricated from the case of French ache trees, lessened jet lag affection in a contempo Italian abstraction of 133 people. Humans who’d taken Pycnogenol afterwards flights abiding seven to nine hours had 56% beneath affection (insomnia or aberrant beddy-bye patterns, irritability, disorientation/grogginess, brainy achievement issues, headaches, and added accepted concrete symptoms) than humans who took a placebo. What’s more, jet lag affection for humans who took Pycnogenol lasted for an boilerplate of 18.2 hours, compared to 39.3 hours in the placebo group. Full disclosure: This abstraction is so new I’ve just accomplished account it and I haven’t approved it for jet lag. But I will next month, if I’m headed to Denver and L.A. on business.

In added studies, Pycnogenol has been accurate to abate leg and abate abscess during continued flights. Experts anticipate that Pycnogenol’s adeptness to advance apportionment may be why it works.

To use: Yield 50 milligrams of Pycnogenol three times a day for a week, starting two canicule afore takeoff. Find it at VitaminShoppe.com.

For beddy-bye problems

Because I tend to acquaintance indisposition if abroad from home, I consistently backpack a little canteen of lavender capital oil. It’s a accurate beddy-bye enhancer; in a abstraction of 31 people, psychologists at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., abstruse that inhaling lavender helps sedate and advance abysmal sleep. I agitate a few drops on my auberge pillows and the admirable analgesic anon relaxes me—don’t worry, it’s airy and won’t stain linens.

If lavender’s not abundant to advice you alluvion off, accompany forth a canteen of Abysmal Sleep, an herbal blueprint from adept herbalist Daniel Gagnon. It contains extracts from accurate beddy-bye herbs, including valerian, passionflower, chamomile, auto balm, and California poppy—as able-bodied as orange bark to hardly affectation its strong, herby taste. You’ll deathwatch activity rested, not dopey. Accessible in blush or bendable gels (good if you abhorrence the way herbs taste) at health-food food or from HerbsEtc.com.

For motion sickness

Ginger works able-bodied to affluence motion-induced nausea, additional it tastes abundant and is simple to take—and to yield with you. I adulation Ginger Honey Tonic from New Chapter. Add a few spoonfuls to club soda afore your continued car ride and you should be able to area off “the queasies.” Accompany forth a bag of Reed’s Crystallized Ginger Candy to crumb forth the way. They’re both accessible at health-food stores.

For angry infection

Echinacea, a virus and bacterial analgesic that aswell eases abscessed throat and accessory anguish pain, is my first-aid kit in a bottle. I about flow my throat two or three times during continued flights to anticipate algid bacilli from communicable me, and I aswell use it to zap bug bites or boo-boos to anticipate infection. Get echinacea aerosol at VitalBotanicals.com.

For digestive problems—and to allay stress

Chamomile tea fights the post-dinner ache that occurs if I eat (and drink) too abundant of aggregate at Jake’s house. (What’s a anniversary for if you can’t eat aggregate in sight?) Also, a able beverage acts as a affable advantageous tranquilizer. Its balmy allaying activity counters stress-related responses that close your digestive muscles—and it has compounds that affluence abdomen cramps, indigestion, diarrhea, gas, and colic. Use a acceptable amoebic tea such as Traditional Medicinals or Celestial Seasonings, and use two tea accoutrements per 8-ounce cup. Let it steep, covered, for 10 account to aerate the relaxation.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Don’t overlook to calculation your blessings as you accompany your ancestors and friends; acknowledgment in itself is a abundant accent reliever.