What prompted you to launch your company?

I created Megababe because when I looked for products to combat chafe, everything was cheesy or geared toward men and athletes. I wanted something that was for women—for a girl who’s wearing a skirt, who’s walking to work, and who doesn’t want to chafe. It’s funny, people who have chafing were like, “This is genius. I need this immediately.” And people who didn’t have it were like, “Hun, I think you should probably think of a different business idea. This is dumb.” So I had to really believe in myself because not everyone was on my side.

RELATED: I Didn't See Women My Size on the Internet—So I Decided to Change That

You’re a social media wizard. Any tips for people?

Stop starting every video with, “You guys…” (Ha!) But really, I’d tell people to worry less about how many followers they have and to just talk about what interests you. People choose to follow you, which means they want to hear what you have to say!

You encourage brands to carry more inclusive sizing with your hashtag #MakeMySize. How did that start?

I kept ordering clothes from sites and nothing fit—nothing came even close. I was like, “F— this, I am a fashion blogger who needs to buy clothes and I can’t—this is crazy!” I was frustrated and posted about it. For a long time, I wouldn’t have done that publicly. But I got to a point where I realized, “If these designers don’t make my size, they don’t care about me anyway, so what do I have to lose?” I’ve had lots of great reactions from brands—like Veronica Beard, who wound up making my size.

RELATED: This Plus-Size Blogger Recreates Meghan Markle’s Most Stylish Looks For Body Positivity

You post frequently about working out. Do you get a lot of feedback around being a curvy woman in the fitness scene?

Yes, I do. I post workout photos, and followers will say things like, “I walked into SoulCycle, and I walked right out. I can’t work out with those girls with washboard abs.” I find that at so many workout classes, I go in and I’ll be the only person in a sports bra—which is funny because I’m often the biggest girl in the room.

Is that why you’ve partnered with model Hunter McGrady to encourage women to exercise by hosting workouts at different studios in NYC?

Yes. There’s such an intimidation factor around going into those places. Hunter and I are both confident about going into those spaces, but many of our followers aren’t. So we decided to create safe workouts where you don’t have to feel bad if you can’t keep up and you can wear what you want. It’s been freeing to see women who are embracing their bodies together—it’s powerful.

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You’ve probably seen it: Your favorite blogger posts side-by-side images where the first is an average-looking shot of them on a cloudy day or in a dimly lit cafe and the second is the same image, but whoa, it somehow looks 1,000 times better. The colors are more vibrant, the light is shining in just the right way, and the person in the photo looks like a supermodel. The caption? “Check out my Lightroom Presets!”

@lyss/Instagram

If you’re scratching your head wondering what the heck a Lightroom Preset is, here's the scoop: It’s a predetermined position for all, or some, of the photo editing sliders in the Adobe Lightroom app. Basically, it’s a high-tech filter you can buy online and download into the app to apply to your own photos. You can buy Presets on Etsy, from various photography websites, and you guessed it, from influencers themselves.

RELATED: Millennials Who Use More Social Media Sites Have Higher Depression, Anxiety

Lightroom itself is an advanced editing app used by professional photographers. It not only makes images look seamlessly more beautiful, but it can also manipulate them without a trace. With the right Preset, Lightroom can turn a green summer day into an orange fall afternoon and a blue daytime sky into a pink horizon at sunrise. Not to mention it can change the color of your skin, eyes, lips, and more.

@haylsa/Instagram

We’re used to seeing heavily edited photos in advertisements. No one's blind to the fact that many models have had their teeth whitened and their skin airbrushed by a photo editor. But what happens when we start seeing that same level of editing on our Instagram feeds day after day? When people you consider your peers stop posting photos of their real lives and start posting photos of their fantasy lives?

“When we look at advertisements, we have our antennas up to the fact that these are probably doctored,” Mark Leary, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, tells Health. “It’s less clear if you just see a photo of a random person you don’t know on social media.”

RELATED: This Influencer Just Showed How Different Reality and Social Media Are—by Pulling Down Her Pants

In other words, do people even think of the possibility that a photo has been edited when it’s someone they consider to be just another average person, not a model or actor? Professional editing tools are becoming more and more accessible, to the point where you can use them if you have little to no photography experience. But our antennas aren’t tuned into that nearly as much as they are when it comes to ads, Leary says, which doesn’t bode well for body image.

“If you think about it from the standpoint of how we evaluate ourselves in general, it’s always in comparison with other people because there’s no objective standard. There’s no objective standard for attractiveness, for morality, intelligence, or anything else,” Leary says. “The only way we know what we’re like is by comparing ourselves to what other people are like.”

@haylsa/Instagram

That means when we see a photo of a blogger and wonder why our teeth aren’t that white or why our eyes aren’t that blue, we could actually be comparing ourselves to attributes that are completely fabricated. Their teeth aren’t that white and their eyes aren’t that blue, either. That “beauty” is the product of a Preset.

Influencer Brianne Conley Kordenbrock (@briconley) recently noticed Presets becoming more and more popular among people who have Instagram accounts similar to hers, so she thought she might as well get on board. She dropped about $100 on a bundle of Presets that she thought would give her photos that warm, rosy glow everyone else’s seemed to have.

RELATED: This Influencer Is Spreading a Powerful Message by Shamelessly Showing Off Her Cellulite

Excited to give them a go, she applied one of the Presets to an interior decor photo she had just shot. But it didn’t turn out how she had hoped. “I didn’t even feel like it was my house anymore,” Kordenbrock tells Health. “I was like, my goodness, this does not look like my home.”

Feeling uneasy about the whole thing after she posted the photo, she did a poll in her Instagram story asking her followers if they even liked Presets. “The response was pretty overwhelming,” she says. “I would say about 98% of people said they did not like Presets… I wish I would have known that before I spent $100.”

Of course, there are different levels of editing. Some Presets distort reality more than others. And the argument can also be made that cameras don’t always pick up exactly what you’re seeing anyway. Don’t get us wrong, if the oranges in that sunset looked way more vibrant in person than they did in the photo, there’s no harm in boosting the saturation a bit. It’s when we start to alter reality that we run into trouble.

@lyss/Instagram

For many influencers, photo editing is a part of their business model. Their account is how they make money, and to earn a living, their photos need to hold their own. There’s nothing wrong with that. But there is a fine line between editing and altering, and it seems like more people are crossing it. 

To be clear: We give the influencers who posted the photos we've included in this article props for showing both the before and after versions of their photos edited with Lightroom Presets. Bringing attention to how heavily edited photos like these can be is half the battle. We chose to feature their photos because they're helping users see the truth behind the Preset, not because we want to shame them for using one. 

The effect Presets can have on us might not be new, but they are enhancing the issue. Leary reminds us that “people trying to embellish their public image beyond reality isn’t a new phenomenon… It’s an interesting parallel to, let’s say, women’s use of makeup.” We all use makeup differently, and some use it in a way that makes them look completely different than they do au natural. We’re constantly exposed to false portrayals of reality, leading us to unknowingly compare ourselves to the unattainable, setting ourselves up for failure.

RELATED: This Influencer Posed in Her Bra and Leggings to Prove That Social Media Doesn't Tell the Whole Story

A 2017 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found the more time you spend on social media, the more likely you are to feel lonely. One of the researchers’ theories as to why: “Exposure to highly idealized representations of peers' lives on social media sites may elicit feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier and more successful lives."

Presets can contribute to that distorted belief, and being aware of their ability to deceive is step one when it comes to combating the issue. Like Leary said, we already have our antennas up when we look at advertisements. It’s time to put them up when scrolling through Instagram as well.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday called the year-old outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a global health emergency, The New York Times reported.

The declaration, made by a panel of experts, follows news this week that the deadly infectious disease had spread to Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo.

Earlier this week, a preacher with Ebola arrived by bus to the city of 2 million, which is near the border with Rwanda. He has since died, WHO confirmed.

And as of Monday, the outbreak in the Congo has infected 2 512 people and killed 1 676 of them, the Times reported.

Declaring the epidemic an emergency is a rare step for the WHO, which typically reserves the move for outbreaks that could severely affect public health and/or spread to other countries.

Such declarations typically spur increases in global attention and aid.

Wednesday’s meeting was the fourth time experts have convened to assess the threat level since the outbreak began. However, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the Associated Press that the spread of Ebola to Goma was a potential “game-changer”.

The Congo outbreak of Ebola is now the second largest ever recorded, with the largest being the West African epidemic of 2014-2016. That outbreak – also declared a global emergency at the time – infected nearly 29 000 people and caused over 11 000 deaths.

Some experts believe the emergency declaration for the Congo epidemic has been long overdue.

Speaking to the Times, Josie Golding of the Wellcome Trust, a London-based research charity, said resources in Congo to fight the epidemic have been “overstretched and underfunded”. She believes that WHO upping the threat level will “help raise international support and release more resources – including finance, health care workers, enhanced logistics, security and infrastructure.”

Indeed, WHO said that since February it has so far gotten $49m from international donors, just half the necessary funding needed to put up a sufficient response. There are reports of aid workers going without the necessary protective gear, and medical staff reusing syringes and gloves, the Times said.

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The figures, which are across the UK, are ‘deeply worrying’, say the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

You made a promise to yourself that you were going to stay on track with your exercise routine this winter. Things were going well until you felt that dreaded scratch in your throat…

A while later and your symptoms are mostly gone, but are you ready to resume your workout regime?

Why you should steer clear of exercise when you’re ill

As frustrating as it may be, it’s important to let your body rest and heal properly before hitting the road or the gym again.

Exercising while you are suffering from the flu can be deadly. Myocarditis is a condition where the myocardium, the middle layer of the heart wall, becomes inflamed. This condition is especially concerning when you exercise while you still have the flu. It’s known as “viral myocarditis” and happens when the flu virus invades the heart and causes damage in the form of inflammation. This can lead to a weakened heart and ultimately a heart attack.

Your checklist

But how do you know whether you’re fully healed? Take the following factors into account before you lace up and start breaking a sweat:

1. Distinguish between a cold and flu

While it’s equally important that you rest properly during both conditions, it’s important to know when a cold is not a cold, but full-blown flu. Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses that cause a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, a sore throat and moderate gland swelling. The duration of a cold is usually about one week and any symptom lasting longer than two weeks should be medically assessed to ensure it hasn’t become a secondary bacterial infection such as sinusitis or bronchitis. Alternatively, it could be an allergy, in which case you might need to undergo tests to see what is causing the irritation.

2. Do the neck test

If you are experiencing any symptoms above your neck such as a congested nose, sore throat and a runny nose, you can still work out, depending on how you feel. Do an initial session of ten minutes and if you are ready to continue, you can proceed with your full workout if your heart rate is normal and you feel okay.

Any symptoms below the neck, such as a congested chest, aching muscles and joints or a fever, mean that you should rest and avoid exercise.

3. Measure your heart rate

Take your resting heartbeat or pulse as soon as you wake up – either by using a fitness device, or by holding your finger to your pulse and counting the beat. A normal resting heartbeat for an adult should be anywhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute, depending on your size and overall fitness. If your heartbeat is higher than usual, or starts escalating wildly as soon as you start exercising, you’re not yet ready for exercise.

4. Gauge your breathing

You shouldn’t be exercising if you are abnormally out of breath, or if your chest still feels full of phlegm.

5. Finish your course of antibiotics

If you’ve been prescribed antibiotics for a secondary infection such as bronchitis, it’s important that you finish the entire course, even if your symptoms are subsiding. People, however, often ask if they are ready to exercise while they are still on antibiotics. If you are planning to do a long distance running event or a tough endurance workout, Sara Crouch, a professional long-distance runner from the United States says that antibiotics can affect your overall performance as it makes you more sensitive to heat, dehydration and can affect your pace. The verdict? Be careful and listen to your body.

Winter training tips

If you’ve recently battled a bout of flu and you are slowly starting to build up your fitness, follow these tips to avoid a relapse:

• Ease back into exercise and don’t try to jump straight back into your exercise plan. If you’re following a set routine such as training for a race, you might want to repeat the week you were on before you got sick.
• Feed your body with plenty of nutritious food.
• Get enough sleep.
• If you train regularly and for long periods, consume carbohydrate beverages before, during and in the two-hour period after training to maintain blood sugar levels and minimise stress hormones. This will result in improved immune function.
• Don’t overtrain to “make up” for missed sessions. This can lead to injury and impaired immunity.
• Consider a flu shot if you haven’t had one yet. 

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Marelize Wilke

Traveling can be exciting, but it can expose you to a slew of germs and bacteria. Just getting into an aeroplane puts you at risk because of the shared surfaces and recycled air. According to statistics, a whopping one in five people gets either a cold or the flu after a flight – not a fun prospect. 

And if dirty aeroplanes aren’t enough, a study by Cambridge University has shown that travelling between different time zones affects your circadian rhythm, which compromises your immune system. Travelling to another hemisphere, exchanging one season for another, also taxes your immunity. Add to that anxiety, a lack of sleep and a change in diet and routine – and you know you’re in for a bumpy ride. 

If you’re about to pack your bags and you’re worried about your immune system and staying healthy, the following tips may come in handy:

1. Prepare early

In the weeks leading up to your trip, eat a healthy, balanced diet and get more sleep in order to to boost your immune system. Consider incorporating more fresh fruit and vegetables into your diet and try to add an hour to your sleep. Stay hydrated.

2. Keep stress at bay

Travel, anxiety and stress go hand in hand for some. But stress wreaks havoc on your immune system and can drain the excitement from your trip. Manage your stress by being well-organised – make sure you have the proper documentation early enough and that your flight tickets and itinerary are all in one handy folder. A checklist might make things easier for you. Try to get ahead of tasks at work to lower your stress levels.

3. Update your medication

If you are on any chronic medication, make sure you have enough for your trip, as getting a prescription abroad may be a bit of a hassle. If you suffer from severe seasonal allergies, you may also want to talk to your doctor or pharmacist about adapting your current medication to the environment you will be traveling to.

4. Be squeaky-clean

Banish germs on the flight by taking sanitary wipes and hand sanitiser to keep your hands and surrounding surfaces clean. Seasoned travellers all swear by this tip: lining your nasal passages with an ointment such as Vaseline or Bactroban will not only keep them hydrated and protected against the dreaded dry cabin air, but will also help minimise the germs that enter your system through your nasal passages. You can also bring your own travel blanket, eye-mask and pillow – not only will this be cleaner, but might help you get better sleep on a long-haul flight.

5. Take a supplement

Speak to your doctor or pharmacist about a supplement to boost your immune system before you leave. This should, however, not be in lieu of a healthy diet.

6. Don’t forget about your health while you’re away

By all means, indulge in the local cuisine and enjoy a couple of cocktails. Relax whenever you can and keep your immune system strong by making healthy choices. Have fresh fruit, a healthy source of protein and wholegrains or fibre at breakfast to sustain you throughout the day, stay hydrated and walk a lot (or hit the hotel gym).

7. Wash your hands regularly

This is a no-brainer, but hand hygiene is the most effective method to stop germs from spreading. When you are not close to restrooms, keep a waterless sanitiser in your travel bag.

8. Be weather-smart

While getting sunburned or soaked to the bone in rain might not directly cause colds or flu, your body will certainly take a beating if you’re exposed to harsh weather conditions. Consult a weather app to see what the weather’s like at your destination and pack appropriately. Remember to apply and reapply sunscreen regularly, even if it’s winter there.

9. Avoid food and water contamination

It’s fun and rewarding to explore street food and local cuisine, but when in doubt, steer clear of dodgy offerings and stick to familiar choices. Gastrointestinal illnesses are common on travels and can compromise your immune system even more. Keep a refillable water bottle with you, but fill only from trustworthy sources and ensure that all your food is fresh, or cooked through.

10. Take an extra day

If possible, on your return, don’t rush straight back to the office, as the stress and lack of rest may cause the illness you managed to avoid thus far. Take an extra day or two to unpack, clean the house, fill your fridge with fresh food and catch up on much-needed rest.

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Marelize Wilke

In a world where energy consumption is on the rise, our only hope is the development of new energy-generation technologies. Although currently used renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy have their merits, there is a gigantic, permanent, and untapped energy source quite literally under our noses: geothermal energy.

Researchers at Cornell University are using a rigged card game to shed light on perceptions of inequality.

A quarter of women who have serious maternal complications during childbirth also have premature births, posing a “dual burden” on families, finds research from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) California Preterm Birth Initiative, and Stanford University.

Cancer Research warns people in the UK to protect their skin at home and not only when they are away.