Health
Riley Gaines shares 5 wellness tips she swears by as a new mom: ‘Really powerful’
Stop Doing Crunches: How I Actually Got My Abs Back | The Riley Gaines Show
In this episode of The Riley Gaines Show, Riley shares her honest postpartum fitness routine, how she started training again after baby, and the 5 habits that helped her feel strong, healthy, and like herself again. From pelvic floor recovery and protein intake to running, lifting, and the mindset shift that comes with motherhood, Riley breaks down what actually worked for her as a former Division I athlete navigating the postpartum season. She also explains why postpartum recovery shouldn’t be treated as a one-size-fits-all process. If you’re looking for realistic postpartum workout tips, motivation as a new mom, or practical advice on getting back into a fitness routine after pregnancy, this episode is for you. Subscribe for more episodes of The Riley Gaines Show on culture, faith, family, and motherhood.
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Riley Gaines, host of her podcast “The Riley Gaines Show,” discussed in a recent episode how to make room for wellness even during life changes, and offered advice for others trying to stick to a routine.
Hosted by OutKick, a Fox News Media brand, the podcast features the former collegiate swimmer’s commentary on culture, politics and women’s sports, along with interviews spotlighting women advocating for their rights.
“I don’t see anything wrong with wanting to achieve the healthiest version of yourself no matter what stage of life you’re in,” said Gaines, who gave birth to her first baby in September 2025.
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Below are her top five tips for staying healthy as a new mom.
1. Make the most of the first hour
Focusing on health in the first 60 minutes after waking up helps ensure that your health doesn’t get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list, according to Gaines.
Political activist Riley Gaines is pictured with her husband, Louis Barker, and their newborn daughter, Margot. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Even with her background as a competitive swimmer, “there’s just always something that needs to be done or there’s something that somebody needs from you,” she said.
Carving out an early-morning window of time helps with building a mental edge before the world begins making demands, according to Gaines.
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“I love the concept of already doing so many things, so many hard things, before most people even hit snooze on their alarm clock,” she said.
To make this sustainable, Gaines suggests a simple preparation: laying out your gear the night before. “That way, in the morning when you wake up, all you have to do is throw it on.”
2. Don’t be afraid of protein
Many people struggle with the natural loss of muscle mass and energy as they age. Gaines said her approach to nutrition isn’t about dieting in the traditional sense, but about providing the body with the “brick and mortar” it needs to stay durable.
Gaines said she aims for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. (iStock)
She was quick to bust the common myth that high protein leads to an unwanted bulky appearance.
“It’s not true, myth busted. It will keep you lean, you will feel fuller for longer.”
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Gaines’ rule of thumb is to aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
“If you don’t have enough protein, then your body cannot effectively repair the tiny tears that happen during strength training, which is the good kind of damage that leads to stronger, more lean muscles,” she said.
3. Focus on core power
Gaines advocates for building a strong core through any movement, even during ordinary day-to-day activities.
“Every single time my car stops at a red light, I engage my core … I contract and flex my abs,” she said in the episode. “It’s almost like you’re training your muscles to contract without having to do the crunches or the planks or the sit ups.”
The former swimmer advocates for strengthening core muscles through any movement, even during ordinary day-to-day activities. Gaines is pictured at First Horizon Park in June 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Getty Images)
4. Stay accountable
Fitness is significantly harder when done in a vacuum, Gaines shared, noting that solo motivation “fades really, really fast,” especially when life gets busy or energy is low.
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She recommends finding an accountability partner, such as a spouse, friend, or family member, who can celebrate your wins and check in on your progress.
“Find something or someone or some way to keep you accountable,” Gaines advised, noting that her family frequently works out together.
Gaines shared in the episode that she often works out with her family. (Fox News)
5. Maintain consistency
“Without consistency, you’re just repeatedly starting over,” Gaines warned.
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“How many times have you guys said, ‘[the] diet starts Monday,’ and maybe you make it to Wednesday, and then you’re back … You’re really not doing anything, actually. You’re confusing your body.”
By showing up when you don’t want to, you stop negotiating with yourself, she said.
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“It’s consistency that builds discipline, which turns into confidence,” Gaines added. “You stop negotiating with yourself and start identifying as someone who follows through.”
“That identity shift is really powerful, and it carries into every area of life.”
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Over the two and a half years following the 2022 rollout of the 988 national suicide prevention hotline, the rate of suicides among young people in the United States dropped 11 percent below projections, decreasing most sharply in states with a higher volume of answered 988 calls, a new study has found.
The findings, published today as a research letter in JAMA, compared suicide deaths from July 2022 to December 2024 with sophisticated mathematical projections that were based on historical trends. This yielded good news, with 4,372 fewer suicides of adolescents and young adults, ages 15 to 34, than had been projected.
To ensure that the decline was related to the use of the hotline, researchers at Harvard Medical School teased out the trends in states with high and low usage of the hotline. The findings were striking: The 10 states with the largest increases in 988 calls experienced an 18.2 percent reduction in observed suicides compared with expected suicides; in the 10 states with the lowest uptake, the reduction was smaller, 10.6 percent.
The results suggest that the government’s investment in the 988 rollout has translated into “a measurable reduction of deaths,” said Dr. Vishal Patel, a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and one of the authors of the study.
“What our study has added,” he said, “is evidence for the deeper benefit of the program, and that is, that at the population level, among young people at least, suicide mortality is lower than it would have been without the program.”
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He added, “The implication of that is that sustained funding for this program matters.”
The United States rolled out the three-digit hotline with bipartisan support in July 2022, replacing a 10-digit hotline number, and augmented it with a $1.5 billion investment in crisis center capacity. Since its inception, the service has fielded more than 25 million contacts, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency has asked Congress for $534.6 million to fund the program for 2027.
Last summer, the Trump administration terminated one element of the hotline, the Press 3 option for L.G.B.T.Q.+ callers. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said that the Press 3 option was being discontinued because it had exhausted its funding from Congress and that the hotline would “focus on serving all help seekers.”
But advocacy groups and policymakers protested the decision, and in testimony before the Senate on Tuesday, the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said his agency was planning to restore the Press 3 option.
Dr. Patel said his group had become curious about measuring the program’s effectiveness after Press 3 was eliminated. While call volume and satisfaction surveys suggested that 988 was succeeding, he said, the harder question was, “Did the creation of this 988 program, the transition from the old hotline to this hotline, actually move the needle on suicide mortality?”
Experts said it was difficult to tease out the beneficial effect of 988 from other things that changed in 2022, the year that the new hotline was created. Around that time, suicide prevention programs were being introduced in schools, in faith communities and on social media, but more important, the pandemic was ending.
“We were finally out of this crazy time, and there was a sense of optimism and hope,” said Jonathan B. Singer, a professor of social work at Loyola University Chicago and a co-author of “Suicide in Schools.” He called the downward trend in youth suicides “encouraging, but it is tempered by the fact that we don’t have a good explanation as to why.”
The authors acknowledged that their findings could not account for the influence of social and economic changes, changes in mental health services or public awareness about services.
But they did make comparisons to exclude other possible explanations. The authors looked for similar effects among American adults over 65, who are less likely to use the hotline. In that group, there was a reduction in suicides that exceeded expectations, but it was smaller, at just 4.5 percent.
To ensure the decline in suicides did not reflect a general improvement in young-adult mortality, the researchers tracked cancer deaths, and found there was no change. They also looked at the rates of suicide among young people in England, where no change had been made to the national crisis line in that time period; they found no reduction in youth suicides there.
Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said she was persuaded that the hotline had contributed to the improvement in suicide rates, in part because it did not appear among English youths or in older Americans.
“To me, that really helps hone in that this might really be the differentiator,” she said. “We are seeing potentially a pretty significant decline in suicides among young people. For public policy, this is strong evidence to double down on that we are doing.”
Emily Hilliard, a senior press secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said H.H.S. and SAMHSA are “committed to ensuring that all Americans have access” the 988 line, which she said “clearly provides lifesaving support, helping millions of people every year.”
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
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A highly contagious digestive virus is surging across the U.S., experts warn.
Rotavirus, a double-stranded RNA virus, causes acute gastroenteritis — inflammation of the stomach and intestines — which can lead to severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach pain.
The virus primarily affects infants and young children, but there have also been outbreaks in elderly populations, such as nursing homes.
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Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in the week ending April 4, out of 2,329 rotavirus tests, 7.3% were positive for the infection. Last year’s highest infection rate was 6.77% as of the week ending April 19.
Rotavirus, a double-stranded RNA virus, causes acute gastroenteritis — inflammation of the stomach and intestines — which can lead to severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach pain. (iStock)
“We’re seeing a lot of rotavirus in the wastewater right now,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, confirmed to Fox News Digital. “Testing for rotavirus is way down, but the percentage of positive tests is up.”
While the virus typically peaks in the spring, it is not currently slowing down, he noted.
Why cases may be rising
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, M.D., a medical editor at GoodRx who is based in California, said there are several possible reasons for the rotavirus spike.
“Vaccine rates are down overall among young children, as they decreased during COVID,” she told Fox News Digital. “This means there’s a growing number of infants and young children who are vulnerable to infection.”
The rotavirus vaccine series must be completed by the time a child is 8 months old, she noted.
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As a result of the declining vaccinations, herd immunity isn’t protecting vulnerable children, according to Pinto-Garcia. “Children who haven’t finished the vaccine series yet, are too young to get vaccinated, or can’t get the vaccine due to medical illness are more likely to get exposed to the illness because other children aren’t vaccinated,” she said.
Siegel noted that before the vaccine became available, rotavirus resulted in 55,000 to 70,000 in the U.S. per year.
“Vaccine rates are down overall among young children, as they decreased during COVID,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. “This means there’s a growing number of infants and young children who are vulnerable to infection.” (iStock)
“I am concerned that the vaccination rate has been declining over the past seven years and is continuing to decline in the current climate of vaccine skepticism,” he said.
Surveillance methods are also much better than they used to be, Pinto-Garcia noted, which means public health experts are able to pick up and track cases better than ever before.
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“But we see that rotavirus-related healthcare visits are also up, so improved detection is not the only reason we are seeing this spike,” she said.
The COVID pandemic also disrupted the pattern of infections, according to Pinto-Garcia, so it’s “tricky” to compare the current levels against older cycles.
“It’s possible that what we are seeing is still some post-pandemic rebound, but it’s unlikely that this year’s pattern is fully explained by just this factor,” she added.
Transmission and risk
Dr. Zachary Hoy, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Pediatrix Medical Group based in Nashville, Tennessee, often sees young patients with rotavirus.
“Rotavirus is spread via the fecal-oral route, meaning that a person comes into contact with virus droplets from contact with other children or adults, or from contact with objects such as toys that have been contaminated with the virus from someone who is sick,” he told Fox News Digital. “This can lead to outbreaks, especially at schools where many young children share the same toys.”
“It’s possible that what we are seeing is still some post-pandemic rebound, but it’s unlikely that this year’s pattern is fully explained by just this factor.”
Rotavirus is associated with many dehydration cases in the hospital due to the degree of diarrhea, according to Hoy.
In some severe cases, the virus can lead to seizures due to electrolyte imbalances from dehydration and loss of electrolytes in the stool.
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“Younger children do not have the reserves that older children and adults have, so they can become more dehydrated quicker and develop more severe electrolyte imbalances, leading to more severe infections,” Hoy said.
“Patients with problems with their immune systems or on medications that can decrease their immune systems can have more severe and prolonged infections, too.”
Treatment and care
Because rotavirus is a viral infection, antibiotics are not effective against it. There is no specific antiviral treatment for the condition, with doctors typically recommending supportive care.
“The mainstay of treatment is hospitalization for rehydration via intravenous (IV) fluids,” Hoy told Fox News Digital. “Sometimes it can take up to two to three days of IV fluids to help get patients rehydrated.”
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Blood draws are often necessary to evaluate patients’ electrolyte levels, such as sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, according to the doctor.
“If these electrolyte levels are significantly low, sometimes patients need special IV solutions or individual electrolyte medications,” he added.
“The mainstay of treatment is hospitalization for rehydration via intravenous (IV) fluids,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Dr. Daniel Park, medical director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at UNC Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, noted that most children recover with supportive care, but parents should seek medical attention if a child shows signs of dehydration. Those include decreased urination, lethargy or inability to keep fluids down.
“While rare, rotavirus can be life-threatening in vulnerable populations, especially very young infants or children with underlying medical conditions,” Park told Fox News Digital.
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Prevention strategies
Given the lack of antiviral medications for rotavirus, doctors emphasize the importance of prevention, primarily the vaccine.
There are two rotavirus vaccines – Rotateq (a three-dose series) and Rotarix (a two-dose series). They are given starting at age 2 months as oral drops, not injections, according to Hoy.
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“It’s important to get the rotavirus vaccines on schedule, because these younger infants are at greatest risk if they get rotavirus,” he advised.
Other recommended prevention methods include handwashing with soap and water.
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