Can’t deny it, can’t ignore it – the monthly period is a miserable reality of a woman’s life. It’s the alien in your belly that comes back every month, like an annoying aunt, to remind you of your womanhood. You find yourself in the worst mood, throwing tantrums at the slightest thing, your stomach feels like a bloated whale, and you don’t feel like doing anything, except wallow in self-loathing and misery till the week is past.
Let’s face it – your period is a constant for the next decade or more, but in the meantime there are remedies that will bring temporary relief. So, we’ve compiled a list of things to do that are easy and require not more than a little will-power to help you get through the ordeal with more composure.
1. Stay Hydrated
Drink at least two liters of water every day during your periods.
Drinking water boosts the digestion level in your body, thus decreasing the bloated sensation that you ordinarily feel during this time.
2. Moderate Exercise
Take a short walk or do some light yoga to get the endorphins going.
Exercising helps in enhancing the blood flow to your abdominal region, a process that will provide you comfort from pain. Furthermore, gentle workouts also help in producing endorphins that are natural pain relievers.
3. Heating pad
When you’re curled up in foetal position have a hot-water bag or heating pad for company.
Heat slackens your abdominal muscles that becomes tight during periods and also soothe cramping whereas the quiet time reduces your crankiness and pumps up your mood, making you feel less gloomy and irritated.
4. Eat more chocolates
Eat some chocolate, preferably dark chocolate, through the period of your cycle.
Chocolates contribute in improving your seratonin levels, which are responsible for balancing your mood and keeping you happy. Therefore, eating chocolates will keep you from suffering mood swings.
5. Increase calcium intake
Include green vegetables especially spinach into your diet.
Calcium helps preventing muscular contractions that are very common during menstruation, and more often than not gives rise to painful cramps.
6. Reduce salt and caffeine intake
Salt contains sodium that contributes to water retention inside your stomach, eventually causing excessive bloating.
Caffeine on the other hand, upsets your stomach by intensifying gastrointestinal activity thus making you have worse cramps and heavier flow.
7. Avoid saturated fat
Cut down on your red meat, butter, and cream consumption.
Red meat, butter, cream, and other products that have saturated fat increases the estrogen levels in your body that in return gives your painful cramps.
8. Boost you fiber consumption
Have lots of fiber-rich ingredients like beans, corn, and wheat bread, in your daily meals.
Lack of proper fiber puts your body at the risk of suffering from irregular digestion levels, and indigestion makes your stomach feel like a balloon.
9. Eat Properly
Make sure to have five small meals a day instead of three large ones.
Keeping your stomach full helps maintaining your metabolism, thus; giving you more energy and also making you feel good.
10. Increase your Vitamin B6 and Vitamin D intake
Include fish, bananas, nuts, chicken and citrus fruits in your daily meals during your periods.
Foods rich in Vitamin B6 and Vitamin D helps reducing your mood swings, exhaustion, and other symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS).
11. Drink lemon water
Pinch some fresh lemon in your drinking water.
Lemon water keeps you from having spots and breakouts on your skin. It also helps your skin glow and look fresh, thus; making you feel comfortable and good about yourself.
12. Wash your face more often
Splash water on your face at least twice a day to keep your skin from being oily.
During the monthly cycle, your skin tends to become oily that leads to breakouts and pimples. Washing your face with water will make the extra oil dry out and also cure the pimples.
It probably won’t be rainbows and unicorns but these tips should definitely make you feel better and more composed through the dreaded week. Hang in there girls, this too shall pass, well until next month.