Does anyone else believe in improving their lifestyle to treat period pain?

lucieschnitzer·Mar 10, 2023

Posted in:Health & Wellness Lifestyle Science

I read this article recently (https://elemental.medium.com/doctors-think-your-period-should-be-a-fifth-vital-sign-5b882c864783) about how some doctors believe that your period is a key indicator of a woman's health and should be a 5th vital sign. I found this fascinating as I've never thought about it before, but it makes complete sense since we are practically run by our hormones, hormones fluctuate with the different things we do and put into our body, which in turn has an effect on how our menstruation looks.

I feel like we, as women , are so accustomed to thinking that any "side effects" of menstruating are considered normal i.e. period pain, irregular periods, PMS etc. and this is largely due to a lack of information and education. In fact, according to the article, changes in a woman's menstruation patterns are just as important a health indicator as body temperature, pulse and blood pressure. If that is the case, wouldn't it be interesting to know whether we can influence our menstruation health with things like nutrition and exercise? I have found a bunch of research articles on science backed strategies to regulate your cycle with exercise and nutrition, and even big period tracking companies are starting to create programs that optimize your exercise and nutrition based on where you are in your cycle.

Since this is something i have recently become super interested in, I was wondering if we could start a thread on ladies experimenting with lifestyle changes to regulate period pain :)

Iynna·Mar 10, 2023

This is so interesting and the takeaway in this article does make sense to me for the reason you've highlighted, Lucie! I personally have found that my period pains and flow have evolved as I've aged (last only 3 days but the first two days are heavy and very debilitating) however working out and eating healthy helps massively!What has worked for you?

lucieschnitzer·Mar 13, 2023

Honestly, as I have aged, my pain has gotten worse, but only now have I realised that it's because I stopped birth control and my "real" symptoms came out. In response to that, I've been reading a lot about what happens to our hormones in different phases of our cycle and what to do based on my symptoms. I have serious bloating around 1-2 weeks before my period starts, making me gain around 2 KG during that time, which is what I've been solving for. The thing that I've seen work most during that time is eliminating my alcohol and salt consumption during the first 2 weeks in my period (makes sense because eliminating salt and sugar in general decreases bloating). But I'm still a work in progress :) Do you consistently work out and eat healthy or is it just during specific times to help with your pain and flow?

Zelda39·Mar 11, 2023

1) No, I have tried all sorts of "natural remedies", diet changes, exercise changes, stress management, etc etc etc and nothing helps my periods besides staying on continuous birth control which essentially eliminates my periods entirely.2) Not only women have periods, the language you are using is trans-exclusionary.3) If the other commenter is correct and you're actually trying to build a business around this, please be more transparent in your posts around it.

lucieschnitzer·Mar 13, 2023

Hey there, you're right, I should have been more explicit in my post that this is a problem faced by all menstruating people and not just women. Birth control is definitely the way to manage it pretty effectively (especially in the case of people with ovary related disorders/diseases), and that's how I've been doing it as well, but I feel like as I'm ageing I want to actually be in sync with my body and let it do it's thing. That's why I'm trying to connect with people who are trying to do the same - so that we can exchange ideas and perhaps work on it together. This won't be for everyone!When it comes to building a business around this - could be one day :) - but for now I'm just trying to connect with menstruating people on the topic and perhaps we test what works and what doesn't together.