WHAT TO DO DURING PERIODS AND WHAT NOT TO?
A Period is the most painful word for girls and women. Periods the 7 days bleeding along with muscle cramps are something people hate and don’t want to experience. It’s difficult to go through the same pain every month. The muscle cramps and the blood oozing out are extremely unbearable and not all the other things that come along are mood swings etc, high blood pressure and some experience anxiety too.
Period Hygiene is something people don’t talk about and also tends to ignore but that’s extremely important. Changing pads, tampons or cups time to time is crucial to avoid any sort of infection. Everyone in the family should talk openly about things related to menstruation and women should take special care of their diet especially during those 7 days.
Periods are something that needs extra care and some precautions too. The 7 days blood oozing out need to have a refill in terms of eating proper, the muscle cramps need to get eased with some but obvious exercise and so on. But girls and especially housewives don’t get enough time for themselves and hence this is the reason behind increasing menstruation related problems, calcium problems etc.
What to do to ease the cramps?
To ease the cramps one need to do lots of exercise and by exercise it means muscle movements. Studies also suggest that to reduce the intense abdominal pain it’s important to exercise.
The diet also can help one reduce the pain like eating brown rice which contains Vitamin B-6 which can reduce bloating, the things which are enriched with manganese like walnuts, almonds and pumpkin can reduce the pain. Intake of proper vitamins and minerals are necessary like Vitamin E present in many fruits and vegetables like broccoli and olive oil too.
What to eat or intake during Periods?
Water- Water is the universal solution to all the problems, drinking 8 glasses of water at least as this would help you flush out all the toxins and also the blood. As staying hydrated is the need one can also increase the intake of water-rich fruits like watermelon, cucumber as this would be a fun intake of water along with taste and also other minerals.
Green leafy Vegetables– are good source of many Vitamins including Vitamin K.
Chicken, Fish- Chicken and Fish are good source of Proteins and Doctors always suggest including them in the diet.
Dark Chocolate- Chocolates have always been known for diverting our minds from the pain or say reduce the pain by releasing certain chemicals in our Brain. So Dark Chocolates are always a good option to have while suffering the menstrual cramps.
Things to do and not do while menstruating
There are certain things which should be strictly avoided during periods as they tend to have bad effects on our health and can cause serious complications. Like, lifting heavy objects should be strictly avoided as this is studied to have negative consequences.
- Reduce the intake of Salty Foods
As many women experience bloating while menstruating, it’s good to reduce the intake of Salty foods during those 7 days as excessive salt in our body tends to require more water because our body requires water in order to maintain the salt-water ratio and hence salty food would dehydrate the body unnecessarily.
- Don’t be a Couch Potato
Yes, don’t be a couch potato during those days, get up and get moving as this would do so many things in your favors like ; this would keep you distracted, exercises would release endorphins which is a feel-good hormone and hence would help you deal with your mood swings. Otherwise also, it’s believed to not sit at one place for long as this makes you feel all the more low.
- Keep changing sanitary napkins time to time
Periods Hygiene is very important as it has significant impacts on our health. It’s important to not keep the pad for more than 3-4 hours; those using tampons should change it in at least 4-6 hours and cups to be changed in every 12 hours.
- Avoid using cleansers, spray with artificial fragrance
As this is asked to avoid because this can cause vaginal irritation. Studies suggest that all these add more to the odour producing bacteria. There can be a strong vaginal bad odour for various reasons like, some chemical imbalance etc so it’s better to see your gynaecologist.
- Stop excessive intake of Caffeine
Caffeine can increase breast tenderness. According to studies, GABA or Gamma Amino Butyric Acid reduces the excitability and hence calms the brain gets blocked by caffeine and hence due to this one can experience anxiety, sweating, tachycardia which is increased heart rate etc.
- Avoid sexual intercourse
Though having sex during periods is okay but there are negative effects of this too like there is a risk of sexually transmitted diseases. During periods there would be blood too and hence this can also lead to blood borne diseases, one can also get impregnated so it’s better to avoid sexual intercourse.
Written By -Rituja Roy
Edited By – Priyanka Sukhwani