5 Self care practices for a healthy menstrual cycle
Stress has a direct effect on menstrual health. It can cause PMS, PMDD, painful periods, anovulatory cycles, infertility and more. It is essential to lower stress through self care practices to ensure menstrual health and alleviate negative menstrual related issues.
Many studies explain that interventions to address underlying stress should be part of the management regime for women with menstrual cycle abnormalities. My top 5 self care practices for a healthy menstrual cycle are explained below!
What is stress?
Stress is your brain and body’s reaction to a demand or situation. In short bursts, stress can be positive and healthy, like a quick HIIT workout or keeping us safe by running from danger. When stress becomes chronic and lasts a long time, it can have detrimental effects on your health.
We often correlate stress with a very negative situation, such as a family loss or being fired, but stress can show up in many ways. Your environment, a traumatic situation, dissatisfaction with your career, shift work, or family drama can all elevate your stress levels.
When we are in a stressful situation, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. This is our flight or fight response. Cortisol is extremely important as it can keep us safe, but when it is consistently elevated it inhibits the production of other important hormones, especially reproductive hormones.
Stress and your cycle
Studies show that stress impairs the ovarian cycle. When we are stressed our body’s priority is to make and release cortisol. This takes precedence over reproductive hormones and inhibits production of LH (luteinizing hormone) and ovarian estrogen and progesterone secretion. Chronic stress significantly increases inflammation which can also affect menstrual cycles and general health.
Studies show that this increase in stress can cause major implications to a menstrual cycle. Abnormalities in menstrual length, amenorrhea (painful periods), monophasic (one phase) cycles, anovulatory cycles (not ovulating), PMS and PMDD as well as infertility can be caused by stress.
One study showed that the risk of dysmenorrhea (painful periods) was twice as high among women with high stress than those without, or who had an easier time coping with the stress. This was even more significant when women had a history of painful periods.
Women who suffer from hormonal conditions such as PCOS experience a higher incidence of anxiety, depression and perceived stress in clinical analysis, which in turn can also negatively affect other symptoms of the condition.
Stress reduction doesn’t have to be a time consuming or strenuous activity, it can be simple habits that you bring into your daily life that can make the world of a difference. Here are my top 5:
1. Track your patterns
Simply by tracking your patterns and your cycle can help to reduce stress and show yourself major love. When you track your patterns you are able to see when certain stressors arise, understand how your body expresses stress physically, help you to communicate effectively, and notice when things may be askew.
If you are anything like me, you can go weeks, if not months, coasting along and not recognizing when attention needs to be brought back within. This is important when it comes to chronic stress. By denying yourself the attention, stress often grows into a habit.
Further, when you are able to identify your symptoms, correlate them with something and understand how it is expressed within your body you can take actionable steps to reduce them. This also helps to build confidence as you can identify what is wrong rather than your brain just making up scenarios or denying the root causes.
For example, I was chronically ill for about 2 years. I was in a relationship that wasn’t serving me, bartending shift work, and living in an unfit housing environment. I saw my doctor about 4 times within one summer asking her to do tests, or give me notice of what could be causing me to be sick every day. Instead, she handed me a prescription for gastritis that would take a huge toll on my liver.
I didn’t take it. Instead I left my relationship and my house, traveled for a few months and focused on my well being…..I haven’t been sick since.
That is what really got me into checking in with myself, and now I recommend this to all my clients.
Morning check-ins are so powerful and they only take about 3 minutes.
Each morning, stand up and shake out everything. Then scan your body from head to toe. Ask yourself:
Is there any pain or discomfort?
How did I sleep?
How does my mind feel? Clear and excited for the day or anxious and foggy?
Record your findings along with the date and any factors that may have played a part.
Once you practice this regularly, you will likely come up with your own set of questions that help you track your patterns. After doing morning check-ins for a few months, you will begin to see patterns, notice when things may be askew, be able to communicate to others how you are feeling and if you need extra space during those times and so on.
2. Live in sync with your cycle
Cycle syncing is such an incredible tool for self care. Nutrition, exercise, careers, and relationships can all benefit from living in alignment with your menstrual cycle.
Nutrition
Aligning your nutrition with your cycle allows you to support your body and mind through each phase. You are able to reduce physical stress on your organs, support your mind, and nourish your body.
If you learn about nutrition and how to cycle sync you are better able to understand how to use vitamins, minerals, and supplements throughout each phase to reduce physical and mental stress.
Many don’t realize that stress actually increases your need for certain nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and zinc which are all essential to menstrual health!
Exercise
During your different phases, exercise needs vary. It is important that when you are going through the added stress caused by your late luteal and menstrual phase that you don’t add undue stress in the form of intense exercise.
Although exercise is essential for your health, chronic over-exercise can increase cortisol levels and cause chronic stress which can negatively affect your menstrual health.
When you cycle sync exercise you work with your body instead of against it and you are able to reduce stress and practice self care.
Career
Cycle syncing your career can be so beneficial to stress reduction and productivity. The way most careers are set up follow a male hormonal pattern focused only on the circadian rhythm. It is a 24 hour cycle rather than a 28-34 day cycle.
Incorporating your infradian (menstrual) rhythm into your career allows you to focus on tasks that are supported by the phase you are in. Understand when to take time for recovery, introspection, and reflection, utilize the phases when you are social or more motivated and overall increase productivity.
This not only helps you to reduce stress by living in alignment with your cycle, but also boosts confidence and workplace satisfaction!
Relationships
Understanding how your cycle affects your relationships helps you to keep calm when anxious thoughts arise, effectively communicate with your partner, and improve your relationships. Improving your relationship with yourself naturally will improve relationships with others!
3. Do restorative yoga
Restorative yoga is a form of yoga that focuses on physical, mental and emotional relaxation. It is slower paced, focusing on long holds, stillness and breathing. It is calm, gentle, and known to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the “rest and digest” system rather than the “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system.
By activating the parasympathetic nervous system you are promoting relaxation, restoration and recovery which is extremely helpful in overall stress reduction, boosted mood, calmness, and menstrual health.
Emphasize restorative yoga during your luteal and menstrual phases!
4. Take epsom salt baths
Epsom salt is a form of magnesium which can be absorbed by the skin. Magnesium is helpful in muscle relaxation and has calming effects.
Also, like I mentioned above, magnesium is one of the nutrients that gets depleted by stress! It is essential in menstrual health and has been shown to combat multiple types of PMS, reduce painful periods, improve insulin sensitivity, and actually calms the nervous system which in turn reduces stress, improves your ability to deal with stress and lessens cortisol!
The act of taking a bath is also very calming in itself! Light some candles and add essential oils such as lavender, valerian, and chamomile for an even more powerful stress reducing self care practice!
5. Try acupuncture
Acupuncture has been used as a menstrual cycle regulator and to reduce PMS for thousands of years. It is a Traditional Chinese Medicine practice that helps move the flow of energy within the body.
According to Hayley Stobbs R.Ac, CNC of Inner Pass Acupuncture, acupuncture and related therapies work to balance yin and yang energy and qi and blood flow of the liver, spleen, and kidney organ systems and meridians, as well as the Ren, Du, and Dai Mai extraordinary vessels.
12 sessions, once per phase for three cycles, along with diet and lifestyle focuses is recommended to regulate a menstrual cycle, reduce PMS and painful periods and aid menstrual conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids and other irregularities.
Practice self care regularly
Whatever self care you choose to do, make sure that it becomes a practice that you are able to follow regularly and fall back on if anything seems to become askew.
These are just some of my recommendations. Your menstrual health is something that you should be focused on throughout your reproductive life as it is known as your 5th vital sign and can show you important things about your health.
Living in the fast paced, get-ahead society we often neglect our cycles as the gift that they are and view them as a nuisance or ‘dirty’ when in actuality it is sacred. Our cycles allow us to be a channel to bring new souls into the world, and are a symbol of fertility, reflection, and renewal.
To live in tune with your cycle is to live in tune with yourself.
