Ah, menstruation, our consistently sucky if sometimes fickle frenemy. We all have at the very least one horrid experience we may have shared with our friends while trading period war stories. The most regular cycles can still be rough for the best of ‘em, so even for those lucky few who haven’t had many bad times, here are some friendly tips for all our menstruating pals:
1. Do your best to keep track of your cycle. If you don’t have a period tracker app, there are many to choose from and most of them are free!
2. Periods can sometimes sneak up on you early or spring up a last burst when you thought they’d finished. So to help prevent unexpected staining, wear panty-liners during the few (one or two) days before your projected start date and after your end date.
3. Any kind of light exercise helps. Everything from simple yoga stretches or swimming to dancing or jogging can do wonders for cramps. The intensity and duration of these excersises depends comletely on you. There are girls who love to dance their hearts out to ease pains, while others find themselves comletely unable to even manage a fast-walk. Tyically those with more intense pains prefer yoga moves and/or swimming. Here are two helpful links if you’re not sure how to start: Yoga for Menstruation / 15 Minute Yoga
4. If possible, invest in a plug-in heating pack or get yourself some heat pads. Sometimes you take painkillers just as the cramps start and you have to wait -usually in some variation of the fetal position- until they finaly go away. But even when you take those pills ahead of time, heating pads help ease the worst of period pains more quickly. Some light massaging is also usually recommended for people who get mild pains.
5. Talk about it. It’s always nice to have someone to freely talk to about what you’re feeling or what you need and to reciprocate when they need you too. This one doesn’t just apply during our periods, but it sometimes becomes more necessary. Joking, sharing, or venting about it with receptive friends or family can really be a load off. And don’t be afraid to ask other girls for pads or tampons! Trust me, they’ll understand.
Once you know what to expect, and try out different things to see what works for you physically, the most important thing you can take away from this is that really thinking about the reasons behind what you’re feeling can do you tremendous emotional good. Don’t let anyone (even yourself) invalidate or write off your emotions and thoughts just because it’s that time of the month; evaluate and understand them to take some positive steps forward in life.