There are a lot of myths about periods and women’s stamina or ability to exert ourselves physically when we’re having a period. From myths like, ‘working out will lighten your flow’ to ‘you should avoid inversion yoga’, there are several mental roadblocks for women. But the truth is exercising during your period has a number of benefits, for both body and mind. It’s all about listening to your body and giving it what it needs.
Do we know the average number of periods we face in our lifetime? We, women, spend about 3000 days on an average in our lifetime menstruating! Quite an investment of time and energy isn’t it? Now, these 3000 days are those when one ought to take great care of oneself so all necessary TLC must be planned, made available and deployed.
There are 4 distinct phases of our menstrual cycle and learning about our cycle will help us work with our cycle and not against it. My earlier post emphasized the importance of hormones in a woman’s body. In this post too, there will be a substantial discussion on hormones. Since this complex cycle is regulated and controlled by hormones largely estrogen and progesterone namely, it circles back to managing these sex hormones. The four phases are:
This is the dreaded time, the release, as we know it. Cramping pain, discomfort is commonplace. The uterus wall disintegrates when nothing plants itself on it and is released out of the system as blood and clot. Needless to say, this time is associated with the lowest energy and strength so tune in to your body’s meters and amp up the rest and lower down the activities. Since we are faced with a loss here, let’s talk of food, which is blood building and imparts energy simultaneously
This is technically the most chill part of the cycle when you and your body are at their best! Ideally starts one-day post menstruation onset, and continues till ovulation. The brain starts to prompt the generation of FSH or the follicle-stimulating hormone which in turn directs the ovaries to produce follicles, each of which host an immature egg. One of these lucky ones mature and become ‘the egg’ ready for a reception if at all. The secretion of estrogen and testosterone also get the uterus wall to start thickening in preparation for pregnancy in case. Now, conduct an experiment and check your weight and shape right after menstruation during this phase.