Menstrual Health, Hygiene and Diet

It is the menstrual hygiene week and I felt it was important for us to talk about a few very important things in this topic.

Edit: well, I don't think it is Menstrual Hygiene Week anymore, but here I am...

Menstruation is a stage a lot of women go through. I do not want to go into statistics, but based on the women around me at the moment, yes, they have all menstruated at one point in their lives. Menstruation happens to women because we have hormones that rise and fall throughout our cycles and in the better parts of our lives... or worse part of our lives. It really depends on who you ask. Truth is, menstruation is a taboo topic and some women experience difficulties that can be discussed in my blog. 

Menstrual Hygiene Week surely is not enough time to cover what women encounter because every woman is different. However, we do appreciate, as women, the fact that we are recognised as a vital percentage of the world population, especially women who were biologically born and their bodies are biologically female, before a gender reassignment procedure is done of course. As for hygiene, we do have a number of things to discuss, and I will introduce each of them at the subtopics below. Hygiene determines the confidence of a woman and even how her overall health will be during and after menstruation. Finally, there is the diet aspect, but even I do not have that down clearly. 

So, is the blog post more on my experience or on science? Well, let us find out. 

Menstrual Health

Women have to be careful with their hygiene, especially when they are on their period. See, menstruation is not just about the blood, it is also about hormones in the body that cause it, and these hormones have an effect on your wellbeing. First, most people associate women's moodiness with being on their period, and they acronym it as PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome). PMS can manifest as cramps, moodiness, irritability, and some people even get dizzy and nauseous before they have their periods. Some women also develop migraines before menstruation, so it is not exactly a pleasant experience. 

There are women who do have quite mild signs and symptoms, and we all wish we were them at one point in their lives. At any one given time, we have wished to not have cramps or even periods because we were so busy or wanted a break and then we woke up in pain the next day. Luckily, there are various forms of pain relief medication that women can take to ease the pain caused by cramps. However, as with every chemical substance, one has to watch out for side effects and use them only when they need to. This is because your kidneys and liver have to filter out chemicals and using too many medications takes a toll on not only these organs but your entire body too.

A lot of times, people are advised to use painkillers, but also curl up with a hot water bottle if they can. The bottle aids with the soreness and it can even help you doze off when the pain keeps you up all night. Hot water bottles also don't need to be filtered by your kidneys and are mostly reusable. That is a win for you and for the planet. 

There are exercises that can be done to ease the pain either prior to, or during. Most times, the soreness and flatulence makes a lot of people quite uncomfortable. However, dancing, taking a walk and stretching could be some of the exercises to consider doing. This depends on personal preference too because everyone has different pain tolerances, and as said before, some women barely have any cramps. 

Having painful periods is not unusual. However, to be on the safe side, it is better to see a health practitioner if you feel overwhelmed by pain, nausea, exhaustion and bleed more than is considered normal for your cycle. 

Hygiene 

Hygiene is important on a day to day basis for everyone. As public health officers, we advise people to take showers regularly, practice good hand washing and ensure that they are neat and well groomed. This does not change during a woman's period. Since blod tends to have an odour, it is advisable to change your pad or any other menstrual hygiene product quite often to avoid not only odour, but also rapidly decrease the risk of getting Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). 

I will not dictate how often a woman should shower on here, but I will encourage women to change their pads and shower at least once a day. Period blood has a knack of spreading across everything we wear as women and it will smear not only on the front of your lower pelvic region but on your bottom and thighs. This is also another reason to regularly change the pads, pants and other menstrual hygiene products used. Showering can also help with moods during this time of the month, especially if one uses warm water. It can somewhat ease the cramps. 

As always, try to avoid using soap in your vulval/vaginal area because most soaps increase the risk of getting thrush. Thrush is a disease caused by Candida Spp. that is actually fungal. Candida Spp. exists naturally in a woman's lower reproductive system i.e her vagina and is controlled by the naturally occuring bacteria in the female genital area. However, when the bacterial population reduces due to a change in pH due to using strong soaps, stress, too much sugar, or other infectious diseases, then the Candida spp. population radically multiplies overnighht. The spores grow filaments that burrow into the walls and much more moist skin of the genitalia. |As thus, it is important to try and maintain the pH of the vagina as m8uch as possible. 

It will not be easy trying to maintain a "normal outlook" on life during the 1-3 weeks before, during and after a woman's period, but perhaps engaging in a few nice moments could help. 

Diet

Often, women struggle to keep their energy up when on their periods, especially if they have really bad cramps and nausea, or lack of appetite. The cravings do not help either, especially if one has the urge to mostly gorge themselves with sugars. High simple sugar intake leads to energy spikes and faster burnout. This is definitely not what works best for women on their periods. 

However, not all is lost, as nature does have great options that aid with not only low blood sugar caused by menstruation, but also with cramps. As always, I will be very much a public health officer here, and advise for a healthy diet with more vegetables than carbohydrates. It is also important to drink enough water because dehydration makes one dizzy. This might even make it more complicated to achieve optimum energy needs within your body because water is important to your metabolism. 

Fruits are good to have, but they have sucrose and fructose. If you have pre-diabetes or are diabetic, you should consider healthier snack options as advised by their doctors, dietiticians or health practitioner they see regularly. Natural yoghurt could be a good option, especially if it is not filled with sugars to replace the taste of fat. Some low-fat food options are filled with sugars and salts that have negative effects on the health of many. Nuts are also a good snack if you do not have a nut or severe protein allergy.

All in all, it is important to maintain a healthy diet. Include all food groups and stay hydrated to combat the cramps. Minimise consumption of alcohol and caffeine as these two tend to sap water from your body. Eventually, you will be dehydrated and it will be very uncomfortable to navigate through the mess of blood, dizziness, migraines, headaches and dehydration.

In conclusion;

my post is a reminder that periods are normal for people with the XX genes. Too much pain, dizziness and other uncomfortable symptoms should have you call up your health practitioner and seek advice. Do not forget to have your vegetables despite having a craving for your favourite sugary or savoury snack. Stay hydrated, find a low impact exercise to do, and take some pain medication to tone down on the pain. 

My advise does not replace medical guidance as it aims to give some sense and direction in a layman's way to people who need some light shed on menstrual health. I look forward to seeing you on my next post. This was surely a bit of a mind boggler to say the least. Until the next update, ciao!