Menstrual Health Tips

There is no universally applicable taboo list for menstrual health. All judgment criteria are based on your own actual feelings. If you do it if you don’t feel uncomfortable, you don’t have to eat it. If you do it, you don’t have to lie down. If you do it, stop immediately. Don’t hold yourself accountable to the standard of “everyone else can do it”.

For example, "Can you drink ice during menstruation?" has been arguing for many years. Now both schools of thought actually have basis: Western medicine believes that cold food will only affect the gastrointestinal tract. As long as your gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated, it will not directly induce dysmenorrhea. The core culprit of dysmenorrhea is excessive secretion of prostaglandins.； Traditional Chinese medicine believes that coldness entering the body can easily cause qi and blood stasis, aggravating the problems of uterine cold and dysmenorrhea. In fact, there is no need to take sides at all. When I have friends around me, my aunt will always order iced milk tea. There is nothing wrong with jumping around. Last year, I was so greedy that I ate half a box of ice cream during my menstrual period. It hurt so much that I squatted on the ground in a cold sweat. I asked for leave and lay at home for a long time. Since then, I have never done this again. Your own body's reaction is more accurate than any authoritative opinion.

There is also the saying "you cannot wash your hair or take a shower during menstruation" that elders often say, but it is really not necessary now. As long as you take a shower, the water temperature is warm enough, you dry your hair immediately and get dressed, there will be no problem at all. On the contrary, during menstruation, the private parts are already damp and hot, and their resistance is low. If they are not cleaned for a long time, they are more likely to breed bacteria and induce inflammation. Of course, be careful not to sit bath, soak in hot springs, or go to public swimming pools. This is a unified recommendation regardless of the school. During the period when the cervix is ​​open, the risk of infection from contact with unclean water is really high. Oh, by the way, don’t wait until the sanitary napkin is full before changing it. Even if the amount is small, you should change it every three hours at most. I was busy with projects and didn’t change it for a long time. As a result, my private parts were so stuffy and itchy that I had to go to the hospital to register for a week. This is really a hard lesson.

As for exercise, don't go to extremes. Either I feel that I have to lie down for seven days during my menstrual period and dare not move, or I insist on going to swipe my fitness card and do core exercises. If your back is so sore that you can't stand up straight, or your menstrual cramps are so painful that you break into a cold sweat, then just lie down, watch TV shows and eat snacks to make yourself comfortable, and don't believe in the nonsense that "moving more will speed up blood excretion". If it is just a slight bloating in the lower abdomen and no other discomfort, walking downstairs for 20 minutes and doing gentle stretching yoga for 10 minutes can actually help relieve the bloating feeling caused by pelvic congestion. The pain on the first day of my period last time was so painful that I could not sit still. So I went downstairs and walked around the community twice, blew in the air, and felt a lot better. But be careful not to do movements such as weight-bearing squats and abdominal crunches that increase abdominal pressure. Such movements will indeed increase the amount of menstruation, and in severe cases may cause reflux of menstrual blood. This has clear clinical evidence, so don’t try it blindly.

There are also many girls who are afraid of the side effects of taking painkillers, which makes them roll around in pain. It is really unnecessary. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, which are commonly used today, as long as you do not have serious gastric ulcers or liver and kidney function problems, take them 2 or 3 days a month according to the dosage instructions. You will not be dependent on them, nor will they hurt your body. They are 10,000 times more comfortable than carrying the pain until you vomit. If you find that your menstrual cramps are getting worse each time, or that you can't suppress them even with painkillers, don't delay, go to the hospital for a checkup to rule out organic problems such as endometriosis and adenomyosis, and don't take it seriously.

As for whether you can have sex during menstruation, which everyone is privately curious about, there is currently no absolute right or wrong: Western medicine believes that as long as both parties are clean and you have no obvious discomfort, there is no absolute contraindication in theory. However, most clinicians recommend avoiding it as much as possible. After all, the cervix is ​​open during menstruation, and the risk of infection is much higher than usual, so it is better to play it safe.

In fact, after all, menstruation is a normal menstrual cycle for women. It is not a "sickness" and there is no need to put a lot of shackles on yourself. There’s no need to feel guilty because others say “those who drink ice during menstruation don’t take care of themselves”, and there’s no need to do things that make you uncomfortable just to show off your toughness. Your body knows you better than all the tips, and it’s enough to do whatever makes you feel comfortable.