What is a Healthy Period?
Craving chocolate, breast tenderness, irritability, abdominal pain, emotional sensitivity, digestive trouble, skin issues or headaches, a hot water bottle, some nurofen and the desire to just have at least 1 day in bed. Does this sound like a familiar monthly scenario to you?
You're not alone. More and more women are considering this to be the norm when it comes to their menstrual cycle. But it doesn't have to be.
From around the age of 14 menstruation begins and continues on a monthly basis until it begins to decline around the age of 49. Traditionally women would gather together during their time of bleeding providing each other with support and sharing knowledge, the older women guiding the young. It was a time to nourish and honour the feminine.
Times have changed and for many girls and women their monthly bleed has become something they dread, something they wish they didn’t have to have and something they try to over ride. Mainly because of the discomfort physically, mentally and emotionally.
We have lost the art of using our menstruation cycle as a way to understand our overall health. It is with you for approximately 35 years or 420 months depending on if you have children and when you begin menopause. The ‘normal’ symptoms actually indicate an internal imbalance that can be healed. By bringing your body to a more base line place you can work on deeper imbalances or more importantly you will know when you are out of balance.
Health and Your Menstruation Cycle
Menstrual discomfort can vary from woman to woman. It can occur before, during or after bleeding and even around ovulation. Discomfort can range from feeling irritable, depressed, aggressive, having breast tenderness, headaches, fluid retention, lower back pain, abdominal cramping, craving sweet foods, feeling cold or lethargic. Women can also experience irregular bleeding, spotting, clotting, flooding or may not even bleed at all.
Menstruation is a cycle. By looking at the whole cycle, where and when abnormalities occur and what discomfort is experienced, a picture can be formed of your overall health . All menstrual ‘symptoms’ provide clues to where your body is imbalanced.
Many imbalances are covered up by the pill or other contraceptive devices that are being used to regulate the cycle or alleviate some symptoms. They can provide relief but they do not address the underlying cause. The earlier on in your menstrual life that you understand and repair your cycle, the better your long term health and the better your reproductive years.
Menstruation Cycle Stages in Chinese Medicine
The cycle itself is an interplay of yin and yang. Yin is like water in a well or like night time. It is cooling. When our yin is strong we are like a well oiled machine and have good reserves of nutrients to build new tissue, repair and maintain our bodies. We feel well mentally and emotionally and have plenty of reserve to draw from. Yang is like fire or the day time. It is heating. All body processes require heat. We need yang to keep our bodies warm. When our yang is strong we can be passionately engaged in life. Yin and yang are dependent on each other. Night becomes day and day becomes night.
In our body yin is our blood, yang is our energy (Qi) and they are also dependent on each other. The blood is moved by qi so we need good qi to move the menstrual blood out of the uterus when there is no conception. Qi can only exist where there is enough blood so we need good reserves of blood to have enough qi.
A ‘normal’ cycle can fall somewhere between 28-32 days. However ‘normal’ could be shorter or longer than this as long as it is regular and there is no discomfort. This is why it is important to chart your cycle so that you know what your normal is and where there are imbalances. Within this time frame there are 4 phases:
The bleeding phase (4-7 days)
The post bleeding phase (7-10 days)
Ovulation (3-5 days)
Pre-menstrual phase (9-10 days)
The two peak points are bleeding and ovulation. This is when the body is most open. This openness means we are more susceptible to things that might cause the qi or the blood in the uterus to move less freely. For example, coldness is a contractive energy so swimming in cool water at ovulation or menstruation may result in the energy in the pelvic region becoming more stuck giving rise to abdominal cramping.
Bleeding is your yin phase of menstruation and ovulation is the yang phase of menstruation. The two phases in between are where yin begins to turn into yang and where yang begins to become yin – just like dawn and dusk become day and night.
When bleeding begins we are at day 1 of our cycle. During the yin phase it is good to assess…
the volume of your blood and qi – heavy, medium, scant, how long does it flow for
blood constitution – bright, dark, mucousy, clotty, watery
how the blood and qi are moving – any associated pain eg dull and dragging back pain, sharp stabbing abdominal pain, is the pain better for warmth.
Different symptoms indicate different imbalances. These are important to know because even while you are bleeding your body is beginning to build the next uterine lining. Small changes to diet and lifestyle during this phase can make your next bleed better/easier.
Ovulation is your yang phase. As mentioned we need heat for all body processes so we need a warm womb in order to fertilise an egg. Warmth is influenced by yang and it is yang that is the force behind blood movement and it’s release. As a result our body temperature increases from ovulation to bleeding and this invigorates our qi.
If there is a lack of yang there can be issues such as fluid retention, lethargy, reduced libido. These arise from ovulation onwards. At ovulation we assess how yin is transferring into yang and what the quality of the yin development has been. Is there any discomfort, how long does it last? What is the quality of the mucous (sticky, cloudy, stretchy)? What is the volume of mucous (none, copious)?
Menstruation Hygiene
Many eastern cultures respect menstruation as a time when a woman has greater access to her inner self. So it is good to let it be a different time of the month for you. Try not to push yourself. Set aside some quiet time to ‘simply be’ and follow more relaxation and creative pursuits. Make sure you keep warm around the time of your period. Don’t eat ice-cream or sit around in a wet swimsuit. Investigating alternatives to tampons can also be beneficial as tampons prevent a natural flow of blood and qi out of the body. Adding foods such as adzuki beans, sesame seeds, beef, sardines, apricots, grapes, figs, parsley, beetroot, watercress, leafy greens, spirulina and nettle tea into your diet during your week of menstruation all assist in the rebuilding of the blood that has been lost.
How Can Shiatsu Help with Menstruation?
Receiving body therapy during your cycle can be very beneficial. Shiatsu can be effective in dealing with a broad range of menstrual issues. By relaxing the body and restoring a harmonious energy flow, many menstrual symptoms relating to pain and mood are eased. Shiatsu warms and strengthens the sacrum and hips alleviating discomfort in the abdomen and lower back. Working with the chest and upper body helps reduce swollen and painful breasts. And points around the ankles and feet are better than panadol. With the understanding of Chinese Medicine a Shiatsu practitioner can work with you throughout the phases of your cycle bringing overall health improvement.
Soul Body Shiatsu based in Bayside, Melbourne helps women to improve their whole health and wellbeing by using Shiatsu to regulate their menstrual cycle, alleviate cramps painful periods, balance period mood swings and ease a variety of other menstrual symptoms.
To book a Shiatsu for better healithier periods contact Marian on 0403 550 695.