Menstruation is a natural cycle for women. It is usually a 28-day cycle, although it may vary from person to person. Doctors believe periods are regular if they come every 28 days, 30days, 34 days, or 45 days. Any delay in more than a week can be called irregular periods. A healthy diet, daily exercise, and reducing stress may help you get fit and have regular periods.
Furthermore, maintaining menstrual health is especially important for everybody who undergoes a mensuration. UNICEF believes that menstrual health is composed of the following parameters:
- Females should be made aware of the concept of menstrual health before their first period arrives
- Usage of the correct type of menstrual material such as sanitary pads, tampons, or cups to avoid infection and maintain hygiene
- There should be complete access to a private washroom to maintain menstrual hygiene and cleanliness and hygiene
- Keeping the positive mindset toward mensuration and not making it a taboo will help young girls and adult women to perform regular activities in school, work, and social activities
What is a Healthy Period?
Periods get affected by diet, exercise, medications, stress, lifestyle, and many more. Some of the major concerns for irregular periods are:
- Hormonal Changes: Any type of up and down with hormones can occur off-track your periods; such incidents are more common in young girls who have just started with periods and women nearing menopause
- Medications: Consuming OCPs, birth control medications, and hormone medications can have a significant impact on the period’s cycle and bleeding during periods
- Other Medical Issues: PCOD, PCOS, Pelvic inflammatory disease, and low vitamin D are all the primary reasons for having irregular periods
How to get regular and healthy menstruation?
In most cases, making specific changes in diet and lifestyle may help make periods regular; however, some patients with medical conditions should seek a gynecologist consultation. Below mentioned are some of the points that may help keep your cycle on track:
Adopting a sedentary lifestyle can hurt our hormones, leading to hormonal balance and irregular periods; hence, it is essential to find some time and sweat a little bit.
Attain and Maintain a Healthy Weight
By eating in moderation and doing regular physical activity, a moderate weight can be achieved as being overweight and underweight can lead to heavier bleeding, irregular periods, and painful periods.
Take a Sound Sleep
Maintaining a sleep cycle is also essential, as an irregular sleep cycle caused by late-night parties, late-night work, and sleepovers with friends can hurt the sleep cycle.
Eating foods can cause you to become overweight or obese, lead to hormonal imbalance, and cause irregular periods.
Avoid Stress
Stressing out about personal and professional life can lead to cortisol production in the body, which has the power to disturb the oestrogen. This hormone plays a significant role in menstruation and the reproductive cycle.
Check your Vitamin Intake
Vitamin D and B deficiency can lead to irregular menstruation. Consuming Vitamin D and B supplements may also help in PMS symptoms and PMS stress.
Consume fruits such as Pineapple and Papaya
Pineapple is rich in bromelain; this enzyme helps regulate periods by making the uterus line soft. Further, eating papaya can help produce heat in the body and stimulate estrogen hormone levels, thereby causing regular periods.
How to achieve Menstrual Hygiene?
Poor menstrual hygiene can hurt women’s physical and mental health. Ensuring that women take care of everything, from how many hours they sleep, what they eat, and how often they change sanitary pads, is crucial to maintaining good menstrual health.
Below mentioned are some quick methods to adopt during your menstrual cycle to have good hygiene:
Changing Pads and Tampons Regularly
Sanitary napkins should be changed every 4-6 hours; changing pads or tampons regularly can prevent infection by combating the growth of bacteria and organisms.
Washing Vaginal Area
Vaginal cleaning is significant as it helps wash off the organisms and bacteria stuck in the body due to sanitary napkins.
Avoiding soaps and intimate wash products
Our genitals have the power to clean themselves, especially during periods; hence using these artificial hygiene products can often disrupt the natural cleaning process.
Do not Use Two Pads
Wearing two pads simultaneously can often help us manage the heavy flow and any stains; however, it leads to wearing the same pad for more extended hours, which is not suitable for the body as there are higher chances of developing infections.
Disclaimer: This blog has been written after performing in-depth secondary research related to the topic from various articles, blogs, and journals that have expertise in writing for healthcare. Suppose you see any issues related to periods and reproduction and have any questions about it, we strictly advise you to seek medical consultation.
