Natural ways to reduce menstrual cramps

Menstrual pain affects people differently. It can vary from slight discomfort to extreme cramps and vomiting which can lead the person who menstruates to stay in bed and have to change their lifestyle.

As not everyone experiences the same intensity there can be a lack of understanding for those severely affected which makes the experience even more miserable.

Medically known as dysmenorrhea, period pain can be primary or caused by the period itself, or secondary to another cause. Secondary causes of menstrual pain include endometriosis, which is when the tissue or cells lining the uterus implant themselves elsewhere.

Period pain has been around as long as humans have and long before we had ibuprofen and there are many natural remedies around.

Here are the natural remedies that actually work.

1. Heat to ease menstrual cramps

Hot water bottle or more modern heating pad applied to the abdomen or tummy helps bring down the pain and also makes you relax.

2. Yoga against menstrual cramps

Yoga doesn’t mean that you have to stand on your head but can be just a series of simple stretches. If you practice yoga regularly don’t stop, and even if you feel that yoga is not for you, try a session and learn a couple of poses to use for when you have period pain.

3. Exercise to help relieve menstrual cramps

Although traditionally people with periods were expected to be less active and in some cases and cultures withdraw from society altogether, the evidence is that regular exercise before and during periods can help alleviate the pain.

4. Ginger

This power plant boasts anti-inflammatory properties that can help soothe painful menstrual cramps. Two of ginger’s components, gingerols and gingerdiones, work to inhibit leukotriene and prostaglandin synthesis, decreasing period cramping pain.

5. CBD oil

Although more studies on CBD oil for menstrual pain are needed, Daniel Clauw, MD, professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan, tells us that it wouldn’t surprise him if CBD oil helped ease period cramps, since “it does act as a weak anti-inflammatory, not unlike nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are the most commonly used treatments for this type of pain.”