Period pain: what is our body really telling Us?

Many women I have spoken with over the years, both socially and in a clinic setting as clients, think that period pain is normal, just something that we need to put up with as women.

Do we really believe that this is what being a woman is all about?

Bleeding every month
Experiencing excruciating pain
Feeling discomfort
And tearing your hair out trying to deal with these crazy emotional roller-coasters?

If our body is showing us so much discomfort, not just once, but over and over again, doesn't it make sense that we should question this fact? Are we really at the mercy of it all, where nothing can be done except managing the symptoms and alleviating the pain? Or can we consider that we may be contributing to it somehow ... which would also mean that the power to change it would be in our hands?

Period pain doesn't appear out of nowhere ...

It is important to know that the period pain is just the end point, the body being very loud in alerting us to the dis-harmony that has been there for some time.

Period Pain in My Teenage Years

I suffered severe period pain as I moved through my teenage years. Looking back now, I can see how I was putting my body under intense stress: I played sport excessively, worked hard and late, exercised excessively, ate foods which I already knew didn't agree with me (like dairy and gluten which would make me feel bloated) and ate irregularly in attempts to lose weight. Through these years moving through puberty, I increased the stress enormously and I didn't eat in a way that supported my body. In hindsight, it was no surprise that my period pain was so bad.

It’s a recorded fact that women today are more stressed, working harder and in some cases trying even harder to outdo men. Some are juggling children, family and work life in a way that is compromising to their health and wellbeing to the point of exhaustion.

On top of that, our view of menstruation has been passed down from generations through a society and culture that has for a long time seen a period as a curse; a hindrance; an annoyance and as something dirty.

Could the way we are living as women today be contributing to the painful periods most women are experiencing on a monthly basis?

Could period pain simply be your body asking you ...

to slow down
to allow yourself to rest
to ask for support when you need it
to find ways to express and share how you feel
to resist the urge to push through when your body is asking you to stop
to be more loving with yourself in your choices of food, sleep and in the way you exercise
to be more honouring of what you need first rather than always focussing on what other people need?

These are some important questions that we can ask ourselves to find some hidden gems within that can support us as we navigate our way through understanding more about our bodies, our menstrual cycle and about ourselves.

Could our menstrual cycles actually be a gift, an opportunity to be closer to our body, to listen to what it is saying to us and to reflect deeper on what may have led to the symptoms we are experiencing?

Our bodies are not the enemy and neither are our periods ... and period pain is just another way for us to listen to what our body is trying to tell us.

You may also enjoy:
My Teenage Years – Discovering what Periods are Really About

Re-Claiming the Relationship with My Period

Filed under

Menstrual cycle, Menstrual pain, Women's health, Human body, Stress, Youth