Looking for a remedy to painful menstrual cramps?
Here are five potential solutions that you may never have thought about:
1. Yoga for Menstrual Cramps
More specifically, you’ll want to do Yoga exercises that target muscles in your hips, abdomen and lower back. This will increase beneficial blood flow to the area and release congestion and negative chi. The end result? You’ll feel better and have fewer, less painful cramps. Here are four exercises to try:
1. Bow – Possibly, the best exercise to do as it works many parts of the body simultaneously, such as the muscles in your abdomen, lower back, butt, arms and legs. Lie on your yoga mat face down. Bring your ankles up to your buttocks, inhale, and reach back to grab your ankles, lifting your chest and thighs off the floor. Take as many deep breaths as you can and then lower yourself back to the beginning position. Repeat a few times.
2. Wind Pose – This exercise focuses on the lower back in particular where it relieves muscle tension. Lie on your back and clasp your knees up to your chest. Press your back flat into the floor. Take several deep breaths during the process.
3. Wide-Legged Child’s Pose – Kneel on your yoga mat with your knees about shoulder width apart. Now reach forward with your hands over your head and slide your body forward on the floor. Feel the stretch in your lower back. Your forehead should be on the mat. Inhale and exhale several times.
4. Butterfly – This exercise decreases muscle tension in the hips and pelvis. Get a pillow for your lower back and a footstool or other support piece for your head. Bring the soles of your feet together touching each other and lean backward on the pillow, resting your head on the footstool, looking upward to the ceiling. Take deep breaths in and out.
2. Diet- Foods That Help With Period Cramps
You should focus on consuming foods that contain a lot of water as this can prevent congestion in the abdomen which can lead to cramps. Examples of foods to eat include: watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, cucumbers, and lettuce.
3. Acupressure for Menstrual Cramps
According to Chinese Oriental Medicine, the body is composed of 13 different energy meridians. If you develop a block in any of these meridians it can produce disease. Points along these meridians may be pressed and held for a few minutes at a time; these points are called acupressure points or acupoints.
If you are experiencing menstrual cramps, the applicable points are located below your belly button and above the groin and around your sacrum. Try pressing on the acupoints yourself and have someone help you. Go one by one for a 15-minute session and see if your period cramps go away.
4. Herbs for Menstrual Cramp
Herbs, such as red raspberry, chasteberry, damiana, wild yam, black cohosh, blue cohosh, and more can naturally relieve menstrual cramps and other symptoms of PMS.
5. Supplement to Take For Period Cramps
Period vitamins containing vitamins and minerals can attack menstrual cramps and other PMS symptoms from a variety of angles so that you feel better, faster.
You may want to try each of these remedies to see which one works best for you or use several or all of them together to ensure you feel your best.