Your Guide To A Healthy Period.
By Kari Pettersen
What is a healthy period? Does anyone know? I sure the heck did not know when I was in high school or even in my 20’s. I thought period pain was normal. Heavy flow was normal. Mood Swings were normal. We are taught that it was normal to feel cramping and have all sorts of awful symptoms but I am here to tell you that is NOT a normal healthy period. When did we start to just accept that certain uncomfortable things are going to happen monthly because “that’s just how it goes”? I can tell you that lack of education on about our bodies is why.
I personally had horrible periods, mood swings and insomnia made worse by taking birth control. I was a complete stress case with anxiety and depression which I later found out was all related to hormones and gut health. I had no idea I could feel another way during that time! That’s why I am so passionate about hormones. They do so much more in the body then just make a baby. In fact, your period symptoms can help be a barometer for your overall health.
This blog is all the things I wish I knew in high school and in my young adult years before I started Chinese Medicine and studying hormones. I am going to break down what is happening during our cycle, what other functions hormones have in the body, why it is important to ovulate every month and some information on birth control. Share this with your friends, sisters and daughters and lets take control of our hormonal health!
What Is Happening When We Have Our Periods?
Follicular Phase- We have a follicular phase dominated by estrogen that helps build up the endometrium lining. This creates a feedback loop and will signal the pituitary to release FSH ( follicle stimulating hormone) that stimulates your follicles to grow. Estradiol also has many other glorious functions in the body!
Estradiol stimulates mood by boosting serotonin ( wellbeing and happiness)
Boosting dopamine ( motivation and pleasure)
Boosts your labdio
Benefits bones, muscles, brain, skin and metabolism.
Enhances sensitivity to insulin and helps insulin resistance
Ovulation - Estrodial stimulates cervial mucus. A vaginal discharge that can help sperm survive and aid them to get where they are going. LH ( luteinizing hormone) is released in the feedback loop and triggers ovulation. We need an ovulation to make progesterone which starts off the luteal phase.
Luteal Phase- The follicule then becomes a corpus luteum which makes progesterone. Its main job to hold and nourish a baby but it also does a whole lot more in the body.
Progesterone counterbalances estrogen so it can help thin the lining thus decreasing heavy periods
Prevents breast cancer
Boosts thyroid hormone
Reduces inflammation
Builds muscle
Promotes sleep
Protects against heart disease
Calms the nervous system and helps cope with stress
What Is A Healthy Period And Why Is It So Important?
I hope so far I have convinced you to want to ovulate every month, for your overall health, even if you are not trying to have a baby. Hormones do so much in the body! We can use our periods to gauge how healthy our bodies are. It can take 100 days for your follicules to mature from their dormant state to ovulation. If you are having period problems it could be a result with something that was happening with your health months ago. Since the follicule becomes a corpus luteum this also affects the health of your progesterone. So lets break down what a normal healthy hormone balanced period should look like.
Length of cycle- a normal cycle can be from 21-35 days. If your period is 23 days then 30 days the next that is considered an irregular cycle. To be off a few days can be normal. If it is consistently 23 days or 35 days then that is the length of your cycle. Their are so many great apps you can use to track your cycle to see the length of your periods. Day 1 is the first day of heavy bleeding; any spotting before is not considered part of this cycle.
Period bleeding- Picture this, your period arrives with no spotting or pain. It just shows up! No, this is not an urban myth. If you had a healthy corpus luteum and made enough progesterone your period will come with no stings attached. Such bliss! You should lose about 50 ml of blood or three table spoons. 50 ml equates to 10 fully soaked regular tampons and 5 fully soaked super tampons. If you use a diva cup it can be easier to measure.
Period flow- 2-7 days is within normal range. Most women flow between 3-5 days
Cervical Fluid- Discharge is normal! A healthy cervical mucus will be creamy then wet then slippery leading up to ovulation. At its peak mucus will look and feel like raw egg white and can be a fair large quantity. This will occur right before ovulation and is a sign that your estrodial is high just before ovulation. Cervical fluid helps aid the sperm in getting to the egg faster. It basically works a slip n slide to get the sperm quickly where they need to go.
Problems With Birth Control Pills.
I have no issue with a women taking birth control if a women has been educated. If at the end of this blog a women decides that birth control is still the best route for her then I applaud her all the way. I will never judge a women’s right to any form of birth control. I personally was never told what birth control was doing and what side effects it would have and I am still royally pissed about it. It was “here is a pill, see ya”. I also was never given education in other ways to prevent pregnancy naturally like tracking cervical mucus or BBT ( basal body temperature). Actually, when I finally went off birth control my cervical mucus really freaked me out. I had no idea what it was and that it was NORMAL. Which makes me sad that I was out of tune with my body. I also think of all the times I missed out on glorious sleep and a balanced mood when I was young; robbed of my progesterone and I didn’t even know it. Just trying to navigate life emotionally unstable and exhausted.
First off, did you know there is not progesterone in birth control? They are pseudo- hormones meaning they can have the same effects as progesterone but often have opposite effects as well. One of the most common steroid drugs found in birth control is Levonorgestrel, a progestin. Progestin is kind of similar to progesterone in that it surpasses ovulation and thins the uterine lining but it is a different molecule than progesterone and that is where the similarities stop. Progestin doesn’t have the same effects that progesterone has on brain health, cognition, hair growth or libido to name a few ( reread luteal phase to read all of progesterones glorious functions) In fact, progestin can actually turn off your libido, has been linked to depression/ anxiety, hair loss (because it similar to the hormone testosterone) and weight gain because it interferes with insulin.
Progestin shuts off ovulation and robs the body of it’s natural progesterone. The bleed you have when on the pill is not the same as a period. It is referred to as a pill bleed or withdrawl bleed. Some people believe that the pill will delay menopause and preserve fertility but this has been debunked and if anything it can bring on menopause earlier.
So What Causes Your Period To Go Off The Rails?
Stress can cause a dysregulation with the HPA factor meaning your hypothalamus, pituitary and ovaries are not “talking to each other” because of impact of stress and high cortisol levels. To much stress can shut down ovulation and cause amenorrhea ( missed periods), irregular periods and PMS.
Under eating and low BMI( body mass index) this is because too few calories tells the hypothalamus the body is starving and thus disrupts the LH to shut down ovulation. This can also happen with too few carbohydrates in the meal. Men may do good on a low carb diet but women actually need carbs to ovulate.
Gluten sensitivity or Thyroid disease can also cause period disruptions and other conditions like Polycystic Ovarian Disease can cause a women not to ovulate.
Coming off birth control. Sometimes it can take time for your hormones to regulate back once taking the pill.
Diet high in sugar, smoking, alcohol and processed vegetables does three things. Causes chronic inflammation, creates unhealthy gut biome and also lack of vitamins and minerals. All of these can lead to hormone distruptions.
Lack of sleep can cause HPA axis and cortisol to become unstable
Lack of exercise or to much exercise with not enough calories.
How To Repair Your Period With Lifestyle And Diet.
Rest and Joy- Your hormones are a barometer of your health so when they go off the rails it is time to evaluate what is happening in your life and one of the best treatments for a derailed HPA axis is to include rest and joy in your life. You now have permission to take time off from your work and other duties to include doing some things that you love. Anything that makes you happy works! Commit to at least 2 hours of that activity and schedule it in like it was an appointment and you will see changes. Yoga and mediation are great because they help calm the sympathetic nervous system. Deep inhales and exhales help override your sympathetic response to life stressors. If you find your job stresses you out etc.. daily affirmations and talking to yourself in a positive way can get your through at stressful time without a huge sympathetic response.
Maintain a Stable Blood Sugar- What does this tell us? That not eating can stress out your body and HPA. Eat small portions of protein with every meal especially breakfast.
Sleep- Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Why? It stabilizes HPA axis and cortisol, stabilizes insulin sensitivity and regulates the release of LH, estrogen and progesterone. Sleep is more important than exercise so if you had to pick between the two pick sleep.
Exercise- This can greatly help your period. It modulates the stress response and reduces cortisol, improves sensitivity to insulin which can greatly help PCOS, improves circulation to your pelvic organs, strengthens pelvic floor muscles, aligns your uterus inside your pelvis and helps reduce chronic inflammation. Choose something that you enjoy! Consistency is more important than what you choose. Stay away from any exercise that drains you and feels like a chore.
Inflammation- chronic inflammation is about whole body communication. Inflammatory cytokines job is to protect you from infections and cancer but they also slow your ovarian follicles to FSH, impede ovulation, impair progesterone production, block the receptors for your beneficial hormones like progesterone and thyroid hormone and can hyperstimulate your receptors for estrogen and testosterone. Avoid, as much as possible, anything that overactivates your immune system such as
smoking
stress
inflammatory foods- like sugar, alcohol, wheat, dairy and processed vegetable oils. This can vary for everyone and because cutting all of these out can be daunting it best to on the ones that best apply to you. If you have a gluten intolerance focus on cutting down on wheat and gluten whereas PCOS focus more on decreasing sugar. Figure out what inflammatory diet is best suited to you and your individual need and start from there.
lack of exercise
lack of sleep
unhealthy gut biome
environmental toxins like plastic
Why Does Having Regular Periods Matter?
As you read at the beginning of this blog your hormones have many functions in the body. A regular period is a good sign that you ovulate and that all is well with your underlying health and metabolism.
Healthy Mood - Estradiol picks you up by boosting serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine. Progesterone calms you down by acting like GABA in your brain.
Healthy Metabolism and Body Weight- Estradiol improves insulin sensitivity and helps prevent insulin resistance. Progesterone helps with your metabolic rate and production of thyroid hormone.
Healthy Hair- Both estrogen and progesterone help maintain your hair. No ovulation can lead to hair loss.
Healthy Bones- Estrogen and progesterone are both essential for bone health. If you have no periods for more than 3 months your slowly increasing your lifetime risk of osteoporosis
Acupuncture And Chinese Medicines View.
Chinese Medicine was the boss at observing the connection between our moods (stress), diet, lifestyle and diseases. This ancient medicine just see’s things from a bigger picture and I am all for it. The ancient wording can throw people off so when I say things like kidney and liver I do not mean there is something physically wrong with those organs. In Chinese Medicine your organs also run your emotions and free flow of Qi and blood. I just want to lightly touch on how this medicine views what is happening in our bodies in terms of our menstrual cycle.
The Kidneys, in Chinese Medicine, control our aging. As we age our Kidney yin, yang and qi naturally decline. Based on your constitution and your lifestyle/ environmental exposure, one can be more depleted then the other. Kidney vitality is so important for reproductive health, fertility and aging. Overworking, over thinking, literally over taxing our bodies from years of hard work/play, with little to no rest, depletes our energy at such a deep level. That is why it is important to have balance between work and rest.
The Liver plays another role in menstruation and bleeding. To much liver heat can cause heavy periods because it causes “reckless blood” and to much heat for to long can actually dry up and cause scanty periods and hot flashes. The liver needs to have enough blood ( with help from the kidneys/ spleen) and have a good energy flow in the body to not have period pain, mood swings and all the nasty pms symptoms we usually get. Taking care of our liver means moving our bodies in a way that feels good, taking care of our mental health and eating lots of green leafy vegetables. For our livers to continuously move energy we need to address any emotions that come up so they do not get repressed, felt for to long or are to strong.
The heart plays a role in ovulation. The heart is our most emotional organ. That’s why when we get hurt we say our hearts are broken. When we are one with our emotions and get lots of mental breaks our sleep will come with ease and we can handle stress. To much mental stress can delay ovulation (think HPO axis I mentioned earlier).
The spleen is where we get our Qi and blood! We get our energy from our food. Too much stress, under eating or under function of the spleen can cause issues with our period blood. I almost always have a spleen point as part of my acupuncture prescription when treating fertility or menstruation disorders.
Acupuncture is so effective for helping balance hormones that it is being studied with great results. One study, the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in women with primary dysmenorrhea was published in the national library of medicine. This study found that compared to no treatment, manual acupuncture and electro-acupuncture and acupuncture with moxa was more effective at reducing menstrual pain. This was compared to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acupuncture was found to be more effective than NSAIDS. Some studies showed that the efficacy of acupuncture was maintained after a short-term follow-up.
In another study, Medical researchers in Australia and New Zealand have shown that acupuncture treatment significantly reduces period pain intensity, duration and symptoms over time, with improvements being sustained up to a year after. This paper which was published in the international journal PLOS ONE, also shows a connection between both the treatment timing and frequency, with high frequency of treatment providing greater improvements in health-related quality of life, such as overall physical component, vitality, social function, and bodily pain.
So picture this. You wake up calm and happy with shiny hair and clear skin after a restful sleep. Things may stress you out but you easily recover from it in a cool, calm and collected way. You have long, uninterrupted, luxurious sleeps and have lots of energy and motivation to do the things you love. Your period comes without any symptoms, just magically appearing one day and gone the next. Nope, this is not a hallmark movie. This is your real life. You are a vibrant, ovulating goddess and one bad ass babe because you have control over your mood and periods instead of the other way around. If you want to kick your hormones ass into gear and have an acu nap while doing it then Book Here and let’s do this journey together.
References
1 Briden, L. (2018). Period Repair Manual. Bolton, ON: Greenpeek Publishing.