In my post “What Does A Healthy Period Look Like?” we covered the signs that there is something wrong with your periods. In this post, we are going to cover what the main causes of period problems are. You may have one of these or a combination, which is why it can be hard to pinpoint the exact cause or why one protocol may not fix the whole issue.
1. Times of Stress or Illness
Reproduction and our whole reproductive system is not essential to our survival. So it makes sense that when we are under stress or severe illness, our body diverts key resources such as blood, oxygen and nutrients get diverted to our other essential systems. This can stop you from having periods for a while, delay ovulation or start a period early after ovulation.
Find out the effect of stress on your cycle specifically here.
2. Hormonal Imbalances
This system is so delicate, it can get thrown out by so many things. Here is by no means an exhaustive list but it just shows how sensitive this system is:
- Stress
- Diet – both nutritional quality and quantity
- Exercise – both quantity and what type of exercise
- Sleep – you need to find the right amount for you
- Body fat – not too much or too little for you
- Pollution, mould and toxic substances
- Endocrine disruptors – these could be pesticides in food, plastics in contact with our food, fragrances, colouring, preservatives in cosmetics and foods and chlorine in water.
What is even more fascinating is that you can get an idea of what is going on with your hormones by the colour of your period.
3. Womb Position
Having your womb in the wrong position can mean a lack of fresh blood into the tissues surrounding this amazing organ (and lack of nutrients and hormones telling it what to do). It can also mean that the womb is unable to empty itself properly during the period and will instead twist instead of contract resulting in cramps.
Your womb should be in a central position with the ability to tilt forwards, backwards and side to side. You can see here about how this manifest in your cycle.
4. Inflammation
I did a series of videos about inflammation and periods which is worth you checking out. However, it is important to understand that inflammation can cause period pain and increase period pain that is there.
Whilst inflammation in itself isn’t a bad thing: we actually need some inflammation in our bodies in order to self heal and repair when the body spots an infection, however, too much inflammation can increase the amount we bleed, the amount of pain we experience and the pain sensation.
5. Sanitary Products & Underwear
Standard sanitary products are bleached and made of non organic cotton which means they could have dioxins, pesticides and perfumes in contact with some of the most absorbent and sensitive tissues in our bodies.
There are so many alternatives out there, organic and unbleached products, menstrual cups and re-usable cotton pads as well as period underwear. You can find out more in this blog post.
