Understanding Your Period: Insights for a Healthier You

Are you ready to improve both your mental and physical health by understanding your menstrual cycle? Join me, Anita, as we unpack the complexities of tracking your cycle, starting from day one—the first day of bleeding. Whether you prefer traditional methods like marking a calendar or modern solutions such as the Clue app, you'll learn how to personalize your tracking. We'll explore the unique nature of every woman's cycle, typically ranging from 28 to 30 days, and discuss how hormonal fluctuations, particularly estrogen, can influence your mood and well-being. This episode equips you with valuable insights to navigate these natural processes more effectively.

Transitioning into the often challenging premenstrual syndrome (PMS) phase, I'll share my personal experiences and practical tips for adapting your routines. From swapping a run for a calming walk to integrating yoga into your wellness routine, discover new ways to maintain mindfulness and self-acceptance during this time. We’ll also touch on the importance of comfort, whether it's trying out new clothing styles or indulging in cravings with a kind heart. Wrapping up, I give you a sneak peek into future episodes, expressing my gratitude for your listenership and my commitment to bringing you more helpful content. Tune in to enhance your understanding and management of your menstrual cycle, and find encouragement along the way.

Chapters

• 0:01 Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle
• 15:29 Exploring New Ways During PMS
• 30:22 Planning Future Episodes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

This is episode 84, talking about love yourself, love your menstrual cycle. I'm your host today. My name is Anita. It's very happy to be back. How are you guys doing? It's been a while and I'm very, very excited to have this episode.

Speaker 1: 0:21

So when we're talking about menstrual cycle episode. So when we're talking about menstrual cycle probably this is not a very familiar name for some of the people, but basically it's talking about your period and we all know that period has a cycle, right Like day one, pms and ovulation. So why are we talking about this? Because this is everything. It's about your mental and your physical health for women and as women, we need to understand what is going on, what have we been through and what are we been through during the cycle. And this episode is not exclusively for girls, because if you are a husband, boyfriend, girlfriend or even brother, you need to understand what women are going through and what is going on and you can have a clear idea how to cope with this kind of situation. So today's episode will be educational, but don't worry about it. It will be very easy to understand and there are some ways I will be providing to help you to get through this time.

Speaker 1: 1:37

So, talking about periods, most of people think about, you know, I don't know what is the day one? Right? Because we're talking about a cycle. Cycle must have like day one all the way till the cycle ends. So, in general, most of the girls, their cycle will be around 28 to 30 days. Right, those are the numbers the study shows us. But one thing very crucial, that is everybody's different. So that's why it's called the cycle. You have to figure it out how many days is in your cycle. So, and another thing that you need to know, which is your day one is the first day when you start bleeding. That's your day one, okay, so now you might question, like, how can I figure it out? What's my cycle, right? Um, you know, old-fashioned way, we will have like a calendar. You know, I remember I saw my sister doing it, like she used her very old not old like when she was a teenager. When she was a teenager, she would use a calendar and use the red little marker. You know, just mark the days. There could be a way if you are, you know, old-fashioned, if you're into that kind of way, but right now there are many, many, many apps that you know, like apps on your phone, you can easily just track your cycles. So, because it's a cycle, we need to track consistently each month in order to get the number correct right. So because sometimes you know during, Because sometimes, maybe, when we are experiencing a new event per se like you are moving from one country to another you are going through after you give birth that your cycle will readjust. So, unless you are going through those difficult or challenging times, you need to keep on track what is the regular cycle numbers for you.

Speaker 1: 3:52

So the very first one, the very first step I will encourage you girls is to start doing this. We all know we need to do that, but we just kind of got lazy. We just, oh, we remember the day. You just, oh, we remember the day. You know like it's usually in the beginning of the month or it's usually in the middle of the month. You know, kind of have a broad idea like when is our period? But to make it clear, it will definitely give you a really, really helpful information that you need need.

Speaker 1: 4:24

So me personally, um, my, the, the app, the tracking app for my period, is called clue, c-l-u-e. It's clue. So I have no cooperation with this app, I'm just using it. I learned it from a um, a book, so, um, that. So that's the app that I'm using. Of course, just like every app, you can use the free version or you can use the paid version. So, as I always suggest my female students, just give it a try, try the free version, give it a free trial, see if you like it or not. If you are committed to the app, then you can pay for it.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Right, and so the first step is to track your cycle. All right, so now we know that day one is our first day when we start bleeding. Then what is happening, except for the the day one? All right, so basically, again I'm using the example of the uh, the cycle was 28 and 30 days. So from day one, usually you will stay in five to seven, eight days after your period, meaning the, the phrase that you are bleeding. So, again, this number can be different case by case. Okay, so mine is three to five days. Again, I use the tractors to track this number. Like three to five days, a normal, normal cycle for me. Okay.

Speaker 1: 6:09

So during the, during, when you're, when you start bleeding, your hormones start to change. I should say your hormone changes, um, during the whole period, just in a different level. Sometimes it's high, sometimes it's low. So, talking about hormone, there's a thing called estrogen. This is the main female hormone. Of course there are other sex hormones involved, but you don't, we don't have to go to that that part, just remember. Like female hormone, they would change during your first day, the day, one period until about 20 days again, the number can be varied by different person, different people.

Speaker 1: 7:04

From day 1 to 20, that's the peak of your hormone, meaning you will start to feel better. Of course, during the period, some people will experience very severe syndromes Like cramping, lower back soreness or headache. During those time when you're bleeding, some people might experience severe syndromes. But after your period, until the time is about 20 days, your hormone is in the peak. So meaning you might feel every time after your period you feel more energetic, you feel you are, you are. You can do a lot of things and you think you can do a lot of fun things. You know, start to plan a fun trip like, oh, maybe I could do something new. That's because of your hormone. During the day, during your day one to day 20, that's what will happen to you and your hair looks great, your skin looks shiny, that's because of your hormone, of course.

Speaker 1: 8:20

When, when we see our face and our skin, our hair looks great, we were in a great mood, right, and then we started to want to do something you know, something fun, wanted to go out, wanted to do a lot of different things. Use it, because that's your hormone, that's your peak. Once you notice yourself, have this energetic, even mentally or physically, use it. Use this time to really plan something new, like, okay, what is my next trip? Or you can use this power and energy to your work. What is the thing I need to get done? I don't have to wait until the deadline. I can just get done right now, when I feel the energy right. Or if you want to play something new, like I want to start learning how to swim, for example, then sign up for the class and start doing it.

Speaker 1: 9:20

The reason is we all experienced a thing called PMS. If you don't have this, congratulations. That's great. But I wanted to, especially when the girls that have PMS, which is you, feel irritation before your period begins. That's the part I wanted to focus on today, because you know your day 1 to day 20, you feel great, you look beautiful, you look sexy, your body is great. When you do exercise, you can immediately see the results. You know you feel stronger, you have muscle lines, you have your tone arm, whatever you know, whatever happened to your body. You feel great. But here's the thing because it's a cycle, after day 20 their hormone level start to drop, slowly decrease that's because we all learn it from school as your uterus is getting ready for the potential fertilized egg, right? So that's why our our uterus got thicker and a lot of energy just go towards to our uterus. That's why your skin started to look a little bit, you know, dull. Your hair is messy and If you're angry because you look at yourself, you're bloating.

Speaker 1: 10:54

During this time. That's a PMS time. So the reason why I tell you this is because it's you need to understand that's totally normal. During this time, your body is getting ready for a new cycle, for the potential baby. Let's say if you're really pregnant, right, you think about if you're really pregnant, that's understandable that your body needs to put in a lot of energy and effort to raise a baby inside of your belly, right? So because your body also designed for that, like each month, you got a chance to have this, what I say potential baby. So your body needs to get ready, right? It's like a practice every single month until it actually happen, right? Also, because of that, it gives us a beautiful ability to have baby. So just think about that and then don't give yourself a hard time if you are experiencing unpleasant PMS syndrome. So just to understand, yes, that's my body's art design, my body is art design that way. So this time just take it slow.

Speaker 1: 12:12

I know for me, I'm the one who is having a hard time to take it slow. My, my daily life is like I need to go, go, go, go, go. Like always on the motion mode. I get up in the morning, start working and my son wakes up. I play with him, read books and when he's taking his afternoon nap, I'll go outside running, exercise, go home dinner time, prepare dinner. I'm always seeing myself as the very active person, but unfortunately, during the PMS period I just can't. I just tend to sleep more. I just get tired very easily and I started to notice myself craving for the things I don't even enjoy for most of the time, for example, sugar or other junk food, right? So I personally experience a very, very difficult um challenges myself every month during p, during my pms. That that's why I started to learn about pms. So that's why I'm sharing what I learned with you during your pms.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Taking slow is very important because, even though your mind is very strong, but your body needs rest, that's just is. Of course, you can still do the things that you would like to do right, like exercise. Um, I can push myself to to still go for 10k runs during my pms, but I wouldn't be happy. I know I wouldn't be happy. I will be giving up. Probably. You know about 5k and I'll giving up and I'll be myself. I'll say why can I finish? Why can I finish this run? So I've learned a few things that you can do during this time, which is to explore it yourself.

Speaker 1: 14:32

Since your taste is changing right, like, like I said, the examples is, I will start craving for ice cream. I don't like ice cream. If you, if you know me enough, you will know I don't like sugar at all. It's not one is because it's, you know, it's not necessarily good for your body, um, but for me, the main reason is I just don't enjoy eating sugary um food. So I just I don't like ice cream. I don't like uh cookies. I don't. I don't like any, like cakes or anything but during my period pMS, I will be craving for chocolate cake, ice cream, almond butter cookie, those kind of things. So I would encourage yourself. Since our taste is already changing, then you may need. Your body is changing.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Why don't you provide a chance for you to experience new things? So here's are the things I wrote it down on my notes. What do I mean by trying new things? For example, I usually go running, right, since the PMS is my body sending the signal and give me the chance to take it slow. Then I don't go running, I go walking. I can spend the same amount of time, for example, 45 minutes. I used to go for 45 minutes run, but during my PMS I go for 45 minutes. I used to go for 45 minutes run, but during my pms I go for 45 minutes walking. You can see yourself experiencing different things. Right, I usually go running, I just go running, excuse me. I usually just go running for the goal, which is, you know, I finish my, my training and I go home and my body feels great. But what if today I take it slow? Go for walking. I can start to enjoy the view more, I can enjoy a little interaction between me and the person that I met on the street.

Speaker 1: 16:53

And every kind of movement is a really great way for your body. For example, if your body get used to moving really fast, those are for bigger muscles, bigger muscle and for your heart. But if today you choose to walk, then you are training a small muscle inside of your body. It's not necessarily a bad thing, right? And if you like to do meditations, for example, like me, I do meditations. Meditations, for example, like me, um, I do meditations. But again, during my pms, I turned to not be able to focus. I cannot sit there for a long time. Um, what about give it a try for yoga? Like again, same amount of time.

Speaker 1: 17:48

If you find yourself cannot focus during your regular practice in when you are experienced PMS, try a different way. There are many different ways to connect your mind and your body. Yoga is one of the many ways that you can do it. So use this knowledge to think about what is your regular routine and how can I adjust it to include this idea that my body wants me to move slower? Right, and once you do that, not only you can experience a new thing and you can also finish the things that you wish to do, which is, you know, if you have the ideas that you want, you are usually a runner and you can still get your exercise done when you are experiencing discomfort.

Speaker 1: 18:44

And the fact fun fact is we don't want it to move our body when we're at PMS, when, during the PMS, we don't want to move our body because we feel discomfort. But the secret is, give it a little bit of movement, not too much. Give it a little bit of movement. It can help your body get through this challenging time smoother. So figure out what is the new things that you can try. If you look at that, it's a cycle, so meaning every month, during this time when your body wants you to take it slow, that's a new chance for you to explore yourself. Maybe you try something new, like drawing. Hey, I didn't know that I was good at drawing this whole time. It's all fun. So just use this time to take it slow and discover a different part of you. Once you do that, you won't beat yourself up right and next one will be close. We are really like, not sorry, I would. I shouldn't say we, I should say I. You know, I.

Speaker 1: 20:05

I have a very strict standard for myself, especially my body image and my physical performance. That includes eating, running. How do I perform? How far, how fast can I run during during a certain um period of time? Those are the things I've cared about. And my body, muscle mass, those are the things I also really cared about. But during pms I just can't help but bloating, it's just my body, you know my body. Just like every time it was pms, I would just get really bad. Bad like my body, just poof, like like a balloon.

Speaker 1: 20:58

I still cannot, I'm still having a hard time to adjust my body change, even though this temporary and here's the key words here you need to tell yourself it is temporary and I was, you know, I was feeling like my body is not ideal, that is not a body I want. So I will either go crazy like shopping, like I you know I wasn't, I know that's not the truth, but I just can't help it to think about if I can just get a, you know, a new clothes, a new piece of clothes, I'll look better. Or if I put on the new makeup and I will be, you know, I'll just look prettier. But, like I mentioned about that earlier is just your hormones changing and you just have to accept it and also remember that's just temporary. So instead of crazy shopping about new things new shiny clothes, new shiny makeup or whatever that things just accept yourself for who you are during this time and try again.

Speaker 1: 22:14

Try the new style of clothes. I'm not a person who likes to wear like oversized style. I just it's not a bad thing, I just my. If you open my wardrobe, that's not the style that I'm having, but I tend. I learn to like them. I learn to try them because it feels very comfortable.

Speaker 1: 22:38

When you are bloating, you don't have to worry about, you know, the extra few layers of your muffin tub, or you don't have to, you know worry about a lot of things. You just one, you're trendy because it's a popular style. Two, it's comfortable and you learn to accept a different part of you, not only from the inside and from the outside, and we know that you know inside and outside. How we perceive ourselves can also interfere with how we feel inside. So do those kind of things that will make you feel better and the last thing will be eating. Um, I know when you are craving for something during your pms it's. It's hard, I know. Um, I have a few trick, which is what I kind of mentioned about in the beginning.

Speaker 1: 23:35

During the day one to day 20, when you feel awesome about yourself, try to use this time to eat healthy, because it's just like a, like a bank account. You eat healthy most of the time and during the special time you eat a little bit of junk food or high carb. Your body was still okay to regulate, right. But if you are already eating a lot of junk food, high sugar intake in your meals, then during the pms period it will be even worse, right? Just think about it this way. So the first thing is just, you know, when you feel awesome, when you feel healthy, when you feel powerful, use this time it also a a sign that you, you, your hormone it's in the peak. And another thing about uh, when your hormones and female hormones in the peak, those also growth hormone, which means you have a higher ability to digest um, calories. So, during month one to sorry, not month one during day one to day 20, when you feel awesome, eat healthy, try to eat as healthy as possible, right? And when you are really experiencing craving during your PMS, give yourself a break. It's okay just to eat it once or twice, right? And the second thing is, if you can control yourself during your PMS, just putting a little bit more awareness, which is when you found yourself craving for something and you know it's probably not the best for your body, drink a huge glass of water first, one that could be a sign that your body needs water and also your body does need extra water in your body during this time. So first thing first.

Speaker 1: 25:57

Sometimes we will get confused with the signal of hungry with thirsty or vice versa. Most of the time is, you know, we get confused with the, the sign that's thirsty to, uh, hungry. So there is no harm if you drink a big glass of water and you can make it fun again. Be creative. You can put in lemon or lime juice, or I've seen someone even putting the whole strawberry into their water Just to give it an extra refreshing taste, right. So be creative about the water that you're going to drink during this time, because we are craving for heavy flavored food. So sometimes, when the food or the water is too plain, the flavor is too plain. We don't enjoy drinking or eating. Just be creative, putting a little bit of spice to your water, drink it.

Speaker 1: 27:02

And another things I can provide to you is if you are craving for, can provide to you is if you are craving for, for, for sugary food, take a time to make the sugar food that you wanted to have, right, don't? Just the worst case scenario is like you craving and you just go binge eating whatever the things. That is that's the worst case scenario. Like I just want cheesecake right now and you go went outside to starbucks to get a piece of cheesecake and just munch it until it's gone. That's like the worst things you can do right to your body.

Speaker 1: 27:37

And if you take it slow, again that's the whole idea. You need to start it to put into your system. Like, just take it slow. If you want to eat something, make it not. Not only you can, you know, focus on the things, try new things, and you can also possibly make it a healthier version. For example, if I don't use sugar, I use honey, right, when I'm making my cookie or cake, if that's what I'm craving, I can replace the regular sugar with honey or other alternatives. Bananas banana is a really good alternatives for for sugar. If you want your cake to taste, um, you know, kind of let that sugary flavor. So those are the things that you can do and final things I will write a roundup of about this episode.

Speaker 1: 28:34

That is, you are perfect just the way you are and, as women, will experience this thing every month. You can see it as a burden, like, oh my God, man doesn't have to go through this, yeah, and man also doesn't have the chance to experience a different thing, which is, you know, pregnancy. Right, we are blessed with this ability Well, with this ability, that's inevitable, that will happen which is called the menstrual cycle. You can choose to see it as a burden or you can see it as a blessing. Either way, you are going to experience every month, right? Why don't you change your? Why don't you shift your, your perspective, your, your perspective, and use this time to love yourself more and to discover a different part of you, and then you will see your life and your just day-to-day life just a little bit better, right?

Speaker 1: 29:41

So only this is the courage, um encouragement for all the, the women, also for men to listen to, which is you have to be, when women are the time, that need to take it slow. You also need to pace it. You also need to take it slow, being supportive by aware that we are going through a hard time, it's enough. And if someone's still saying that women just emotional, there will be ignorance. I'm sorry, man, if you just simply state someone, just something, that's unfair and ignorance.

Speaker 1: 30:22

So hopefully today's episode can provide the information and the knowledge that you guys need and I hope you guys can learn something, even just one thing, from the episode. I will still be very grateful for your listening today, so I will be recording also the next two episodes. So, looking forward to it, keep your hopes high hope side, no, don't. So I will be recording the next two episodes. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I will be also hosting another two episodes, so that's so. I will be also recording the next two episodes. I hope I can keep providing useful information and encouragement that you need from you. So that will be today's episode and I will see you very soon. Bye.