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5 Natural Ways to Help Deal with PMS

It’s time to break the cycle.

Health
5 Natural Ways to Help Deal with PMS
Let’s get one thing straight: no two women are the same. Especially when it comes to periods. Cue audible sighs. There are those who are part of the “Oh, I barely notice it. It’s over in just two days” tribe, and those whose symptoms are downright debilitating. And then, there are those who fall somewhere in between, or, you know, varying from month-to-month. The one thing that does ring true across the board, though, is that the last thing any of us wants is for our bodies to dictate anything else in our lives (we’d like to think we have some degree of control over them…). With that in mind, we put together a few natural ways (so that you can forgo the over-the-counter stuff) to ease your headaches, bloat, cramps, mood swings, et al. that are associated with our cyclical misery. At the very least, these could provide a bit of relief.

 

Cut the Salt


Simply put, hormone imbalance (your estrogen levels go up, while your progesterone levels go down) is the cause of your PMS symptoms. Fucked up hormones are partly due to a poor diet. Ipso facto, making changes to what you eat, like cutting down on salt and drinking more water, will help eschew bloat.

Psst: we have a few ~extra~ de-bloating tips here.

Eat Fiber


Anyone else think fiber is the least sexy word out there? Suffice it to say, it’s damn well good for you (we mention it a lot!) and helps with those hormone imbalances we were just talking about.

Avoid Sugar


Even though your PMS brain is finding any justifiable reason why you need to eat an entire sleeve of double-stuffed Oreos, just as fast as sugar spikes it also crashes—which is probably not going to help with your fragile emotional state.

Exercise


Getting a bit of a sweat on (as much as it’s probably the last thing you want to do during this ~time~) actually helps balance out your hormones (a good thing!), and loosens your muscles to mitigate cramping.

Supplements Work Too


Vitamin and mineral deficiencies throw your everything off kilter—the last thing you need at this moment—so taking a few supplements to nourish your body can help for a whole slew of PMS-induced problems. Like, say, magnesium to help control muscle activity, which in combination with calcium (good for headaches, your mood, and muscle cramps) works even better. Then there’s vitamin B6 for irritability and depression, and primrose oil, which helps with the aforementioned, plus breast tenderness and bloating.



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