A Final Note From Dr Bella
Feeling tired before your period is normal for a day or so, but if you cant seem to shake the fatigue then it may be time to investigate with your GP, who can rule out anaemia, a thyroid disorder, or another medical issue.
Dr Bella is one of the experts behind The WellHQ
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Liz Connor
Features writer for female health, wellness and fitness. Published in the likes of Evening Standard, ELLE and Stylist.
Fatigue Or Low Energy
As your period approaches, your body shifts gears from getting ready for a pregnancy to getting ready to menstruate.
Shifting hormones disturb your sleep patterns and make you feel tired. Changes in estrogen and progesterone may also increase core body temperature, especially when sleeping.
Youre more likely to get good sleep when your core body temperature decreases.
Tips About Relieving Period Symptoms
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What Causes Fatigue During Period
Hormones
Like many bodily operations, menstrual fatigue can partly be attributed to hormonal fluctuations.
Your estrogen levels rise before ovulation to support a potential embryo, and then drop when fertilization doesnt occur. Since estrogen can make you feel energetic and alert, this sudden change can leave you feeling tired and weary.
In the case of estrogen dominance, estrogen levels in the body outweigh progesterone. Progesterone is necessary for regulating your period, and keeping symptoms of high estrogen in check. When this delicate hormonal balance is off, you may feel extra fatigued.
Period Ouchies
Pain is exhausting, theres no doubt about that. If you get period cramps, whether mild to severe, they can leave you feeling extra fatigued.
You can try these natural remedies for period cramps, or reach for ibuprofen if that works for your body.
Underlying Conditions
For people with conditions like endometriosis or PCOS, menstrual symptoms can be that much more intense. Along with potentially irregular periods, intense cramps, and heavy flows, people with reproductive health disorders may experience extreme menstrual fatigue.
Other conditions that could cause menstrual fatigue include thyroid disorders. The thyroid is a tiny gland that helps regulate normal bodily processes, like your metabolism, as well as hormone function.
Symptoms from thyroid disorders can be exacerbated during menstruation.
Abnormal Signs And Symptoms
Although PMS symptoms are far from fun, theyll likely remain mild enough not to interfere with your day-to-day life in any major way. If you find yourself experiencing severe cramps, aches, fatigue, or any other symptoms that get in the way of things like work, school, or social plans, it may be time to consider visiting a doctor.
Severe mood swings that dip into panic attacks or suicidal thoughts are also important symptoms to address with a healthcare professional.
If you have severe symptoms, you may have premenstrual dysphoric disorder . This is a more severe form of PMS. A doctors care may be the best treatment.
If you have severe migraines, you may also benefit from seeing your doctor. Underlying health issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome or endometriosis, might also make PMS more severe, requiring a doctors help.
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Why Am I So Tired During My Period
Why Am I So Tired During My Period?
Periods tend to bring on a slew of unwanted symptoms, outside of the obviously unwelcome bleeding. Lower energy levels are one of them, and when paired with cramps, they can really put a damper on your day. Period fatigue can make you want to crawl back into bed, turn on Netflix and reach for your favorite comfort food but thats not necessarily the best plan to help you get through it. Lets talk about why your energy levels tank during your time of the month, and how you can learn to combat fatigue and power through.
Whats the Deal?
During the second half of the menstrual cycle, around the time women start experiencing symptoms of PMS, estrogen levels peak and then fall quickly causing you to feel tired or sluggish. In the last week , estrogen levels will continue to fall, carrying this unpleasant feeling through the end of your cycle.1
Other culprits could be iron deficiency related to your period, stress, unhealthy eating habits, or the obvious answer, lack of sleep. The CDC recommends more than 7 hours of sleep each night2 so if youre getting less than that, more sleep might be the key to a more manageable time of the month.
What Can I Do?
What if its Not That Easy?
References
How To Deal With Menstrual Fatigue
The first step to dealing with period exhaustion is to understand where its coming from.
While you might not be able to get to the bottom of it, there are some steps you can take to help you figure it out.
Consult Your Doctor
If your period fatigue feels unmanageable, or is greatly interfering with your daily period life, ask your doctor. Keep track of other symptoms youre experiencing like cramps, nausea, and bloating. Its also helpful to track when around your period you tend to feel the most tired.
Get Your Mineral Levels Tested
Your body depends on essential minerals, like iron and magnesium, to stay healthy and vital. When these are low, like in the case of anemia, period symptoms can be worsened.
Ask your provider about getting these tested. If they are low, taking supplements, and eating mineral rich foods, can help combat menstrual fatigue.
Avoid Caffeine and Sugar
While it can be awfully tempting to reach for a third cup of coffee and a sugary treat while on your period, it may be counterproductive towards your energy levels.
You may feel a short uptick of energy, followed by a big crash, making menstrual fatigue that much more unbearable.
Instead try drinking a mellow green tea, and munching on a sugar-free dark chocolate bar.
Holistic Practitioners
Theres plenty of holistic health modalities that have a variety of tools to help you manage menstrual fatigue, and other period symptoms.
Plan Ahead
While this may be easier said than done, try to plan ahead.
Read Also: Birth Control Pills To Regulate Periods
What Are The Stages Of The Menstrual Cycle
The menstrual cycle has four stages:
Some resources classify the menstrual cycle as having only three phases and consider the days of menstruation to be a component of the follicular phase.
Which Foods Are High In Antioxidants That Help Cope With Period Fatigue
To fight period fatigue, you should try these antioxidant-rich foods.
- Deeply-coloured fruit, such as blueberries and acai berries
- Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, e.g. mango, carrot and sweet potato
- Leafy green vegetables, including kale and broccoli
- Red-coloured seafood such as salmon and prawns.
It is best that you switch to an anti-inflammatory diet all month instead of reserving it for your period.
As the naturopath Alexandra Preston explains in her book, Infla-Menses, certain inflammatory pathways can make your period heavier by increasing the growth of blood vessels. Your uterine lining is built up over several weeks before finally being broken down during menstruation, so every day counts.
If you want to discover more about inflammation and menstrual problems, you can purchase a copy here:
SummaryTurmeric, ginger, cinnamon and Damask rose, as well as omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, can significantly relieve fatigue during your period by relieving inflammation. This includes mechanisms such as inhibiting the mitochondria-damaging LOX pathway and making your flow lighter by reducing blood vessel growth. |
Read Also: How Can I Get Rid Of My Period
Try To Fix Your Sleep Cycle
Fatigue during your period may actually not be about blood cells it might be related to sleep disturbance due to menstrual needs. Professor of obstetrics and gynecology Lauren Streicher explained to YouBeauty that disturbed sleep may be the culprit in many cases of period-related exhaustion. If you’re waking up to take pain-managing medication, change your menstrual protection, or just waking up because you’re in such agony that you can’t stay asleep, it’s a recipe for more tiredness the next day . If that sounds like you, try to minimize the amount of times you get up in the night, by regulating your pain medication to let you sleep through, or getting thicker night-time pads. This may not be possible, of course but if it is, it may help.
What Is It And Is It Normal
As your period approaches, you may experience changes in your energy levels. The hormonal and chemical changes and physiological responses our bodies experience monthly can cause us to feel extra sluggish at specific points in our menstrual cycles.
According to our research at Active Iron, 49% of women experience tiredness and fatigue due to their periods. While feeling tired before your period typically isnt a sign of any underlying issue. Severe tiredness may be outside what doctors consider usual period symptoms.
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Physical Activity Is A Great Fatigue Fighter
Physical activity is a great energy boost for the body. Generally, the more active you are, the more energy you have.
Playing sports helps strengthen your health, get in good shape, and boost your energy and mood. Even if you seem to be very exhausted, try to find some time for exercise. It can recharge your energy and help you cope with the difficulties of everyday life. Plus, it can help you stay in a good mood.
Try to use every opportunity to be on the move. Walk when you are talking on the phone, or get up from your desk and walk whenever you can.
Live a healthy life, stay active, and enjoy the results!
References
Iron. NHS Choices, NHS, 3 Mar. 2017, www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Iron.aspx.Mayo Clinic Staff. Fatigue Causes. Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 11 Jan. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/fatigue/basics/causes/sym-20050894.Mayo Clinic Staff. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 5 Jan. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20360490.What Is ME/CFS? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 July 2018, www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html.Chronic Fatigue Syndrome . NHS Choices, NHS, 16 May 2017, www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs/.
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Addressing Fatigue With Your Period The Wise Woman Way
The key to addressing fatigue with your period is to embrace your lunar dance with bleeding.
Treat yourself and your menstrual cycle with the same respect and nurturing that you extend to all those you care for.
Nourish your body with herbal infusions and other essential nutrients.
Dont just take rest . . .
Allow rest, honor rest, relish in it!
Rewrite your internal dialogue about allowing yourself to slow down and turn inward.
Thus you allow your body and soul to truly absorb the benefits of this practice.
Embrace your natural rhythms and whenever possible, take a moon day.
When you make space for yourself in a candlelit bath or in a dark bedroom, you’re giving your body what she is calling for without your body needing to create so much distress in order to receive it!
It may seem impossible at first to create space in your life like this, so start with small steps.
Over time, those small steps will move you in a directionas they did for methat can feed the energy of your life and diminish fatigue with your period almost entirely!
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Corinna Wood, seasoned teacher and mentor along the Wise Woman pathfrom herbs to self love
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Why You Should Not Ignore Tiredness During Your Period
09 July 2019 by – Dr Demetri C Panayi
Feeling fatigued and tired is a common occurrence that can be a direct impact of excessive physical activity, lack of sleep, unhealthy eating habits, or a side effect of some types of medication. Although most of these causes can be controlled and avoided, tiredness during the weeks leading up to and during your period may be caused by an underlying health issue.
Many women suffer from menorrhagia, which is more commonly known as heavy periods. Around 1 in 3 women will seek treatment for the issue.
If heavy bleeding is interfering with your everyday life, you shouldnt ignore it, as your body could be telling you there is something seriously wrong.
Get Checked For Anemia
One of the most common reasons for abnormal tiredness during your period? Anemia, or lack of iron. This makes perfect sense a loss of blood represents even more of a blow to your body’s already-depressed iron levels, which can result in deeper fatigue. Fortunately, anemia is relatively easily diagnosed: a doctor will take a sample of your blood to check the number of red blood cells, and also possibly examine their size or shape. Blood loss and its impact on iron levels are a particular risk factor for fatigue if you have a heavy flow.
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Embrace Your Natural Rhythms
Just as a plant moves from seed to bloom and back again, so does homeostasis in a woman’s body.
The sun cycles from light to dark in one day, the moon waxes from full to dark in a month and the seasons spiral from cold to warm in a year.
Your period or bleeding signifies the beginning of the menstrual cycle. This is called the follicular phase which continues until ovulationwhen one of the follicles is released.
Typically, the follicular phase creates a rise in energy levels as the hormone estrogen is increasing in the body. This can be a time to channel your energy toward projects or increased physical activity.
When you ovulateusually around the middle of your cyclea mature egg is released from the ovaries. Women speak to increased energy and heightened desires for social connection.
That’s the full moon time for your ovaries!
Next, the luteal phase begins as levels of the hormone progesterone rise and then drop dramatically just before your period. This is when PMS symptoms tend to show up, including fatigue from your period.
As your body naturally shifts between different hormonal states, your needs for rest, alone time, movement, contribution and nourishment change too.
Notice how you feel in each stage of your hormonal cycle. Journalingor just making little notes in your calendarcan be a useful tool to help you notice trends.
After your period finishes, you may even be able to cross a few extra things off your checklist during your follicular phase!
Fatigue Before Your Period Begins
Fatigue before your period starts is very common. People often report feeling extreme fatigue right before the start of their menstrual cycle. The chief cause is a rapid fluctuation in serotonin levels.
Youre likely familiar with serotonin, often dubbed the Happy Hormone. Its most often associated with mood stability, general wellbeing, and you guessed it happiness. Natural fluctuations in your serotonin levels during your period can produce a sense of feeling down.
Most of the time, extreme fatigue right before your period will disappear once your serotonin levels normalize. However, many studies show that a subgroup of women have clinical levels of severe fatigue before their period. This severity of symptoms is deemed premenstrual dysphoric disorder .
There are more than three million cases of PMDD in the U.S. alone. Millions more experience milder period fatigue, although these cases can still be very disruptive to daily life.
While medical assistance may be necessary, especially if PMDD is involved, there are three potential solutions that have proven effective. They all directly address the most likely underlying issue: rapid fluctuations in your serotonin levels.
Go for a jog Studies show that physical activity is one of the best drug-free ways to modulate your serotonin levels. One comprehensive review concluded that exercise can lift your mood as well as antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs.
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