How To Shorten your Period

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Period – every girl’s best friend: or not! If you consider your period to be too much of a hindrance to your daily life, be encouraged by the fact that there are natural ways for you to shorten its length. Here are some of the best ways for you to safely shorten your period:

•   Get moving! Studies show that the fit women who regularly engage in exercise have shorter periods than those who do not exercise regularly. Apart from enjoying shorter periods, these women also have lower incidence of menstrual cramps and pain, and experience regular periods as well. There’s another reason why we should all start exercising today!

•   Have a healthful lifestyle. Every aspect of your body is a reflection of the overall state of your health. Eating healthful foods and avoiding highly-processed foods will help you feel lighter and will heartier, and will even likely cause you to have shorter periods, or at least help you avoid menstrual pain. Also, spinach and other foods rich in iron have been found to decrease menstruation for some women.

•   Use birth control and medication. It has been observed that taking over-the-counter pain killers like Aleve (used to alleviate pain experienced during menstruation) results to shorter and lighter periods for most women. However, do know that these types of medication have side effects for some people; these side effects include stomach bleeding, as well as facial swelling, asthma, rashes and other allergic symptoms for those who also take naproxen.

Another type of medication that can shorten periods is the birth control pill. Birth control pills are actually prescribed by the doctor not just to avoid pregnancy; it is also recommended in order to regulate the menstrual cycle. Women who don’t experience regular periods are asked to take pills so that they can enjoy the standard 28-day ovulation cycle. Birth control pills can come in either 21 or 28-pill packs. The first 21 pills contain artificial hormones that prevent the release of the egg from the uterus, thus preventing menstruation. The last 7 pills contain no hormones; once the body doesn’t receive these artificial hormones, the body responds by having the period.

Yet another type of birth control pill is called the mini-pill, or low-dose progesterone pill. In simplest terms, taking the mini-pill will result in the prevention of menstruation. One formulation of this mini-pill can decrease the frequency of the period from one cycle per month, to one cycle for every three months. A woman taking the mini-pill will resume her menstruation once she has stopped taking the medication.

Of course, it’s very important that you consult with your doctor before you start to take these pills. Remember that using pharmaceuticals to modify your body systems is potentially harmful, so it’s important that you get a professional go-signal before you start on these pills.

•   Drink lots of water. Staying hydrated will help you lighten your period (if not shorten it). You should also avoid drinking diuretics such as coffee, sodas and alcohol, which could actually aggravate the severity of your period.

There you have it! These are some of the ways that you could shorten your period. Of course, it’s always best to go natural as much as possible; your aim should be less severe periods and less menstrual cramping, and these could be achieved simply by adopting a more healthful lifestyle with ample relaxation and less stress.