101 Guide - How to Hack into your Periods

Well! It is “that time of the month” for me, and I feel like my emotions, my mental peace, even myself are all over the place! However old you may be, if you are a woman, you either remember how painful those days of the month were, or you are dreading its onslaught right now, or you are sitting here reading this and are mad at everyone who is not on their periods (like me!).

I am all of these people on my periods. All these hormonal imbalances have made my world go around. My menstrual hormonal situation is so bad that I dread it as soon as it is over, and when it comes, I am worried about it coming again and flabbergasted as to how I survived the last years being a female. I do not understand how it never gets better and how each time it feels just as surprising and awful. I believe all of us with cramps and mood swings are deathly jealous of women who claim that their periods is a cakewalk. It is not Karen (sorry Karen’s of the world, I hope you never have period cramps <3). Well, although it is not entirely possible for everyone to just eliminate our periods, we can hack into it to make it a bit easy on us! So, here are some steps we can take to make things better. Check this out:

PREPARE

1. Track Your Periods:

Period tracking is something I have always done, and if you do not, start. There are numerous apps available for this purpose, but my personal favorite is Clue, as it gives you a small quiz to do every day of your periods to track how you are feeling, the amount of flow, how much you slept, etc. It also sends out reminders when my periods are around the corner. An app like this will remind you of when to expect your period, keeping you informed and mentally prepared for a bloodbath. When you know the devil is on its way, you prepare to make it a safe landing. Get a tracking app. It is one of the best period hacks.

2. Proper Nourishment is a Must:

Your periods takes away a lot of nutrients and good stuff from your body with the blood. Nourish yourself with vitamins and minerals which will ease muscle cramps and pain. Eat foods rich in iron, magnesium, vitamin b12, Omega-3 fatty acids, and calcium. These help in relaxing the muscles and making them stronger, alleviating most of the period pain.

3. Foods to Eat and Avoid:

Eat leafy veggies if you can. While it is very necessary for the body, but if you cannot eat leafy vegetables, then try eating fruits and yogurt. Bananas, berries, and all seasonal fruits have high concentrations of minerals in them, and yogurt is considered a superfood due to how high nutrient concentrations in it. If you are not vegetarian, salmon is a great option too. Caffeine and sugar are a huge no. They increase your heart rate and retain water, which leads to bloating and muscle cramps worsen. You should also avoid extra spicy and salty foods as they do the same thing by retaining water in the body and cause bloating.

4. Wear Panty Liners:

School goers, or office ladies, and everybody else listen to this carefully! If you can sense or know that your periods are close (did you downloaded that tracking app remember?), you can avoid the red stains in your underwear with this hack. Pantyliners are smaller and very thin pads that help soak up all the extra substances that get expelled from the vagina before the periods. They also prevent the sudden surprise visits from our bloody friend from ruining what we are wearing that day. But, if you think wearing panty liners is a little over the top and too expensive, buy yourself some plastic lined underwear. These are available in a lot of patterns, and a lot of companies make them, and they are washable and reusable. You do not have to worry about contributing to the creation of more waste in the environment either.

DURING YOUR PERIOD

1. Sleep:

Sleep as much as you want and take a break if you have to. The body needs that 2 to 3 days to recover and cope with the daily struggle and hustle. If you cannot take a break from work, make sure you cut down on other time-wasting activities and get a good 10 hours snooze. The shut-eye helps, do not underestimate it.

Period Hacks for Sleeping!

I would love to digress here for a bit. While we are already talking about sleep and its importance while periods, why not also talk about a few hacks for a better night's sleep.

1. Firstly, it is ok to leak and have a stain, it is perfectly human and nothing to be embarrassed about.

2. To prevent leaking, you can wear night pads with broader backs and more absorption capacity.

3. You can also go forward with double protection if your flow is heavy. You can use double pads, or tampons, and a pad, whichever is comfortable to you.

4. You can even put a thick cloth or a towel underneath and sleep; this will prevent your sheets from getting dirty.

These are a few period hacks for sleeping that I use and come in handy for me. Do give it a try!

2. Eat Healthy:

Exactly like you were before. But if you want a little pick-me-up, attack a bar of the darkest chocolate you can find. You must not eat milk chocolate as it has a lot of sugar and dairy you want to avoid.

3. Drink a Lot of Tea:

If you are a fan of it. Especially chamomile tea, just because it has a lot of vitamins and minerals that alleviate cramps and muscular tension.

4. Be Clean:

Take a bath and clean your area as thoroughly as possible WITHOUT using vaginal care products. These should not be used in general, as the vagina has its cleaning mechanism, and its pH needs to be balanced. Just use water to rinse out the older blood every time you change your pad or tampon and dry it.

5. Try Different Menstruation Tools:

There are a lot of other options in the market, which are replacements for pads and tampons. These are great and hygienic and make you smell a lot nicer, but they create a lot of waste, and our planet does not need any more of that. So, get yourself reusable pads, or a menstrual cup, or something that you can sanitize and use again and again. I agree it can make you feel weird with all that blood and then washing it and reusing it, but you have to do something for the environment dear!

Taking these small steps in every part of your life helps the environment in major ways that we cannot even comprehend yet. Make sure you clean them thoroughly. Even if this sounds like a lot of work, think of the bigger picture and the amount of money you would be saving the amount of waste you would reduce. Try getting your friends on to this as well.

Hack it up!

1. Make Yourself a Happy Period Bag:

Fill a small bag with the essentials like pads, tampons, painkillers, tissues, hand sanitizer or soap, maybe a snack or two, and some water in a bottle if you are taking it out. Having things in one place will help you feel put together and calm, and you will be able to handle the sudden visits with much more ease. Make sure you carry the sanitizer if you use a public or common bathroom when you change pads as you do carry the risk of infection as used pads and common bathrooms both are germ centers. A surprise snack always helps in case you are down or just plain hungry.

2. Heat Pads are Your Best Friend:

They help ease muscle pain with the help of heat, and this is a tried and tested ancient way of relieving the body of pain. You can make your heat pad by filling a sock up with rice and microwaving it for 2 minutes. It acts as an amazing pain reliever. You can also use gels or pain-relieving creams that work using heat. Such balms are the best for targeted areas if you are in the market for a balm for your muscle pain.

3. Exercise:

As much you love curling in bed during periods, it is advised that you indulge in some physical exercise. It helps relax your muscles and reduce the pain, cramps and makes the blood flow easier. Follow along with a simple yoga tutorial for beginners on YouTube. It helps relax your muscles. If you are up to it, of course, go ahead only then.

Now here are few Period hacks at work and Periods hacks at school!

1. Sometimes, we have these surprise visits from this little devil. If you have no pads on hand, you can resort to making yourself a makeshift pad with gauze and wrapped with toilet paper. But do this only if you have to, as it is not the most sanitary thing in the world. Pads and tampons are still the most sterile, and keep some always on hand is the best idea.

2. Let us make talking about periods normal. And let us start with our male friends. Give your male friends some pads to keep with them in their bags. Usually, it is the ladies that help you out with an extra tampon or two when you get your periods and are unprepared. but you have to agree that many times you find out they have used their pads up and forgot to put an extra one in their bag. So, give it to someone who cannot use it, the boys in your life. Get your boyfriend, husband, or your trustworthy male friend to keep a couple on hand for you, just in case. It will also help them open up and accept menstruation more if they are uncomfortable about it. We need to keep our men as educated as women on menstruation, as they can help out a lot in situations like these if they know what to do. Life gets easier, does not it?

While I feel these are a few hacks that will come super handy for office goers and school goers! It is important to be well prepared. So, there were my Periods hacks at work and Period hacks at school.

1. Drinking 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar every day for a week before your period also helps with the pain.

2. If you have the cash, invest in calming and pain-relieving essential oils and bath salts. They help calm the nerves and emotions and help you feel much better while riding the crimson tide. Taking time out for self-care iat this time is of utmost importance. It is like a nature’s reminder to you to take a step back and give yourself a time-out. So, invest in things you like doing to calm yourself like reading, writing, painting, playing music, or singing, whichever makes you feel at peace with yourself. Your hormones can make you feel crappy fast, and during your periods, it mostly just brings you down. So, instead of giving into negativity, let’s try looking into the positive side of things and uplift ourselves.

Period Hacks for Swimming:

While periods tend to restrict our movement due to pain and fatigue, why miss out on the fun. It is totally fine to chill with your gals on the beach or near a poolside even on your periods. Nothing is holding you back.

1. You can wear a pad with fitted bottoms, and they wear a cover-up on top. Though I will advise not to enter the water with the pads on as it might lose its adhesive and slip out, this can get a little embarrassing.

2. For all my water babies who can not resist water, wear a tampon and rule the water. Tampons are super comfortable and perfect for swimmers and water baby out there. For those who have not tried a tampon, it is very easy to use, but you might feel uncomfortable in the first few uses. But then you get used to it.

These are the period hacks for swimming that let you have fun even on periods. These work for me, and I am sure it will work wonders for you too.

Conclusion:

While we might consider periods as the devil, but we need to live with them as it comes with the whole package of having a strong, smart, and beautiful feminine energy. Being a woman has so many upsides that we should be able to help ourselves deal with this painful downside too. These are some of the best period hacks and tips to make you take care of yourself when you are not busy taking care of everything else. Remember to take these 3 to 5 days off to yourself and whole-heartedly give yourself time to heal from all the gruesome events occurring in your uterus. Do what makes you feel less crappy, and try not to listen to anything negative. Our body is very sensitive and receptive during this time, and be sure to absorb and send out positive vibes. Try meditating as well, as it calms your mind and keeps the mental balance. It also helps you remain in a positive space.