TMI Warning: If you don’t like reading about women being women, then maybe you should read anyway…cause that’s ridiculous.
It was bound to happen. I should be grateful, because if it didn’t, I’d have a whole other set of problems.
I went to bed last Saturday night with cramps, and woke up on my period.
Normally, this wouldn’t be that big a deal, but I knew the next day I would need to get my cranky, crampy, exhausted ass out of bed and go running. My first major hurdle, that would come back to haunt me around every 4 weeks, was here.
I started to hunt for some motivation online. Or maybe I was actually looking for some justification of why I should stay in bed. I mostly found the former.
It turns out that workouts are great for you and Aunt Flow!
There’s a larger-than-I-had-hoped list of reasons you should want to exercise while on your period. So I dragged myself out of bed the next morning, “suited up,” and got to runnin’.
I was surprised to find that those articles weren’t completely full of shit. I was able to do my regular 30 minute long interval run with little decline in performance. I also felt significantly better the rest of the day than I normally would on Day 2 (notoriously my worst day).
Some reasons why you should do this thing you really don’t want to do:
- Workouts are known for their mood-boosting abilities, so why not fight the period blues with a jog.
- In combination with staying hydrated, exercising can help with bloating and digestion issues that often plague this time of the month.
- Activity induced endorphins are not only good for your mood, but are also a natural way to fight pain.
Basically, you will be doing yourself a favor by getting active during this time, if you can manage to get your pants on without crying over the sappy coffee commercial on TV.
Do these things to make you less likely to kill a loved one because they are chewing too loudly or their nose is whistling:
All of the typical things you should do while on your period are even more important if you’re also going to be exercising.
- Stay hydrated to combat bloating
- Lower salt intake to ease water retention
- Catch plenty of zzz’s to balance mood and to give your body the proper time to heal
- Eat lots of leafy greens to replenish iron levels
- Eat bananas – not only do they help with shin splints, they also help regulate your digestive system!
There are a million other things you should eat and habits you should pick-up/drop, but these are the ones that I’m trying to focus on at the moment.
If you want to do some of your own research, here are some links to get started:
- How Menstruation Affects Your Running – This article from Runner’s World gets pretty physiological, and is pretty fascinating.
- 5 Expert Tips To Help You Hustle Through Your Monthly Flow – Read Dr. Mona Shangold’s tips on getting through your period with ease in this interview by Women’s Running
- Running and Your Period: How to Go With the Flow – This article from The Running Bug gives a quick rundown of how our cycle timing affects us and tips to keep moving.
You may find that your typical workout just isn’t going to cut it during this time. Some ladies bleed more when they run, so you could switch it up for yoga or body weight exercises. Others have back pain or extremely intense cramping. This could be eased by swimming, rather than doing higher impact routines.
The truth is, only you know what you can, or are willing to do.
Don’t let anyone shame you into thinking you have to push through the pain. But also, don’t let the “embarrassment” of being a woman stop you from doing anything you want to do. Be proud that your body does this crazy, miraculous, and simultaneously terrifying thing every month. Our bodies are so much cooler than men’s, that we should kind of feel bad for them.
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
You Butter Run! 
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