Can workouts affect your period?
It’s not unusual to be unmotivated when your time of the month swings round. But that doesn’t mean you should ditch the gym. Here’s how getting physical can affect - and often improve - your menstruation cycles.
Menstrual cycles can be monsters - we hear you. So, when your time at the gym swings round during your time of the month, it can be hard to get up and go with the flow.
Over half of women in the UK say they stop working out when their period arrives, according to a study by Populus on behalf of Orreco. Whether this is due to cramping, cravings, low mood or that annoying tampon-string-in-a-swimsuit fiasco entirely depends on the individual.
Even when you’re feeling far, far away from fitness-related-anything and praying for a week in foetal position, remember this: There are benefits to working out on your period. It can sometimes even be a female advantage. Sometimes. Let’s look at the science...
How exactly can workouts affect your period?
Exercise can have subtle or extreme influences on your menstrual cycle, depending on how your body reacts to the physical activity. It makes sense that menstruation and fitness are connected - your period is controlled by your body’s production and regulation of hormones, while the physical demands of exercise affect those hormone levels. It impacts your body in a number of ways...
1. Exercise can lighten your flow
Hormonal changes from a regular fitness routine can make your periods less heavy. Can we get a hallelujah? One reason for this is down to estrogen and weight loss. The more body fat you have, the more estrogen is produced from the fat tissue. This excess hormone can thicken the lining of your uterus, so more blood builds up in the first half of your cycle. When you lose weight through exercise, you have less estrogen in your body. As a result, your lining gets thinner, and your flow gets lighter.
2. Workouts can make cramps less painful
You may not have heard of prostaglandins, but you’ve probably felt them. They’re inflammatory substances that limit blood flow to your uterus and are responsible for some cases of cramping. Pain-relief medicines such as ibuprofen block the production of these tender period problems, but exercising is a healthier way to prevent them. Working out not only boosts blood flow to your uterus, but it also sparks the production of those feel-good (and pain-relieving) hormones - lovely, magical endorphins.
3. Exercise can cause irregular periods
Working out requires you to tap into the energy needed to run your body daily. When your body doesn’t have enough power to keep your systems running, it bats off the nonessentials - in this case, your reproductive system. A region in the brain called the hypothalamus slows down the release of hormones responsible for ovulation, so your period may not arrive when you expect it. This usually only occurs with intense, strenuous exercise and a low-calorie diet. If your exercise regime is having a significant effect on your menstrual cycle, speak to your doctor.
On the whole, physical activity has the sort of positive effects on periods that every woman wants (looking at you, lighter flows and kinder cramps). Regardless of the time of the month, feel good in your Holmes Place club. From our rejuvenating mind-and-body classes to our pampering spa, it’s a far better solution to period woes than curling up on the couch.
