Do you find yourself raging and slamming doors or weeping into a pack of biscuits every month only to find your period arrive a few days later? Or is it your skin erupting, tummy bloating or painful boobs that’s the giveaway?
Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS as it’s known to us ladies, affects around 75% of women. It’s one of those things that’s joked about all the time, but actually is something we could probably do with taking a bit more seriously.
Each month our moods, digestion and energy levels can fluctuate throughout our cycle, but when it becomes really intense, it’s actually a sign that our hormones are a little off balance. If our moods are all over the place or our skin is breaking out all the time, it’s our body’s way of signalling to us that we need a bit of TLC.
Which Hormones Are Involved?
Oestrogen
In the first half of our cycle, oestrogen levels are high, which is what gives us glowing skin, a great sex drive and loads of energy. It’s pretty much when we should feel our best. However, if the levels are TOO HIGH compared to progesterone, this is called oestrogen dominance and can result in symptoms like irritability, mood swings, headaches, fluid retention, tender breasts, and heavy or painful periods. Conditions like fibroids and endometriosis are also linked to high oestrogen levels.
Also, the higher the oestrogen, the quicker the crash, which can bring with it the night sweats that are commonly experienced.
Progesterone
Progesterone essentially keeps oestrogen in check and is responsible for helping you feel chilled out as it connects with GABA, which is your calming hormone. However, if progesterone is TOO LOW it can result in anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, and mood swings.
Cortisol
Our stress hormone cortisol can have a massive impact on our hormones (shocker!)! It does this by blocking our progesterone receptors, which means progesterone can’t bind properly. When this happens, progesterone levels can get too low, and as mentioned above, mood swings can appear!
Thyroid
Our thyroid gland pretty much regulates the wonderful hormones in our body, including those involved in our metabolism, energy and menstrual cycle! If the thyroid hormones are out of balance we can gain too much weight, loose too much weight, have mood swings, struggle with fertility, lose our hair, and feel absolutely knackered, plus we can struggle with heavy periods. It’s always worth getting a complete thyroid panel to double check what the it’s doing if PMS is present!
What can we do?
Clean up our diet
Keeping your blood sugar levels in check, and feeling your body with nutrients at every meal is vital for eliminating PMS. Processed foods and certain sensitivities can add fuel to the hormone fire, so sometimes an elimination diet it needed to see how you feel.
Reduce stress levels
Well we all know stress is a pain in the backside, so just trying to incorporate more of what you love can be a game changer! Think of what really makes you happy and vow to do more of it!
Exercise
Moving your body helps everything to flow and it’s the kind of exercise you do that can make or break you. Usually the women I see are pushing themselves too hard, so I tend to recommend doing activities like yoga or core exercises, and focusing more on strength training rather than endurance sports.