Treating Menstrual Problems with Yoga

Menstrual distress is a monthly problem for hundreds of millions of women. Surveys find that from 45 to 95 percent of women of reproductive age experience abdominal swelling, lower back pain, abdominal distension, nausea, indigestion, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, lethargy, irritability, breast tenderness, fluid accumulation, autonomic nervous symptoms, lack of focus, depression, and emotional distress with their periods. School, home, and work, however, don't give women time off to deal these problems, and medications for menstrual symptoms tend to cause as many new symptoms as they correct. For this reason, more and more women are turning to alternative methods for menstrual symptom relief such as yoga.

Why Yoga for Premenstrual Syndrome?

For women who deal with PMS and menstrual symptoms, yoga is primarily a method of pain control. It's non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical, and cost-free. Almost any woman can learn the very basic poses that help relieve periodic pain and distress, and there is a scientific understanding of why yoga works.

• Yoga practice "downregulates" the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, reducing hormone production.
• It also reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, the "fight or flight" part of the nervous system that both generates and responds to stress hormones.

Yoga doesn't usually eliminate the experience of pain and unpleasant symptoms during menstruation, but it makes them a great deal more bearable.

READ Menstrual Cycle: Impact On Exercise And Nutrition

Is It Hard to Learn Enough Yoga to Control Menstrual Symptoms?

Many women can't imagine that they could ever learn how to do the complicated yoga poses called asanas that make up a typical yoga routine. What isn't generally understood is that yoga isn't just about moving the body into complicated positions to stretch and build muscles. Yoga also includes breathing, meditation, and relaxation.

And there are specific exercises that have been studied scientifically to confirm their value in treating menstrual problems:

• the surya namaskara (the "sun salutations");
• three animal poses, cat, cobra, and fish;
• and yoga nidra, which is a kind of psychic sleep. Let's take a look at each of these components of a yoga routine.

Starting with the Surya Namaskara

Most yoga routines for controlling menstrual distress begin with some version of a cycle of up to 12 sun salutations, the surya namaskara. Clinical research protocols usually instruct women to do 10 repetitions of the cycle over a period of five minutes, although fewer or more repetitions would also work. Don't worry if you can't pronounce the traditional names of the poses.

READ Styles Of Yoga: Whats Out There And How To Choose

Ideally, to start the sun salutations, which can be learned by watching video, one should be able to stretch both arms straight up and touch palms, and then bend over to touch the palms flat on the floor. However, if all you can do is to raise your arms to head level and bend over just far enough to hold your palms facing down and flat in front of your knees, this will also be helpful.

Likewise, if you can't do a "push up" after you do your first sun salutation, you could even do the movements for the top of half of your body while seated in a chair.

Cat, Cobra, and Fish, and Psychic Sleep to Calm Hormones During PMS

After you do the sun salutations, there are then three animal-inspired poses, cat, cobra, and fish.

• The cat pose (majarisana), also known as the cow and cat pose, involves getting down on all fours, first relaxing the back and looking up, like a cow, and then arching the back and looking down, like a cat. Curling and releasing the toes, as shown in the video linked at the end of this article, increases the relaxing effect of the exercise.
• The cobra pose (bhujangasana), also illustrated in a video linked at the end of this article, compresses and releases the back muscles, leg muscles, feet, and pubic muscles to intense relaxation. Don't attempt this exercise if you have back problems.
• The fish pose (matsyasana) is performed on the back to open the heart and throat at the same time. it relieves anger and irritability while it relieves abdominal tension and bloat. 

Yoga nidra, a guided meditation intended to keep the mind on the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, is performed in savasana, flat on one's back. Savasana would seem to be the easiest of all yoga poses, but in some ways it can be the hardest. Also known as the corpse pose, savasana challenges the body to relax.

READ Ten Surprising Health Benefits of Yoga for Men

What kinds of changes can women who do yoga expect in their menstrual symptoms?

• Yoga tends to make symptoms more "menstrual" than "premenstrual." In one study, women who did not do yoga had their most severe symptoms the day before they had their periods, but women who did yoga had milder symptoms and not until the second day of their periods.
• Yoga is especially useful for relieving belly bloat, breast tenderness, abdominal cramps, and cold sweats.
• Women who do yoga take 50 percent fewer days off work due to menstrual issues.
• Women who do yoga need fewer pain relievers (which can cause upset stomach and interfere with the renewal of protective membranes in joints).
• Women who get into the habit of doing yoga tend to pick up other exercise activities.
• Women who do yoga don't have shorter menstrual periods (they still average five or six days), but their menstrual cycles become much less variable, that is, they have fewer 20-day or 40-day cycles, and their cycles tend to reliably last 28 days.
• Going to a yoga class helps women connect with other women who understand their symptoms and who can share learning experiences.

READ Anti-Gravity Yoga: Turn Yoga On Your Head

Women who have heavy work loads on the job and at home can be understandably reticent to sign up for a yoga class. However, the benefits of doing yoga tend to justify the time spent. Every eight hours spent in class tends to result in four fewer hours of sick leave. It can be hard to make time for yoga at first, but well worth the effort to put in the schedule.