Many women have a problem with menstrual disorders. In some it’s associated with the occurrence of serious diseases, in others with disorders of the endocrine system, in others with the wrong diet.We would like to address the last issue in this article, because many women are not even aware that the wrong diet can affect the whole menstrual cycle so significantly. So what is worth knowing in this topic?
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What are menstrual disorders?
At the very beginning, it’s worth explaining exactly what such menstrual disorders are and when to start worrying about them. The basic disorders include, but are not limited to, the length of the menstrual cycle, amenorrhea, excessive bleeding, and disturbing pains. We should not underestimate any of the symptoms, as they may be associated with serious illnesses or other problems that should be resolved as soon as possible. If there are disorders, the body gives a signal that something bad is happening in the body, and if it’s so – one must act. Remembering the above causes of disorders, it’s worth focusing on them a bit more.
Changes in the length of the menstrual cycle
In this case, the problem is if menstruation occurs too often or too rarely. If the cycles last less than 24 days, this is a problem. If they last from 6 to 36 months, this is also a problem. Irregular menstrual periods, if they occur once, are not a cause for concern. However, if every month the cycle looks completely different, then we could worry. Very often, periods stop as a result of cycle disturbances, which can have very serious consequences. If menstruation disappears before the age of 16 – it’s a primary atrophy. If it’s an adult woman, menstruating, but with no period for longer than six months – secondary atrophy.
Changes in bleeding abundance
Bleeding is another very serious problem. For each woman it’s an individual matter. Some women bleed for three days, others seven days. In some it’s not abundant, in others the abundance is really very large. As long as menstruation looks the same all the time, and the doctor did not find any disturbing changes before, you shouldn’t worry, because that’s just the nature of a woman. At the moment, however, when there is a change in the abundance of bleeding, which is visible in one and the next cycle, then this can not be underestimated. This applies to both an increase in bleeding abundance, a decrease in this bleeding, but also to a prolonged or shortened cycle duration.
Pain
The third problem is menstrual pain, which can take on a different dimension. One woman develops pre-menstrual pain, which is so specific that a woman knows when she will get this menstrual period. In other women, pain during the first days of the period forces them to take antispasmodic or painkillers. While the pains occur all the time in the same form and severity, there is no reason to panic, if of course we were examined by a gynecologist before. However, if the pains are stronger or occur differently than usual – this can not be underestimated under any circumstances.
Menstrual disorders with an incorrect diet
It turns out that we do not necessarily have to be seriously ill for such disorders to occur. Very often, the culprit of this state of affairs is nothing but a poor diet. First of all, disorders can occur in women who are too thin, who are underweight, as well as too chubby, who fight obesity. In the case of a diet incorrectly selected for this, the problem can become more serious with each cycle.
Weight being too low…
Diet restrictions are a major problem for women. We want to lose weight quickly, we are in the weight loss phase, we are already living in sports competitions. A restrictive diet does not affect the human body indifferently and in the case of women very often just leads to menstrual disorders. First of all, the change in eating habits makes the body completely unaware of what is happening to it, and such action makes it simply „fail” and the effects of it can be seen in this form. Secondly, if a woman has too little body fat, there are disturbances in the production of leptin, and thus the hormone produced by body fat. This hormone, or more precisely its incorrect value, causes hormonal disorders on the hypothalamus – pituitary – ovary axis, which in consequence leads to the disappearance of menstruation. As long as your body fat level is too low, your period will not return. If we increase the caloric supply and the amount of body fat is slightly leveled, then menstruation will return.
Weight being too high…
In the event that our weight is too large, the problem of obesity also does not pass indifferently to the body. Too many kilos that many women are struggling with is a great burden on their body, including the endocrine system. Therefore, there are rare menstruation, anovulatory cycles, and as a consequence problems with getting pregnant. All this is associated with hormonal disorders, including FSH, LH, progesterone and estradiol. How to restore the menstrual cycle? Certainly the best medicine is weight reduction. So the right diet is so important, which on the one hand will cause a decrease in kilograms, on the other hand it will reduce the concentration of insulin in the blood, thereby improving insulin sensitivity.
Menstrual cycle disorders and minerals
It turns out that in addition to the diet itself, the minerals that are found in this diet are also very important. Very often the main culprit of the disorder is hypothyroidism, which is associated with iodine deficiency. Another problem is excessive stress, which in turn is associated with magnesium, because it alleviates its effects by inhibiting the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are stress hormones.
So, as you can see, the problem can also be serious when it comes to diet for hormonal disorders. So if we want to menstruate regularly, the right approach to the topic of our diet in this area plays a paramount value.
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