A Naturopathic Guide to Menstrual Health
Menstrual Health: Your 5th Vital Sign
While your period may feel like a monthly annoyance, it is often regarded as a woman’s 5th Vital Sign. (The four main vital signs routinely monitored by medical professionals and health care providers include the following: Body temperature. Pulse rate. Respiration rate (rate of breathing) Blood pressure and these are our vital signs of life).
Think of your period like a monthly report card. This report card is indicating how your body is coping with its environment. Stress, Diet, Physical Activity and Illness are a few factors that affect your monthly report card.
If you are experiencing heavy or painful periods, sore breasts, mood changes, or fluid retention, these are a sign your report card isn’t going so well.
What does an A+ on your monthly report card look like?
A cycle length of 21-35 days
A bleed time of 3-7 days, with no more than 80ml of blood loss
With little to no PMS and pain
And you ovulated!
Ovulation is the main event of your menstrual cycle. Without it, we can’t make generous amounts of Progesterone. Progesterone not only keeps the period lighter, it also reduces inflammation (less pain), regulates immune function, and supports healthy thyroid, brain, bones, and breasts.
One super-easy way to check if you are ovulating is to take your basal body temperature over the month. To do this all you need is a digital thermometer (that goes to at least one decimal point), and take your temperature under the tongue, first thing in the morning before you get out of bed.
What we are looking for is the bi-phasic temp change that occurs… basically, once we ovulate, our body heats up around 0.3 of a degree and stays that way until we get our period.
You can also test your blood levels of progesterone on Day 21 of your cycle (or around 7 days before your period is due).
If you would like to work with me and get your hormone health back on track, sign up for Well Balanced Woman Online Course, or the Well Balanced Woman Consultation Package which includes the DUCTH Test, Online Course and New Patient Consultation Package.