Happy Mindfulness Day! or how does stress affect your period?
I found out about this emerging celebration just a few years ago and can even say almost accidentally...While the concept of mindfulness is becoming more and more popular - this day is almost unknown...Too sad, I thought...
What a great opportunity it would be to spread the word on how we can gift ourselves with some easy (or not...lol!) ways to unite mental health and menstrual cycle to relieve stress, address hormonal imbalance, improve and naturally reduce PMS symptoms and nurture a healthy menstrual cycle!
Just as with menstrual health, scientists are just beginning to unravel the secrets and powerful benefits of mindfulness, an amazing practice, once upon a time commonplace, but nowadays almost lost...
Mindful eating for menstrual health
As a women's nutritionist, I especially love the concept of mindful eating. Something so simple, yet incredibly difficult to achieve in the modern world!
Too many tasks, expectations and distractions...and with multitasking being a highly praised quality for a modern woman, is it even possible to be "mindful"? Is it possible to be fully present in the moment and immerse yourself in the experience? Is there room for mindfulness in our busy lives?
I know there is...!
I've done it...I've seen my very busy 24/7 female clients do it...And you can do it too! You just have to plan for it...
No, seriously! Open your calendar and schedule 3, 5, 10 minutes, whatever you have, just for yourself...have your lunch then. Not in front of the laptop like I did for years, checking last minute e-mails, because in a few minutes there will be another dozen of them. Not screen time, but instead looking out the window, or better still at your food. Taste it, think about it, appreciate it...that's the ultimate goal of mindful eating that you are trying to reach.
"Why bother?" some may ask. There are actually so many health benefits of mindful eating. And one of the most important ones - it is your path to a healthy menstrual cycle!
How stress affects menstrual cycle?
Stress is one of the major contributors to painful periods, PMS, hormonal imbalance and other numerous period problems. And practicing mindfulness allows you to strip away layers and layers of stress all at once!
Mindfulness is also a real key to reconnection with our food and the environment. We talk endlessly about healthy eating, but I see how often it doesn't stick; perhaps because we don't really embrace it, but rather feel it is something burdensome we need to do...we don't look at our food, we don't smell it, we don't know where it comes from, and on busy days (which for some of us are every day) we even can hardly taste it.
Sounds familiar? Then let's change it today, on a Mindfulness Day!
If you are looking for a simple and fun strategies to address both mental health and menstrual cycle wellness and to kickstart your wellness journeys by minimizing effects of daily stress on your period health check out my Busy Woman's Mini-Guide here
Ready to dive much deeper in exploring how stress affects menstrual cycle and what you can do about it?
Check out my BEEautiful U Formula course for busy women and explore how to tackle your PMS, and other period problems by synching your STRESS, as well as nutrition, sleep and exercise with your unique inner body rhytms and your menstrual cycle! Click here to read more and sign up!
Love you all and til next!