5 pointers for peaceful periods

Periods can be a bloody pain, but you can breeze through the monthly menses with therapeutic food, herbs and supplements.

- CAROLINE ROBERTSON

Why can't be a boy?” remember moaning on my first menstruation. To suffer this cycle for another 40 years seemed unfair. Being punished with painful periods for not getting pregnant was beyond annoying. How can one unused egg massacre my whole womb anyhow? Does this mean no swimming or white clothes for a week every month? Despite prior preparation, the first period can be a complete shock to girls. Suddenly they must manage this bloody guest while carrying on like nothing's happening. How to surf this unpredictable wave of bleeding, cramps, moodiness, fatigue, sore boobs and more? Cringeworthy commercials of girls in slinky knickers, cartwheeling, skydiving, waterskiing and horseback riding with flashes of blue fluid does nothing to normalise this tricky transition. Surprisingly, when sanitary company Libra were among the first to show red menstrual blood, they copped criticism for being too graphic, embarrassing and humiliating to women. The secret stigma of the curse” still has some shameful associations. However, many traditional cultures celebrate and accept this fertile phase as a sacred time of rest and renewal. Instead of popping a painkiller and carrying on, women in indigenous cultures are allowed to adjust their pace as they wish. They may retreat to menstrual huts, have a domestic break or do rituals. Menarche, the onset of menstruation, is often marked by ceremonies such as in Ghana where girls sit under an umbrella and receive gifts on their first show”. The Californian Hupa tribe worships menstruating women as an earth-balancing energy. With Mother Nature’s help, women can welcome this wondrous event and manage their menses with minimal moans. Women’s tendency to live longer than men may be connected with their monthly blood purification. Good can come from groans as Tshetrim Tharchen wrote, Menstruation is a small price you pay for being blessed with the grandest gift you can ever wish for, and that is, to h