October 03, 2019

PMS Relief: Sleep, Diet, Exercise and What Else Helps

PMS relief comes down to four levers you can actually pull: sleep, food, movement and stress. None of them is glamorous, but together they change how the week before your period feels more reliably than any single product. Heat, calming scents and a few plants have a place as comfort measures. Tracking helps you see your own pattern. And when symptoms are severe enough to derail your life every month, that has a name, PMDD, and a doctor can help. This post takes each of those in turn.

What PMS is and when it starts

Premenstrual syndrome is the cluster of physical and emotional symptoms that appear after ovulation and fade within a day or two of bleeding starting. For most women it begins five to ten days before the period. The most common symptoms are bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, tiredness, food cravings, irritability, low mood, anxiety and trouble sleeping.

The cause is the natural rise and fall of progesterone and oestrogen after ovulation and the way those shifts affect brain chemicals such as serotonin. Some women are more sensitive to those shifts than others, which is why PMS varies so much between friends, sisters and even your own cycles. It is not in your head.

Lever one: sleep

Sleep is where PMS relief starts, because poor sleep worsens every other symptom. Progesterone rises after ovulation and can make you drowsy in the afternoon and restless at night, and body temperature climbs slightly in the second half of the cycle, which does not help in a Dubai summer bedroom.

What helps:

A consistent bedtime in the premenstrual week, even at weekends.
A cool room. Set the air conditioning a degree or two lower than usual. Our summer period guide covers sleeping comfortably when the nights are hot.
Screens off 30 minutes before bed.
No caffeine after early afternoon.
A short wind-down routine that is the same each night, such as a warm shower, a few pages of a book, or slow breathing.

Lever two: food

No food cures PMS, and the internet's long lists of banned items are mostly unhelpful. A few adjustments do seem to make a difference for many women.

Eat regularly. Blood sugar dips make irritability and cravings worse. Three meals and a snack beats two large meals and a chocolate emergency.
Less salt in the last week, to reduce water retention and bloating.
Less caffeine and alcohol. Both disrupt sleep and can heighten anxiety.
More complex carbohydrates such as oats, brown rice, lentils and whole grain bread, which support steadier serotonin.
Magnesium-rich foods including leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, almonds and dark chocolate. Research suggests magnesium eases both cramps and some mood symptoms.
Calcium from yoghurt, laban, cheese or tahini. Research suggests adequate calcium is linked to milder PMS.

Cravings are real and fighting them all week is exhausting. Our post on guilt-free period snacks has ideas that satisfy without the crash. If you are considering supplements rather than food, the post on supplements for the menstrual cycle explains what has evidence and what does not.

Levers three and four: movement and stress

Exercise is one of the better-supported PMS remedies. It improves mood through endorphins, reduces bloating, helps sleep and lowers stress. It does not need to be intense, and the premenstrual week is a good time to swap a hard session for something moderate: a walk along the beach or the Corniche after sunset, a swim, a yoga class, or 20 minutes of stretching at home. Aim for most days rather than one heroic session. If cramps are part of your PMS, our post on period cramps relief has stretches that help with pelvic pain.

Stress does not cause PMS, but it magnifies it, and PMS in turn makes stress harder to handle. Breaking that loop is more realistic than eliminating stress. Block one evening in the premenstrual week with nothing scheduled, say no to one thing you would normally say yes to, take ten minutes of slow breathing, and tell the people close to you that this week is harder so they do not take a short temper personally. Warning them in advance is planning, not weakness.

Heat, essential oils and plants: what they can honestly do

Heat is the one comfort measure with solid support. A hot water bottle or heat patch on the lower abdomen relaxes muscle and eases cramps and lower back ache, and a warm shower before bed helps sleep.

Essential oils are more modest. Research on lavender, clary sage and similar oils for PMS is limited and small in scale, and what evidence exists points to a mild, short-term effect on mood and relaxation, not on hormones. That does not make them useless. A scent you associate with calm, used as part of a bedtime routine, can genuinely help you settle. What it cannot do is balance your hormones, whatever the label says. Never apply undiluted oils to skin, and keep them away from the vulva entirely, since fragranced products of any kind are a common cause of irritation there. That is one reason LiZZOM pads are fragrance-free, and the scented vs unscented pads guide explains why scent and pads do not mix.

Plants and scents for sleep and calm, with honest expectations:

Lavender. The most studied for relaxation and sleep. A few drops on a tissue by the pillow or in a diffuser.
Chamomile. A warm cup before bed is a pleasant ritual and mildly calming for many people.
Peppermint. Helpful for bloating and nausea as a tea, refreshing as a scent when you feel sluggish.
Ginger. As a tea or in food, it settles the stomach and some research suggests it eases cramps.

None of these treat PMS. They make the evenings kinder, which is not nothing.

Tracking to spot your pattern

The single most useful thing you can do for PMS is write it down for three cycles. Note the day symptoms start, which ones appear, how bad they are on a one-to-ten scale, and the day they stop. Most women discover that their worst days are more predictable than they thought, and that a symptom they assumed was random, such as a headache or a terrible night's sleep, lands on the same cycle day every month.

That knowledge lets you plan: move a difficult meeting, prepare meals in advance, go to bed earlier on the nights you know will be rough, and stock up on pads before you need them. Our post on how to track your cycle covers apps, paper and what to record.

PMDD and when to see a doctor

For a small proportion of women, the premenstrual phase brings severe depression, anxiety, rage, hopelessness or thoughts of self-harm that lift when the period starts. This is premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, and it is a recognised medical condition, not a bad case of PMS. It responds to treatment, which may include specific antidepressants taken cyclically, hormonal options or talking therapy.

See a doctor if:

Your symptoms stop you working, studying or caring for your family most months.
You feel hopeless, out of control or have thoughts of harming yourself in the premenstrual week.
Relationships are being damaged by monthly mood changes.
Lifestyle changes over three cycles have made no difference.

Take your tracking notes with you. A clear record of symptoms tied to cycle days is the fastest way to be taken seriously.

Frequently asked questions

How many days before a period does PMS start?

Usually five to ten days before bleeding, after ovulation, and it typically eases within a day or two of the period starting. If your symptoms last most of the month, it may not be PMS, and a doctor should assess it.

Do essential oils help PMS?

They can help you relax and sleep, and a calming scent as part of a bedtime routine is a reasonable comfort measure. They do not affect hormones or treat PMS itself. Use them diluted, keep them off the genital area, and treat any hormone-balancing claims with scepticism.

What is the difference between PMS and PMDD?

PMS is uncomfortable but manageable. PMDD involves severe mood symptoms such as depression, anxiety or anger that seriously disrupt life each month and lift with the period. PMDD needs a doctor, and it responds to treatment.

For the days when PMS turns into your period, LiZZOM's organic ultrathin pads are fragrance-free, breathable and delivered free across the UAE above AED 50.