Tackling PMS

With discoveries in the medical world happening quite regularly, we have terminologies and definitions for almost everything. One such term most commonly used among woman is the "PMS". If you happen to ask a woman who is irritable, depressed and sulking about her issues, you might say she is "PMSing".

PMS or pre menstrual syndrome is a temporary syndrome detected in reproductive women just days before they get their menses. The specific cause of PMS is yet to be unidentified but the most relevant being researched is the changes in hormones especially at the brain level. Serotonin, which is a common neurotransmitter that functions in order to calm and relax the mind avoiding all fluctuations in moods, is found to be decreased because of which women observe changes in their social, cultural and psychological behaviour.

Bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, breast tenderness and hot flashes are some common symptoms of PMS Thinkstock

It has been observed that three out of every four women between 20 to 40 experience this syndrome. The symptoms are varied and these begin just days before you are expecting your menses and fade away by the second or third day of the menstruation.

You may experience headache, irritation, confusion, anger towards self as well as others, anxiety, tension, mood swings, you may also find it difficult to concentrate even after continuing efforts and you might land up forgetting certain things! Other physiological symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, breast tenderness and hot flashes are among the other common ones. The most significant symptom you might fail to observe is your cravings for food! It could range from sweets like chocolates to spicy and sodium-rich foods. Though these cravings may satiate you for a while they may also be responsible for triggering the rest of the symptoms!

Modern-day lifestyle habits that involve irregular meal timings, skipping meals, dependence on ready-to-eat fast foods or refined products, partial or complete avoidance of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and physical inactivity are prominent causes of not just PMS but another well-known syndrome diagnosed in females, known as PCOS or poly cystic ovarian syndrome.

This is a condition involving an imbalance in the female sex hormones resulting in irregular menstrual cycle, formation of cysts in the ovaries and in worst cases, infertility. These days PCOS is observed in girls even in their teens. One common health condition associated with PCOS is weight gain and obesity. Some other symptoms include: increased hair growth, thinning of the hair and severe acne.

From top: Apples, oranges and bananas are rich in vitamin B and pottasium. These can check mood swings; high-fibre foods like muesli maintain the blood-sugar levels; excess of salt causes fluid retention and results in bloating and discomfort

For both conditions the key is in managing your diet and leading a healthy lifestyle to help keep your weight under control. This will further help in developing an equilibrium at the hormonal level, allowing the major symptoms and consequences to recede. Following are a few dietary guidelines and lifestyle corrections specifically to tackle symptoms of PMS as these have been found to increase and re-occur repeatedly every month if not taken care of.

* Avoidance of sweets, especially chocolates, during this span of time because of the caffeine content found in most of them which leads to restlessness and may aggravate the condition.

* Excess of salt causes fluid retention, since it is hygroscopic in nature and thus would result in bloating and abdominal discomfort. Therefore, reduction in the overall intake of salt would make a lot of difference.

* Increased cravings may force you to indulge into all tasty fried delicacies which are made from refined flour and products. These are absorbed in our body way too fast, thereby decreasing the time food stays in your stomach, making you feel hungry all over again!

* Next most important thing to avoid is skipping of meals as these would reduce your blood sugar levels leading to a lot of headaches and fatigue.

* Consumption of magnesium-rich foods such as brown rice, whole grains, beans, cashews and lentils will help in regulating serotonin which will further help relax your mind and soothe your mood.

* Foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids i.e poly and mono unsaturated fatty acids help in reducing abdominal bloating. Vegetarians could opt for small portions of walnuts, flax seeds and pumpkin seeds during in-between meals and sea foods like tuna and salmon should be preferred by non-vegetarians.

* Consuming a lot of fluids in the form of coconut water, lime water, watermelon juice or soups made up of cucumber, tomatoes and bottle gourd or pumpkin will help detoxify the body’s toxins.

* Vitamin B plays an important role in keeping irritability, crankiness and depression at bay. Therefore consume a lot of citrus fruits like oranges, sweet limes.

* Foods rich in potassium, especially apples and oranges, often help in balancing your moods swings. Hence, they should be incorporated in the diet.

* Consumption of calcium, vitamin A, vitamin E rich foods like milk for calcium, eggs, carrots and yellow-orange fruits for vitamin A and almonds, avocados for vitamin E, all of which help in increasing the production of serotonin.

* Enrich your diet with wholesome, natural and healthy food items like oats or bran flakes, millets like ragi, jowar, bajra, dals/pulses, and vegetables which are high in fibre and low in glycemic index will help maintain the blood-sugar levels.

Last but not the least, maintaining blood sugar levels is the key to combat food cravings and hence other symptoms. Therefore, have small meals after every 2-3 hours, regular exercise, sleep well and do yoga, power yoga, calisthenics, brisk walks etc and occasionally get a overall body-relaxing massage. All these will reduce stress levels and make you feel fresh and energetic and vibrant with boosted immunity.

— The writer is one of the leading holistic health gurus and has a health portal www.mickeymehtahbf.com

 

HEALTH CAPSULES
Early maturity ups depression risk

Early puberty increases depression risk over time in both sexes — not just in girls, new research shows. The researchers, however, noted that the disorder develops differently in girls. "It was earlier believed that going through puberty earlier than peers only contributes to depression in girls," said study author Karen Rudolph, University of Illinois. Youth who entered puberty ahead of their peers were vulnerable to a number of risks that were associated with depression. They had poorer self-image; greater anxiety; social problems, including conflict with family members and peers; and tended to befriend peers who were prone to getting into trouble. The study appeared in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

Older women in bad marriages at risk of heart disease

A study has found that trouble in older couples' marriage may prove bad for their heart, particularly women. Hui Liu, Michigan State University, said that the findings suggest the need for counselling and programs aimed at promoting marital quality for older couples. The results show that marital quality was just as important at older ages, even when the couple has beenmarried 40 or 50 years. Liu had analysed five years of data from about 1,200 married people. Respondents were aged 57-85 at the beginning of the study. The project included survey questions about marital quality, and lab tests and self-reported measures of cardiovascular health such as heart attacks, strokes, hypertension and high levels of C-reactive protein in the blood. Among her findings:

* Negative martial quality (spouse criticises, spouse is demanding) has a bigger effect on heart health. A bad marriage was more harmful to your heart health than a good marriage was beneficial.

* The effect of marital quality on cardiovascular risk becomes much stronger at older ages.

* Marital quality has a bigger effect on women's heart health than it does on men's, possibly because women tend to internalize negative feelings.

* Heart disease leads to a decline in marital quality for women, but not for men. This was consistent with the longstanding observation that wives were more likely to provide support andcare to sick husbands, while husbands were less likely to take care of sick wives. The study is published online in the Journalof Health and Social Behavior.

Stem cells speed up cardiac repair

Delivering stem cells directly into damaged heart muscle after a heart attack may help repair and regenerate injured tissue, says a study. In the study by Kenneth Fish,Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, researchers administered stem cells shortly after inducing heart attacks in pre-clinical models — directly into damaged heart tissue. A novel gene transfer delivery system induced the recruitment and expansion of adult cardiac stem cells to injury sites that reversed heart attack damage. In addition, the gene therapy improved cardiac function, decreased heart muscle cell death, increased regeneration of heart tissue blood vessels and reduced the formation of heart-tissue scarring. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions2014 in Chicago. — Agencies

7-hour sleep, positive moods can better your game
Washington: Researchers say lifestyle factors such as sleep, mood and time of day impact cognitive game-play performance. The study at Lumosity analysed 61,407 participants and found that memory, speed and flexibility tasks peaked in the morning, while crystallised knowledge tasks such as arithmetic and verbal fluency peaked in the afternoon. Overall, they found that game performance for most games was highest after seven hours of sleep and with positive moods. Author Daniel Sternberg said that these findings, combined with other health and lifestyle data, have the potential to provide clear and actionable insights into how an individual's daily life can impact cognitive performance. This study says subtle individual differences in game play performance that may be impacted by time of day, sleep, and mood and in addition, participants' beliefs about when and how well they will perform are in line with their actual performance results. — ANI

Tough jobs may protect memory
London: If you hate your job because it requires complex work with other people or data, you may now discard the negative thoughts as researchers have found that complex jobs help people retain their memory and thinking skills even after retirement. The study found that people who held jobs with higher levels of data complexity and people, such as management and teaching, had better scores on memory and thinking tests. "These results suggest that stimulating work environments may help people retain their thinking skills even after they retire," said Alan Gow, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. The tests looked at memory, processing speed and general thinking ability. Researchers also gathered information about the jobs participants held. The jobs were assigned scores for the complexity of work with people and data. Jobs that score highly for the complexity of work with people are: lawyer, social worker, surgeon. Examples of jobs that score highly for the complexity of work with data are: architect, civil engineer, graphic designer or musician. The study appeared in the journal Neurology.— IANS