Are you someone who faces a lot of symptoms before your menstruation cycle? If you are a woman you probably experienced PMS at some point in your life. It is becoming increasingly prevalent for people to start using menstruation cycle trackers. Start now to manage your health with a PMS cycle tracker.
PMS symptoms vary based on the person and can also vary from month to month. This article will start off by exploring the various symptoms that are common to PMS. Then we will go over the importance of tracking these symptoms. It will also explore how you can empower your health using CareClinic. But this article will go over why you need to also track your PMS cycles.
Table of Contents
What Does PMS Stand for?
Let us start off by identifying what exactly PMS stands for; Premenstrual syndrome. As mentioned earlier it is defined as symptoms you face prior to your menstruation cycle. The symptoms can vary from person to person and even month to month. A symptom you felt last month might recur three months from now. Some women do not experience PMS and no one knows why. However, we do know that PMS symptoms are linked to the changing levels of estrogen, serotonin, and progesterone.
Let us take a step back and look at your menstrual cycle. During your menstrual cycle, your body faces a series of hormone changes. These hormone changes prepare a woman’s body for pregnancy. Ovaries produce hormones like estrogen and progesterone. These hormone levels change during this menstruation cycle. These hormone changes also lead to the release of an egg which is the ovulation period. If you track your period it is likely that you are able to track your ovulation as well. If you do not get pregnant, your lining that was produced before the egg sheds. Which is then when your period arrives.
These changes in hormones lead to your PMS symptoms. As mentioned earlier PMS symptoms are closely linked to changing levels of estrogen serotonin, and progesterone. But there are some factors that might be dependent on how you are living your life.
PMS Symptoms
Here are some common symptoms of PMS include:
- Mood swings; from feeling anxious, upset or irritable
- Tiredness or trouble sleeping
- Bloating or tummy pain
- Breast tenderness
- Headaches
- Acne
- Oily hair
- Changes in appetite
- Change in sex drive
If you feel like you experience a plethora of PMS symptoms you should try considering some of these factors. Do you keep a regular activity level that is healthy for your body? Are you consuming a healthy balanced diet that is nutritious? How much sleep are you getting? 7 to 8 hours of sleep are recommended, but is something else affecting your sleep? Are you really stressed out? Have you been taking any medication or pain killers to help you alleviate this pain? Finally, have you been tracking your PMS cycle?
The article will go over a few things you can incorporate into your life so that you can start alleviating some of the PMS symptoms.
What Information Should you Track for PMS?
CareClinic has a variety of options that you can track your health through. Your health is a web of interconnected data. This is especially important and should be tracked regularly for women. A woman’s body is very intricate and the various cycles can be confusing. While it is important to track your flow days and your symptoms. It is equally important to add notes about how you are feeling. This will allow you to get a comprehensive view of your menstruation cycle and those that precede and follow it.
Fitness & Activity Levels
How would you rate your fitness activity? Do you think you are meeting the Department of Healths’ advisory 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week? Maintaining a healthy flow of activity is important for keeping your body strong. If you are struggling with PMS exercising may be very beneficial for you. Maintaining a healthy activity level is vital but it may be difficult for your to track your fitness. You should try using CareClinic’s app to see how much exercise you are actually doing.
CareClinic has a variety of fitness activities that you can choose from the drop-down menu. Tracking can help you maintain a consistent workout method. Start tracking your fitness levels now so you can compare it to your PMS symptoms. Later in the article using a PMS cycle tracker will be discussed so you can get a better understanding of how to do it. There are a variety of reports that CareClinic can create based on the data you input. These reports will help you detect if exercising on a daily basis is helping your PMS symptoms. It will be able to detect using your PMS cycle tracker.
Yoga and Motions to Help Alleviate PMS
There are a variety of positions that can help you with period cramps. Yoga is a very effective activity that you can practice to help with your PMS. Yoga also has a variety of low-motion exercises you can do. If you are just getting started on your fitness journey yoga can be a great starter for you.
Nutrition & PMS
Are you consuming a well-balanced diet? How often do you track the food that you eat? Tracking your food and monitoring how you eat can really impact your PMS symptoms. Research shows the woman with the highest intakes of calcium and vitamin D were less likely to feel PMS symptoms. And these results were stronger when the calcium came from food instead of supplements. You should also avoid skipping any meals. In addition, including whole grains, lean protein, fruits, and vegetables helps. Eating food that also contains B vitamins has shown a lower risk of PMS.
While on your period you might have craved sugar more. This is usually because your hormone levels are changing. As mentioned earlier these could also affect your moods or trigger any PMS symptoms. You may turn to sugar to boost your serotonin levels during your menstrual cycle. However, eating whole grains instead will help your body a lot more. Just like sugar you should not be overloading on salt as well. Salt is usually on everything so it may be harder to reduce your levels of this. To offset the excess sodium maybe drink more water.
This was a short summary of what you should be eating. However, it is highly recommended that you follow a diet based on your needs. Tracking this on CareClinic will help you ensure that you actually are maintaining a well-balanced diet. Because realistically you do not remember what you had for dinner last Sunday. And if you can’t remember what you had for lunch two days ago then you probably are not maintaining a balanced diet. Tracking your nutrition along with your fitness will help you develop an overall healthy lifestyle. Fitness and nutrition together or the power duo to empowering your health.
Sleep’s Impact on PMS
The importance of sleep has been emphasized in many areas of your health. You may have noticed that you have sleeping problems only a few days of the month. This may be a result of your PMS cycle. You can easily track your sleep on CareClinic to rate your sleep. Once you have started tracking in a few months you may notice that your sleep might be related to your PMS cycle. And you do not have to do any math to figure it out CareClinic will have all the reports ready for you. If you want to know why the quality of your sleep changes you should download CareClinic now.
Most of the science behind sleep and how PMS affects it states that it is due to the changing hormone levels. But your health is not a template, start taking control of your health now by yourself. Track your sleep and comparing it to your fitness, nutrition, and PMS cycle. Sleep is connected to many things. This may sound like a lot, but health is wealth, and you should start caring now.
This is especially important if you are nearing the stages of menopause. Menopause is when your body stops having periods. There are a plethora of symptoms that might overlap with menopause and PMS. Start tracking your PMS cycle and your sleeping schedules to determine what really is going on. Tracking individually will also help you when you visit your doctor. They will be able to easily see all your symptoms.
Mental Diaries
Your mental state can also heavily impact your menstrual cycle and as a result, can impact your PMS cycle. The changes in your hormones can also impact your thoughts. You can use the CareClinic app as a Diary or Journal to document your thoughts. There are a variety of prompts you can use as well. For example, you can choose the prompt Anxiety if you are feeling anxious. You can see it pictured on the right. This is a template of one prompt you can choose from. These prompts can start your thinking process. It can also help you write down all your emotions. If you want to get started on journaling to get ahold of your emotional thoughts you might want to check out our other articles as well. We have an article on Morning Page Journaling that might help you with getting started.
PMS & Depression 
As mentioned multiple times PMS can heavily impact your emotional state. This is highly dependent on your hormones changing rapidly. PMS heavily affects women in their 20s or 30s. There is no clear link between PMS and depression. But many women who have depression and face PMS use exercise and meditation. It is recommended that you visit your health professional if you think that you have both. They can advise you of your best treatment. But you might want to start tracking your PMS cycle and any other symptoms you are feeling in addition to your appointment. This will help you feel in control of the situation. In addition, if you are put on a treatment tracking it can be beneficial as well. Tracking your treatment can help you detect if it is working. If your doctor recommends that you start using birth control to offset your PMS. You can track it in medication as described below.
PMS & Medication
A variety of medications have side effects that you might not be aware of. Birth control pills have many side effects however they help with regulating your hormones. Regulating your hormones has been successful in getting rid of PMS. The birth control pill will put you in a position to help with PMS pain as a result.
Tracking all your medications can help you determine what side effects you might be experiencing. It will help you determine if you are going through your PMS cycle. Or if it is just a side effect of any of your medications.
Why Do you Need a PMS Cycle Tracker?
Start tracking your PMS cycle by tracking your symptoms. You can also easily track your periods as well as your ovulation cycle. You may be thinking why is it important to use a PMS cycle tracker. Many are already track your periods and your ovulation. While PMS and its symptom list is long you might be at risk for PMDD. PMDD stands for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. As mentioned earlier almost every woman faces PMS at some point in their life. It is not something that is diagnosed. It also is not something we track in women.
PMDD however, is diagnosed because it is a very severe form of PMS. These symptoms might be so intense that you might not be able to accomplish daily activities. The clinical diagnosis is dependent on how many specific symptoms you are experiencing. The lucky number is usually above five. Just to give you a quick heads up most of the symptoms sound similar to PMS. However, these symptoms would be very extreme and impact your daily responsibilities. Prior to being diagnosed your doctor might do a few tests to rule out emotional disorders. In addition, underlying conditions might also need to be eliminated. These might include menopause or endometriosis and a few others. Read more about PMDD in our article about it.
What Causes PMS?
As mentioned earlier PMS can be triggered by a plethora of factors. Including your diet, fitness levels, and mental state. Maintaining overall balanced health might eliminate some of your symptoms. It is recommended that you track all of these factors in addition to your period cycle as well. This will help your doctor get a quick overview of how your health is actually doing.
How Can a PMS Cycle Tracker Help?
Period tracker apps have become a lot more common. Many women feel that it gives them autonomy over their personal health. It also allows them to be prepared for their menstrual cycle. However, maintaining a thorough record of your entire menstrual cycle can be beneficial as well. The PMS cycle tracker can help you understand your PMS symptoms. In addition, it will help you recognize any environmental factors that might amplify your symptoms.
PMS After your Period
When you feel your PMS cycle symptoms after your period it is called a post-menstrual syndrome. This also is a variety of physical and emotional symptoms varying from headaches to anxiety. It slightly defers from your PMS cycle based on its timing and its impact. The post-menstrual cycle is commonly chained with more psychological symptoms. What you may have called PMS after period might have actually just been your post menstrual syndrome. There is not much research on postmenstrual syndrome and it might be a bit more difficult to detect. However, if you start tracking your PMS cycle you might be able to differentiate between the two. This can then help you communicate your problems with your health professional. Which will then help you get on the correct treatment.
Using the CareClinic Platform as your PMS Cycle Tracker
CareClinic has a variety of health factors you can track. You can easily track your symptoms and include your period days as well. This will allow you to get a comprehensive view of your menstrual cycle. You can easily track your symptoms by opening the app and going into Symptoms. In this section, you are able to add your symptoms to the menu. You can also add any notes about how you are feeling. This is also a great section to include notes about what you think might be impacting the symptom. For example, if you feel nauseous you might choose to add a note that you felt nauseous after you ate. Once you have been using the app for a few months you might even be able to recognize when your cycle starts. You can even add your check-ins to Siri if you have an Apple device to help you access CareClinic easier. It takes one less step to start empowering your health. Start tracking, learning, and acting on your activities to manage your health now.
