How to relieve menstrual pain with a hot water bottle
For many women the arrival of menstruation, month after month, becomes a painful experience that ultimately can not be avoided. Of these, between 25% and 60% tend to suffer dysmenorrhea, which consists of a painful menstruation in which severe abdominal and / or pelvic pain arises, and appears just before the fall of the period and can last up to 48 hours later. In addition, it can be accompanied by other related symptoms such as back pain and waist pain, headache, dizziness and nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
The causes of some women suffering more or less menstruation is due to hormones known by the name of prostaglandins, which tend to spread throughout the uterus or the womb of the woman contracting, which causes the appearance of those annoying and intense stabbing pains in the lower abdomen. Moreover, it is known that the daughters of women who suffer from these menstrual cramps are more prone to suffer this type of problem.
When it comes to relieving and reducing pain, and even trying to prevent it from becoming so intense, it is advisable maintain a lifestyle as healthy as possible, based on the practice of regular physical exercise (such as walking), perform pelvic exercises to help stretch and strengthen the area, avoid alcoholic beverages and tobacco, reduce the consumption of caffeine drinks (such as coffee or drinks) of cola), as well as to eat healthy in general opting especially for foods rich in complex carbohydrates.
From a natural point of view it is also possible alleviate and reduce menstrual pain. How? Opting for a hot water sachet, a remedy as traditional as effective, which stands out precisely because it is one of the most popular in this regard when it comes to relieving the symptoms of premenstrual and menstrual pain.
The benefits of heat against menstrual pain
According to a study published in 2006 and carried out by a group of scientists from the University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom, the heat acts in the same way that an analgesic drug would, being able to deactivate pain at the molecular level. This translates into something very simple: its mechanism of action would in fact be quite similar to how analgesic drugs work.
Among other aspects, when we apply on the skin for example a hot water bag (around 40 ºC) in that area where there is pain, we get the different heat receptors that are located in that area to activate. The result? These receptors block the effect of the chemical messengers that are causing the organism to precisely detect such pain.
In the particular case of menstrual pain the heat is very useful to relax the uterus, while reducing the construction of different blood vessels, thereby improving the flow of blood to the uterus.
How to reduce the pain of menstruation with the help of a hot water bottle
If at this moment you are suffering from menstrual pain and you want to reduce and alleviate that annoying and intense pain, you only need a cloth bag that you can fill with hot water. For example, in herbalists you can find sachets already prepared, with fabric on the outside but with heat resistant material inside, which does not soak. They are usually soft, flexible and easy to use plastic or rubber bags.
And its operation is very simple: you just have to fill the bag with hot water, avoiding not burn yourself. And finally apply it carefully in the lower area of your belly, while you sit or lie down in a comfortable place. It is important that you try to relax, and let the heat work for at least 15 minutes.
Soon you will see how symptoms and pain tend to be reduced little by little.
Bibliography:
- UCL Heat halts pain inside the body. 07/05/2006. Available at: //www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/heatandpain
