Do Bananas Help With Period Cramps?

Various foods are effective in the management of period cramps. Banana is one of them, due to the presence of magnesium, iron, potassium and zinc, it helps relieving the symptoms of menstrual cycle.

Do Bananas Help With Period Cramps?

Do Bananas Help With Period Cramps?

Reduces Water Retention: Water retention is the major symptom of period cramps. Water retention may cause edema and pain at the site of water accumulation. Banana is rich in magnesium and vitamin B6 which reduces the water retention during menstruation. Further, magnesium also helps reducing bloating.

Mood Lift: Banana helps in lifting the mood as the women during menstrual periods experiences irritability and dull mood. It helps increasing the level of serotonin thereby manages mood swings. Serotonin is the chemical that is directly involved in elevating mood.

Sleep: The women with period cramps have difficulty sleeping due to variety of symptoms. Banana helps in increasing the sleeping ability. It helps in regulating the level of hormones and helps relaxing the muscles. It helps sleeping faster and for a longer period of time.

Muscular Functioning: Banana improving the muscular functioning due to the present of high quantity of potassium and magnesium. Magnesium takes part in many energy-yielding chemical reactions, thus improving the functioning of muscles. Taking banana at night helps relaxing muscles. It also helps in reliving the pain due to muscle spasm.

Immune Response: Banana is said to an immunomodulator food. Fructo-oligosaccharide and other water soluble non-starch polysaccharide shows immunomodulatory effect. These effects prevent the infection during the menstrual cycle.

Nervous System Functioning: Menstrual cramps also involve the faulty neuromuscular transmission. Thus, banana helps in restoring the normal neuromuscular transmission. Banana also protects the nervous system from damaging owing to its neuroprotective effect.

Reduces Diarrhea: Most of the women have the symptoms of diarrhea due to water retention and bloating during their menstrual period. Banana helps reducing the diarrhea. Further magnesium present in the banana is an important electrolyte that is lost during diarrhea. It also helps managing indigestion and heartburn.

Causes Of Period Cramps

Other than the period cramps caused due to normal menstrual cycle, there are various other reasons for period cramps. Some of these are serious condition and requires immediate treatment. Following are the causes of menstrual cramps:

Menstrual Cycle: Cramps are caused due to the production of prostaglandin by uterus. Also, inflammatory mediators cause muscle ischemia leading to muscle cramps.

Uterine Fibroids: Uterine fibroid are the benign lump developed inside the uterus. They are present in the smooth muscle and may cause muscle spasm especially during periods.

Endometriosis: Endometriosis also causes muscle spasm of moderate severity during menstrual cycle.

Symptoms Of Period Cramps

Menstrual cycle is a hormonal change and the change in the hormonal cycle gives rise to a variety of symptoms. The combination of fairy of symptoms is terms as menstrual syndrome. Various symptoms are experienced by the women just 2-3 days prior to menstrual cycle as well as during the menstrual cycle. Following are the symptoms:

Water Retention And Bloating: The women during menstrual cycle experiences water retention and bloating. This may cause edema. This is due to high levels of hormone present in the blood that activates the secretary cells present in the body.

Pain And Muscle Cramps: Pain and muscle cramps are the most common symptoms experience during menstrual cycle. Pain is due to the inflammation caused during shedding of the uterine lining while cramps are caused due to the presence of inflammatory mediators that causes muscle ischemia leading to spasm in the muscles.

Mood Swings: Menstrual cycle takes a toll on the emotional health of the women. During menstrual cycle, the level of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone increases leading to mood swing and the women may experience anger, irritability, and anxiety.

Gastric Effects: Various gastric effects are also experienced by the women during menstrual cycle. These symptoms include indigestion, heartburn, constipation and diarrhea.

Conclusion

Banana helps reducing water retention, manages diarrhea, improves muscular function, have a neuroprotective effect, elevates mood and helps sleeping. It also helps increasing the concentration of serotonin.

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:March 8, 2019

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