What can help period pain – Part 3?
While taking nutritional supplements suits some women, I know others don’t like taking tablets. So here are a couple of other ideas to assist you with your period pain.
There is scientific evidence that from a trail of women who suffer from period pain that certain yoga poses e.g. cobra, cat and fish reduce both the intensity and duration of period pain. The cobra pose is where you lie on your front, with your hand underneath your shoulders and gently push yourself up bending your back as you come up. The cat pose is when you are on all fours and then round your spine like a cat. The fish pose is when you lie on your back, keep your pelvis and head on the floor and an arch your spine towards the ceiling.
As an aromatherapist there are a variety of essential oils that you can use to help reduce the severity of period pain. Aromatherapists split period pain into two categories:
- Congestive dysmenorrhoea – where the pain starts a few days before the period and can cover the whole abdominal area.
- Spasmodic dysmenorrhoea which comes in spams of pain in the pelvis and/or lower back.
For congestive pain:
10 drops of roman chamomile + 5 drops of clay sage and 15 drops of red thyme in 30 ml of a base massage oil.
For spasmodic pain:
5 drops of lavender, 10 drops of peppermint, 10 drops of nutmeg and 5 drops of cypress in 30 ml of a base massage oil.
In both cases you massage the whole abdomen and lower back daily throughout your period.
References:
Yoga poses >> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21514190
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Holistic holiday first aid kit – part 2
So I am off on holiday to Japan and thinking about what to pack apart from the obvious clothes, toothbrush etc. In part 1 I discussed my two go to solutions. So now I wanted to share some other ideas: Skin MOA, TheGreenBalm can be used to soothe dry itchy skin, calm minor rashes and burns. It contains both tea-tree oil which is a natural anti-bacterial agent and yarrow a herb well know for its skin-healing properties. Sunburn Fushi wild andiroba oil harvested from the tropical rainforests of south and central america has antibacterial and antiinflamatory properties in the oil. Which makes it great for sunburn, repelling bugs and to moisturize dry or damaged hair. A more readily available remedy is aloe vera. Travel Sickness Ginger has long been the go to natural remedy for any type of sickness including travel sickness. Pukka three ginger tea also contains galangal another plant often recommend for motion sickness as well as anti-inflamatory turneric and soothing licqorice root so it may be useful for calming an upset stomach as well as alleviating travel sickness. Bug Bites Zap Ease from Incongnito (www.lessmosquito.com) is a natural mosquito-repellent maker. I haven't tried the product but it is award winning. A few "clicks" of Zap-Ease around the area of a bit "has the effect of localising the posing and inhibiting the histimine release, which causes the itch and the urge to scratch". The device is harmless but not recommended for kids under 2 years old and people with pacemakers.

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Bates Method – Part 1
For most people their sight is their most important sense. This is probably due to the fact that about 80% of the information we take in via our sense is through our eyes. If you have impaired vision as I do, we all know the standard options:
- Glasses
- Contact lens
- Laser Eye Surgery
- Myopia or short-sightedness
- Hypermertropia or long-sightedness
- Presbyopia or “old-age” sight i.e. loss of reading vision as you get older
- Astigmatism

