KARACHI: It’s 2018 and women can finally talk about periods comfortably and openly. We don’t need code names (“Visit from Aunt Flo”, “P”) anymore to talk about them in front of boys and we don’t need to hide our pads in brown paper bags at the grocery store either.
So let’s talk about the dreaded period and let’s try to explain why we lose our minds right before we get it so that people can understand why it’s not funny to joke about PMS.
1. GIVE US FOOD
If your wife, girlfriend, friend, co-worker is suddenly switching from putting low-fat yoghurt dressing in her salad to putting nutella in everything, even her double plate of biryani (JK) then you know that she’s about to get her period. Basically when the body is going through hormonal changes, it reacts to food differently. According to HuffPost Australia, “Often this hunger is for more carb and sugar heavy foods as we may find the rise in oestrogen increases PMS symptoms, including irritability, stress, anxiety. So we’re therefore looking for foods that will give us a quick energy boost,” explained Nutritionist Pip Reed.
2. You start feeling fat
We’d like to stress on the word ‘feeling’ because that’s what it is. A feeling. A few days before their period, women start to feel heavier because they’re usually bloated from all the water retention their bodies are doing, again thanks to the hormonal changes.
There’s another explanation though. According to a study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, women feel guilty about how much they’re eating which could cause this perception that they’re getting fat. So don’t get frustrated if we ask 10 times regarding how we’re looking in that dress.
3. Mood swings and some extra tears
I think it has been established that women are going through some kind of hormonal changes in the body right before their period, so we probably don’t need to explain it anymore. But mood swings are real. Have you ever cried over the cost of safety pins, or why the trees outside your house are so green, or how cute raccoons are? (Real problems; we read them on BuzzFeed.)
4. Acne makes a visit
Yeah we’ll be breaking down AND breaking out in the days leading up to the period. Basically, all our acne stays dormant for the rest of the month, and suddenly the leader of the acne army blows his horn and brings his troops forward.
5. And last but not the least, cramps
Nuff said.
