During critical days, women's health status is somewhat unstable. Therefore, it is better to avoid certain foods and drinks. Let's find out in more detail - is it possible to drink coffee during menstruation.
During critical days, girls often feel discomfort and painful health. Despite the fact that menstruation cannot be called a disease. This condition depresses all women; it is impossible to get used to it, although it recurs periodically. These days bring a lot of unpleasant moments, so nutritionists recommend giving up junk food and strong drinks during your period. According to experts, it is also better to exclude espresso from the diet along with alcohol and black tea.
Is it possible to drink coffee during menstruation?
The answer to this question is not as clear-cut as it might seem. More precisely, there is no single correct answer. It all depends solely on your well-being and pressure. If your blood pressure is low, a cup of coffee will definitely help and you will feel better. And with high blood pressure and migraines, coffee will only make things worse, and you should avoid it. How to determine whether you can drink coffee during your period if you don’t have a tonometer at hand?
- If you feel dizzy , have nausea, or general weakness, your blood pressure is low, you can confidently drink a cup of strong coffee.
- If your temples are throbbing , your head hurts, bright light is annoying - most likely you have a migraine and your blood pressure is high, it is better to drink tea and water, and if you cannot concentrate without coffee, brew chicory.
The effect of caffeine on a woman's body during menstruation
Coffee and menstruation have a certain relationship, primarily due to the absorption of calcium. This microelement affects metabolism. During menstruation, the level of calcium in the blood drops sharply and metabolism slows down, which causes mild intoxication due to untimely removal of waste products from tissues.
Coffee during menstruation further disrupts the absorption of calcium, so it can negatively affect your well-being. If after drinking a cup of espresso you suddenly feel weak and have a headache, then you need to give preference to products containing calcium and completely eliminate caffeine.
As a last resort, make weak coffee and add a lot of natural homemade milk to it. Irritability is a symptom also associated with low calcium absorption.
Important! Iron supplements are not absorbed if they are consumed together with calcium-containing foods. The time period must be at least 2 hours
Caffeine is best absorbed by the body from days 5 to 14 of the cycle, when estrogen levels are high, calcium is well absorbed and all processes in the body proceed quickly, the woman is active and feels well.
From days 15 to 23, metabolism gradually begins to slow down, again due to a decrease in estrogen and calcium metabolism. This explains why you should not drink coffee during menstruation and the week before it - there is too much stress on the digestive and endocrine system.
How does coffee affect the body during menstruation?
Coffee itself dehydrates the body, which does not like it, and the body tries to store more water. As a result, the body swells, and nagging pain in the lower abdomen may appear, which many girls already have. If you suffer from painful periods, it is best to keep your coffee intake to a minimum.
Coffee has a stimulating effect on the nervous system, and many women during menstruation already feel irritated, suffer from mood swings, and become conflicted. If you have similar symptoms, try to keep your coffee intake to a minimum, and definitely don't drink multiple cups throughout the day.
If you drink coffee every day, don’t stop during your period. The body is accustomed to caffeine, and sudden withdrawal may lead to headaches and general deterioration in well-being!
In order not to deprive the body of its usual caffeine, and at the same time not to subject the body to additional stress, reduce the dose of coffee, make it less concentrated, or drink just a few sips.
Doctors' opinion
The final decision regarding the advisability of drinking coffee during menstruation is made by the woman. Doctors recommend taking into account your well-being and health status, and if you have complaints, seek advice from a specialist. Aesculapians definitely recommend reducing coffee consumption to a minimum during menstruation. Taking care of the female body during menstrual periods also includes adherence to a certain nutritional culture. As for coffee, if it is on your menu, then you should adhere to several basic rules:
- The less, the better (no more than 1 cup per day, weak).
- Choose milk over heavy cream as an additive. In combination with milk, coffee exhibits its diuretic effect better, which will help get rid of edema.
- If you are afraid of extra centimeters in volume, you should avoid adding sugar to your drink.
- If your period doesn’t stop you on your way to a cup of your favorite and irreplaceable coffee, don’t forget to take vitamin complexes. Caffeine interferes with the absorption of vitamin C; to avoid vitamin C deficiency, you should additionally replenish your reserves with vitamin supplements and special foods.
- Pain in the temples (usually unilateral), photophobia, and nausea can be signs of migraine. In this condition, as well as with high blood pressure, coffee is contraindicated.
- Excessive emotional excitability during menstrual periods can be aggravated by the effects of caffeine; in order not to turn into a true fury, you should give up coffee.
- Low blood pressure can be corrected with an invigorating drink.
What kind of coffee can you drink during your period?
Experts do not recommend drinking instant coffee (it has no benefits), as well as strong ground coffee. What can you eat during this period?
- Weak natural coffee with milk. This drink is a good diuretic, and in combination with milk, caffeine will help remove excess water from the body, that is, pain in the lower abdomen will decrease.
- Green coffee is almost harmless due to its minimal caffeine content, and even strengthens the body, but you should not brew it too strong.
- Chicory (although not coffee, but similar in taste) is the best option. There is no substitute for real coffee, but you can drink a lot of it. However, it will not help with general weakness and low blood pressure.
Try not to add sugar or heavy cream to your coffee during your period. The body is weakened, and this will contribute to sudden weight gain.
How to replace strong coffee on critical days
It is not necessary to darken an already difficult stage of life with gastronomic deprivations. A reasonable and balanced approach is the key to a good mood, regardless of the phase of the cycle. Coffee owes its wonderful properties to caffeine; accordingly, the less it is, the less harm the drink will do for a menstruating woman.
First, let's look at the basic classification of coffee:
- soluble;
- ground;
- coffee substitutes.
Doctors of various specialties never tire of talking about the dangers of instant coffee. Although experts claim that this invention of mankind was never in the state of coffee beans, but is a mixture of flavoring and aromatic chemical additives, it is possible that it still contains caffeine. You should stop using it altogether, and not just during your period.
Various types of natural ground coffee can be used to prepare an invigorating drink. Specialized departments of supermarkets are full of packaging. The sophisticated buyer is offered grains and powder brought from various countries. The advertisement encourages you to drink a cup of strong coffee to “make life better and life more fun.” It’s hard to resist temptation, and you shouldn’t deny yourself such innocent pleasure. You just need to remember that strong coffee is not recommended on critical days. Brew a drink that will be inferior in strength to the usual one, the body will thank you with excellent health.
Green coffee contains the least amount of caffeine, so it can be a worthy replacement for the classic drink during menstrual periods.
You can replace strong coffee with a chicory analogue, which does not contain caffeine at all, but is an excellent tonic.
You should not overuse black and green tea during menstruation, because these drinks are also a source of caffeine, however, their moderate content in the diet will not cause harm.
Don’t forget that the most useful liquid for any body is water, especially melt water, it perfectly quenches thirst, normalizes the water-salt balance, and helps preserve youth and beauty.
Coffee during menstruation: benefits and harm
Benefits : coffee accelerates blood circulation, increases blood pressure, which improves performance, oxygen supply to the brain, and increases concentration. Women who drink coffee regularly tend to experience lower levels of stress and depression, so that they feel calmer during their periods than non-coffee drinkers or occasional coffee drinkers.
Harm : the body already loses many useful substances and minerals, and coffee additionally destroys vitamin C, which reduces the resistance of the immune system. To correct the situation, it is necessary to additionally take vitamin complexes or at least vitamin C tablets during this period.
What harm can coffee cause?
No source of information gives a clear answer to the question: “Is it possible to drink coffee (or other caffeine-containing drinks) during menstruation?” There is no convincing data on how your favorite drink affects the menstrual cycle, however, both positive and negative effects on the body have been recorded. On the one hand, caffeine has the ability to retain fluid in the tissues. During menstruation, this is completely unacceptable, since the woman already suffers from swelling caused by hormonal factors, and additional water intake only increases pain. This is why you shouldn't drink strong coffee. In addition, emotional instability during special days may increase due to the stimulating effects of caffeine. On the other hand, lethargy, drowsiness and apathy disappear when the concentration of this substance in the blood increases, because it is an excellent tonic.
We must not forget that, unfortunately, not every woman is completely healthy. Ladies suffering from migraines, high blood pressure, neuroses, and neurasthenia are better off giving up this wonderful drink, because after coffee their health can worsen significantly.
Each body is individual, so the benefits and harms associated with drinking coffee must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
PMS and cyst
A study from Duke University (Durham, USA) showed that caffeine dilates blood vessels, which causes women's mammary glands to swell and cause painful sensations associated with this phenomenon. Ladies experience this condition during PMS. If you get too carried away with coffee, unpleasant symptoms will appear much more often than once a month.
Conversely, breast pain and heaviness decrease significantly as soon as a woman gives up caffeine. This reaction of the body was demonstrated by 61% of participants in an experiment conducted at the University of Oregon. In addition, large doses of coffee cause disturbances in the synthesis of hormones, which leads to the appearance of cysts in the ovaries and breasts.
According to womenshealth.gov, consuming caffeinated drinks exacerbates PMS symptoms. Sensitivity and soreness of the breasts are observed already 1.5-2 weeks before menstruation. In order not to experience such severe stress every month and not to jeopardize their health, women should give up heavy doses of coffee and chocolate (it also contains caffeine).
Increased anxiety
Women should avoid caffeine, especially during menstruation, because it restricts blood vessels and increases tension and anxiety. Caffeine increases levels of cortisol, norepinephrine and epinephrine, which are stress hormones. They are responsible for increasing blood pressure and heart rate.
When levels of these hormones increase in the body, the immune system is suppressed due to decreased oxygen supply to the brain. This restricts blood vessels and causes tension. Women are more sensitive to caffeine because the body's detoxification process takes longer in women than in men. The time it takes for the body to eliminate caffeine increases even more in women who take oral contraceptives and in pregnant women.
Convulsions
Cramps are one of the most common symptoms a woman experiences before, during or after her menstrual cycle. Caffeine promotes cramps due to its diuretic nature. It increases urine production and promotes dehydration. In addition, coffee contains oils that can cause intestinal inflammation and cramps.
Fibrocystic breast syndrome is a condition that many women suffer from before or during their menstrual cycle. Non-cancerous lumps in the breast that are filled with fluid can cause pain and swelling. Caffeine consumption has a significant impact because during your menstrual cycle you are already retaining fluids and salt, so fluid is more abundant in breast lumps during your period and can worsen breast tenderness.
Increases premenstrual symptoms
Drinking caffeinated beverages is associated with increased premenstrual syndrome (PMS) sensitivity.
Women who consume large amounts of caffeine experience more symptoms than women who do not consume caffeine. PMS discomfort may include cramps, headaches, breast tenderness, bloating, mood swings, back pain, fatigue and irritability. All of these symptoms may become more severe with caffeine consumption. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases blood pressure and heart rate. In an attempt to overcome PMS fatigue, women may even consume more caffeine to boost their energy. Consequently, increased caffeine leads to tension, anxiety, sleep problems and increased exhaustion.
