How to survive your period
There’s a particular kind of self-awareness that comes with knowing your period is on the way. You start negotiating with your schedule, eyeing your comfiest clothes, and thinking a little more carefully about what your body might need. It’s not dramatic—it’s intuitive.
Over time, most women build a system: small habits that make a physically demanding week feel steadier, softer, and far less chaotic.
Because a period isn’t just a calendar event. It’s a hormonal shift, an energy shift, sometimes even a mood shift. Some months pass gently, others arrive with cramps, fatigue, cravings, and a strong desire to cancel plans and lie horizontally. The key, many of us have learned, isn’t to power through exactly the same way we would any other week. It’s to adjust, just slightly.
We all have our versions. None of them are extreme, none of them involve a total lifestyle overhaul. They’re simply small rules we return to each month, the kind that make you feel more supported, more comfortable, and a little more in tune with what your body is doing. These are the ones that come up again and again.
Rule 1: Eat the steak
When my period starts, my appetite shifts almost immediately. I want food that feels substantial, grounding, and genuinely satisfying. And very often, that means steak. It’s a very specific kind of hunger—the kind that doesn’t go away with something light.
Cravings during your period are common, and they’re not random. Your body is navigating hormonal changes while also losing blood, which can leave you feeling more physically depleted. That pull toward richer, more savory meals can be your system nudging you toward something more replenishing.
Red meat contains iron in a form the body absorbs well, which is helpful at a time when iron levels can dip. Beyond nutrients, it’s also simply stabilizing. A proper, balanced meal can steady your energy and help you avoid the sharp highs and lows that make the week feel harder than it needs to.
Rule 2: Heat is essential
This is the week my heating pad practically lives with me. Cramps can create that tight, uncomfortable feeling in the lower abdomen, and warmth is one of the simplest ways to ease it.
Heat helps muscles relax and encourages circulation, which can make discomfort feel more manageable. A heating pad while working, a warm shower at the end of the day, or even just holding a hot mug close can take the edge off. It’s practical, calming, and surprisingly effective for something so simple.
Rule 3: Move, but gently
Movement doesn’t disappear during my period, even if I sometimes wish it would. The difference is that I change what “movement” means. This isn’t the week for intensity or proving a point.
Instead, I lean into walking, stretching, or gentle yoga, the kind of motion that feels more like loosening up than working out. Light movement can help you feel less stiff and heavy, and it encourages circulation, which can ease some of that sluggish, weighed-down feeling.
It’s less about discipline and more about relief. The goal is to finish feeling a little better than when you started, not exhausted.
Rule 4: Consider skipping coffee and wine
One friend is especially mindful about avoiding caffeine and alcohol during her period. It sounds small, but it can make a noticeable difference.
Caffeine can increase that wired, tense feeling and interfere with sleep, which you may already be craving more of. Alcohol, including wine, can be dehydrating and may leave you feeling more fatigued or unsettled the next day. Removing both can make the week feel steadier, with fewer energy dips and less overall strain.
Rule 5: The warm drink
Another friend swears by a warm drink made with red dates, goji berries, pear, and ginger, a combination that’s been widely shared on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu as a go-to “period drink.”
Each ingredient has a reputation in traditional wellness circles for a reason. Red dates, or jujubes, are often associated with supporting blood health and contain nutrients, including iron. Goji berries are rich in antioxidants and are commonly used to support overall vitality. Ginger is known for its warming and anti-inflammatory properties and is often turned to for bloating, nausea, and cramp-related discomfort.
And pear is considered “cooling,” as it is soothing, helps with hormonal bloating and inflammation, while sweetening the drink naturally.
Rule 6: Allow for more rest
Perhaps the most important rule is the simplest. This is not the week to be surprised by fatigue. Hormone shifts and the physical process of menstruation can leave you feeling more tired than usual.
Sleeping a little longer, going to bed earlier, or scaling back where you can is not indulgent; it’s sensible.
Different women, different approaches, but the principle is consistent. A period isn’t just a date on the calendar; it’s a physical process that benefits from a little more care. Small adjustments in food, warmth, movement, and rest can make a noticeable difference.
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