17 May Ease menstrual cramps without pills, potions or swallowing a thing
As a health journalist who specializes in study-proven natural remedies, I love introducing you to supplements, herbs, even fragrances you inhale that can give you relief from menstrual-related woes.
But, there are ways to make a big improvement to how you feel without ingesting–or breathing in–anything at all.
One of these methods is relieving menstrual cramps with acupressure, which involves pressing specific points on your body.
While ancient practitioners believed stimulating these points improved the flow of “chi”–or life force–throughout the body to promote self-healing, modern scientists believe it triggers a release of endorphins, which are brain chemicals that mask pain and reduce stress.
Doubting something so easy can be effective? Listen to this: In a 2013 analysis of eight acupressure studies in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers found enough proof to declare that this easy practice really does reduce the pain and discomfort of menstrual cramps.
A key reason they were convinced was because patients given “sham” acupressure treatments–meaning, they were pressed on random points of the body rather than the specific acupressure points known for healing–didn’t experience the same kind of significant relief that patients receiving real acupressure treatments did.
Want to try it for yourself? Click here for a simple-to-follow video tutorial.
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