Nearly every woman has experienced the distress of menstrual cramps, which significantly disrupt daily life and health while potentially triggering other conditions. Therefore, preventing menstrual pain is more crucial than treating it. Family Doctor Online interviewed Dr. Chen Liangfen, Deputy Chief Physician of Gynecology at Guangdong Provincial Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She emphasized that preventing menstrual pain hinges on avoiding cold exposure, maintaining warmth, paying attention to diet, and avoiding excessive fatigue. These measures can effectively alleviate menstrual discomfort.
Dr. Chen Liangfen, Deputy Chief Physician, Gynecology Department, Guangdong Provincial Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Prevention Over Treatment: Five Daily Strategies for Managing Dysmenorrhea
Though painful, dysmenorrhea is not inevitable. Dr. Chen Liangfen summarized five key precautions to help women effectively prevent menstrual cramps.
1. Cold Protection is Paramount
Keeping warm is the most effective method for preventing menstrual cramps, especially before, during, and after menstruation. Dr. Chen emphasizes the importance of abdominal warmth. Applying heat to the lower abdomen with a hot water bottle or warming patches can warm the meridians, dispel cold, and promote blood circulation to resolve stasis.Additionally, brewing ginger tea with brown sugar can aid blood circulation, proving especially effective for those with cold-damp stagnation or qi deficiency and blood weakness.
Furthermore, keep hands, legs, feet, and all body parts warm. Avoid activities like walking in the rain, cold baths, or swimming during menstruation. Dress appropriately in air-conditioned spaces or when outdoors.
2. Avoid Cold and Raw Foods
Dietary therapy is another crucial method for preventing menstrual cramps. Deputy Chief Physician Chen Liangfen emphasizes that patients should strictly avoid cold and raw foods, opting instead for warm, nourishing, and easily digestible options.Consider incorporating blood-activating herbs like Tianqi (Panax notoginseng), peach kernels, and safflower into meals under medical guidance—e.g., Tianqi chicken stew, mugwort soup, or angelica and jujube chicken broth. Post-menstruation, choose blood-nourishing foods to replenish vitality. Additionally, minimize alcohol consumption.
3. Maintain Regular Routines and Avoid Exhaustion
Excessive fatigue, frequent late nights, and mental stress during menstruation can trigger or worsen dysmenorrhea. Therefore, establish healthy sleep habits, ensure adequate rest, and avoid strenuous physical labor. Simultaneously, manage emotions to maintain stability, cultivate a positive mindset, and avoid negative feelings like anxiety or depression.
4. Maintain Genital Hygiene During Menstruation
Ensuring genital cleanliness during menstruation is crucial for preventing dysmenorrhea. Deputy Chief Physician Chen Liangfen emphasizes the importance of vulvar hygiene. Sexual intercourse should be avoided during menstruation, and bathing should not involve sitting in a tub to prevent genital infections that could trigger dysmenorrhea.
5. Engage in Moderate Exercise
Women with primary dysmenorrhea typically experience heavier menstrual flow, making strenuous exercise inadvisable. Opt for gentle activities like walking or stretching. After menstruation ends, incorporate aerobic exercises such as running or yoga to strengthen your physique, which significantly helps reduce dysmenorrhea episodes.
Herbal Cuisine: Effective for Preventing and Treating Dysmenorrhea – 3 Recommended Recipes
Herbal cuisine is a key method in traditional Chinese medicine for managing dysmenorrhea. Deputy Chief Physician Chen Jingfen recommends three herbal recipes to help women regulate menstruation and alleviate pain.
Motherwort-Boiled Eggs:
Traditional Chinese medicine considers motherwort to have a pungent, bitter, and cooling nature, with effects including removing blood stasis, regulating menstruation, reducing fluid retention, and promoting blood circulation. It is thus commonly used to treat gynecological conditions like dysmenorrhea and irregular menstruation, earning it the reputation as a woman's ally. After consulting a doctor, motherwort can be incorporated into daily meals in appropriate amounts, such as in motherwort-boiled eggs.This medicinal dish is widely suitable for those with menstrual cramps, promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, and alleviating pain.
Ingredients: 15-30g motherwort, 2 eggs, brown sugar to taste.
Method: Simmer motherwort and eggs in sufficient water. Peel eggs once cooked through, add brown sugar, and simmer briefly. Consume both the broth and eggs.
Ginger, Jujube, and Brown Sugar Decoction:
Brown sugar, with its warming nature, benefits qi and blood, warms the middle burner and uterus, and promotes blood circulation to remove stasis. Jujubes supplement the middle burner, benefit qi, nourish blood, calm the spirit, and moderate the properties of herbs.Ginger promotes sweating to expel pathogens, warms the middle burner to stop vomiting, and warms the lungs to relieve cough. Together, these ingredients warm the meridians and dispel cold, reducing pain caused by uterine chill and facilitating smooth menstrual flow. This remedy is particularly effective for women with cold-deficiency constitutions and blood stasis-related dysmenorrhea.
Preparation: Wash the first two ingredients. Slice the ginger and remove pits from the dates. Simmer with brown sugar. Drink the broth and eat the dates.
Angelica and Jujube Chicken Stew:
Angelica (Danggui) nourishes and activates blood circulation, regulates menstruation, alleviates pain, and promotes bowel movements. It is one of the most commonly used herbs in gynecology. Jujubes (Hongzao) tonify the middle energizer, nourish blood, calm the spirit, and moderate the properties of other herbs.Many women with dysmenorrhea experience poor qi and blood circulation. Incorporating appropriate amounts of angelica and red dates into soups in daily meals is suitable for dysmenorrhea sufferers, offering benefits of tonifying qi and blood, regulating menstruation, and relieving pain.
Ingredients: 15g angelica, 15g red dates, 250g chicken meat, 3 slices ginger.
Method: Rinse all ingredients. Cut chicken into chunks and place in an earthenware pot with ginger. Add 2000ml (8 bowls) of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Season to taste before serving.
Expert Profile:
Chen Jingfen, Deputy Chief Physician of Gynecology at Guangdong Provincial Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, holds a Master of Medicine degree. Specialties: Integrative Chinese and Western medicine treatment for infertility, gynecological inflammation, cervical diseases, and menstrual disorders. Performs various laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgeries, including ovarian tumor removal, uterine fibroid resection, and ectopic pregnancy procedures.