How do I start my period? Myths and explanations

Are you worried about your period being late? Are you planning a vacation and want to get your period as soon as possible? There are many reasons why women want to trigger their period. In this article, we explain how to trigger your period naturally and with different methods.

Is it possible to trigger your period?

Let's start with the basics: can your period be triggered when you want it to be? Answering this question isn't quite so simple... We know just how much the mind plays a crucial role in our bodies, and particularly in our menstrual cycle. A absence of periods can quickly become a source of anxiety, especially if you're worried about getting pregnant.
For example, you've probably already noticed that when you're stressed, your period takes longer to arrive. This is perfectly normal: our emotions and moods have an impact on our metabolism and hormones, particularly estrogen and progesterone. It is therefore possible to "trigger your period", if you act on external factors.
In fact, if you want your period to arrive, you have to stop thinking about it and not obsess about it. The more you think about it, the slower it will come. Worrying about the arrival of your period may just delay it even longer.
Let's face it: that's easier said than done!
Perhaps some in-depth work on your stress and anxiety (if you're prone to them) would be in order.
If you relax and stop obsessing about it, your period will eventually come.

Why doesn't my period start?

As you'll have gathered by now, a whole host of factors can influence your menstrual cycle. We're going to focus on two types of cause: taking hormonal contraception and physiological or environmental factors.

Taking hormonal contraception

Many women are on hormonal contraception. Taking hormones has an impact on the menstrual cycle.
Generally speaking, when you take hormonal contraception, your periods become much more regular, often even to the hour. So it's logical to worry when your period takes longer to arrive. But even when you're on hormones: the body isn't actually a clock. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, your period may arrive late, the flow may be altered or it may simply be different from usual. There's no need to worry. However, if your period is too late and you have any doubts about a possible pregnancy, you can take a pregnancy test.

Physiological or environmental factors

Other factors, such as physiological and environmental factors, can have an impact on your cycle. As we've said over and over again, stress plays a considerable role in your cycle, and in many aspects of your life in general. The stress hormone cortisol has a direct effect on menstruation: duration, frequency and pain.
So, to make the best of this period, it's essential to manage your stress. Here are a few factors that can help you improve your quality of life, and consequently lower your stress levels.

Sleep

One of the first factors is sleep. A good night's sleep gives you peace of mind.

Moreover, when you sleep, the body evacuates the stress it has accumulated during the day. Toxins and other waste products are eliminated during the night. This is why a regular sleep rhythm is so important: a lack of sleep leads to exhaustion, irritability and stress. What's more, sleep also helps to regulate moods and keep morale more stable.
Similarly, stress can lead to sleep disorders (whatever they may be), such as night-time awakenings, insomnia or difficulty in falling asleep. It's a vicious circle.

Nutrition

Another aspect that can influence your cycle and your period is diet.
Diet plays a key role in many aspects of our lives. Some foods should be avoided during your period, while others should be favored.
The same applies to sleep. It's very important to have a regular sleep rhythm, and to get enough sleep.
On the other hand, it's possible that during your period (or during PMS), you sleep less well. Hormonal fluctuations also affect the quality of your sleep.

What can you do to start your period naturally?

While there's no such thing as a foolproof, miracle solution for triggering your period, there are a number of techniques and tricks that can help. The effectiveness of these techniques is unproven and varies from woman to woman. But you can try them out with complete peace of mind: they present no health risk. Here are our tips, methods and natural remedies to help your period finally arrive.

Emmenagogue plants

What are emmenagogue plants?
These are plants that stimulate blood flow in the uterus. Supposedly, this can provoke the arrival of blood flow.
These plants include :

• parsley, which you can drink as an infusion in the morning and/or evening, with a little honey
• sage, a well-known plant for everything to do with the menstrual cycle
• spearmint, mugwort, yarrow, angelica, shepherd's purse, raspberry... to name but a few.

If you don't like the taste of these plants as an infusion, they can be taken as essential oils or dietary supplements. For more information, contact your pharmacist or doctor.

A diet rich in vitamin C

As mentioned above, a balanced diet rich in vitamin C is essential for good hormonal balance. Vitamin C increases estrogen. Estrogens are the hormones that trigger uterine contractions and thus menstruation. Before your period arrives, you can start taking it. Vitamin C is found in foods such as oranges, ginger, pineapple and parsley. You can also take vitamin C supplements. Remember to eat enough vegetables.
Diet plays a key role in regulating cycles, managing pain, pre-menstrual syndrome, etc...

Drink infusions

Some plants can be drunk as infusions. This is particularly true of parsley and sage. Some spices, such as ginger, turmeric and cinnamon, can be drunk as infusions, hot or cold, to help ease the onset of menstruation.

Change your contraceptive method

Contraception has an impact on the menstrual cycle. So, if you'd like your periods to be more regular, you can take the pill. Taking an oral contraceptive helps regulate the cycle, since periods on the pill are artificial periods known as "withdrawal bleeding".

Practice a non-intensive sporting activity

Sport during menstruation is a question that keeps coming up. Indeed, sport can help relieve painful periods, and speed up the onset of menstruation by stimulating blood flow. However, it should be borne in mind that it can also have the opposite effect. In fact, some top sportswomen have very irregular periods and a very weak flow, due to over-intensive sport. High-intensity sport can cause hormonal imbalance. Sometimes even amenorrhea.
So, if your period is taking longer to arrive than usual, and you've recently changed your sporting habits, your body may be reacting. Particularly if you've started doing a lot of sport, your cycles may lengthen and your period may take longer to arrive.
While high-intensity sport can have the opposite effect on the onset of menstruation, certain gentler or more moderate forms of exercise, such as yoga, can encourage the onset of menstruation.

Opt for an active sex life

It's not really the act of having sex that brings on your period, but rather the organ itself. Indeed, the contractions caused by the latter will trigger the period, and blood will be expelled thanks to the contractions.

Take a hot bath with essential oils

Last but not least, as you know, mood plays a major role in the menstrual cycle. So avoiding any form of stress or anxiety will help you to prevent your cycle from becoming unbalanced.
To relax, you can take a hot bath with essential oils. This will help you achieve a state of relaxation, and the heat can also help your period to arrive by stimulating blood flow. In any case, you should try to relax as much as possible, because focusing on the problem won't make your period come any faster.
If your period is taking too long to arrive, consult your GP or gynaecologist.

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