Let’s face it: we don’t love when a guy asks us if we’re PMSing when we’re trying to (tearfully) talk about something important, but sometimes we ARE just hormonal, and that’s what’s behind what we’re thinking and feeling. . Here are some interesting things that you can actually attribute to your hormones and get away with it.
- Feeling extra sexy. Estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone all send messages in our bodies that have to do with our sex drive. Technically we’re biological baby making machines, so we tend to want more sex when we’re fertile than other times of the month.
- Eating an entire carton of ice cream. Or at least wanting to. When we don’t get enough exercise or sleep our leptin levels can get thrown off, and that hormone is one responsible for regulating our appetite. Plus, many women crave salt and sugar leading up to their period. Awesome.
- Your desperate need for girls night. Research says that spending time with other women releases oxytocin, so if we miss out on too much quality girl time, our stress levels can increase.
- Strong pain levels. The week before our periods, our pain receptors get more sensitive than normal which can make an average toe stub excruciating. Or a bikini waxing the worst idea you’ve ever had.
- Needing a day off from the gym. When we take the cardio a little too hard, it can increase levels of cortisol in our body, which creates stress. Too much cortisol can also mess with our menstrual cycle. When your gym buddy is pressuring you and you really don’t feel like you can hack the treadmill, switch to a calming yoga class instead.
- Allergies. Changing hormone levels before our period can affect our airways, making allergies way worse than normal.
- Crushing on a manly man. A gal in her fertile stage of the month is more likely to seek out male faces with highly masculine features. So if your usual dude isn’t doing it for you this week, it could be this simple explanation.
- Being clumsy. No one knows why exactly, but a lot of women mention to their doctors about how clumsy they get around period time. One possible explanation is that we retain more fluid which can throw off our balance.
- Feeling fat. Our bodies can retain up to five pounds of water if they’re so inclined to do so, so it’s not necessarily your imagination that your pants are extra snug before your period. Calcium supplements and avoiding excess salt are touted as help to prevent this.
- Having no clue what’s going on. Foggy brain is a common symptom of a hormonal imbalance, and it can make the smallest tasks feel near impossible. Cue reading the same email ten times because you got distracted part way through.
- Sleeping in and still being tired. There are a lot of possible reasons why you couldn’t get out of bed this morning (that bottle of merlot maybe), but sometimes it’s due to low progesterone levels that can make you toss and turn.
- Being bummed out about nothing. It’s not your imagination that an impending period can make everything feel worth crying over. Fluctuating hormones will do that to a girl.
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