Real Talk

Lifestyle Hacks For Dealing With Periods

by Kevyn Gohu
March 6, 2025

Here are some period hacks that can help moms, daughters, or any woman get through their monthly period.

Although periods are not the same for all women, some patterns remain: the bleeding, the moodiness, cramps, and the bloating. But the degrees of just how bothersome they are depend on our lifestyle. The food we eat, the schedules we have, and sometimes — even the kind of people we surround ourselves with can affect just how annoying or crippling our periods get. So, here are some period hacks that we can easily add to our lifestyle:

Easy Period Hacks To Deal With Aunt Flo

1. Eat iron-rich food.

Especially if we lose a lot of blood during our period, eating iron-rich food replenishes the loss. Red blood cells have hemoglobin, which doesn’t just turn our blood red but transports oxygen too! It’s why we often feel tired or get pounding headaches during our period; there’s not enough oxygen fueling our bodies (Benson et. al, 2021; Parischa et. al, 2021). What some women do is they binge out on those eat-all-you-can Korean BBQs and eat a lot of meat. For vegetarians, spinach, sweet potato (kamote), peas, broccoli, and malunggay (moringga) boast a good amount of iron too!

However, it’s good also to check with the doctor if the family has a history of anemia or on haemochromatosis — an overload of iron (Gattermann et. al, 2021; Alvarenga, Brissot, and Santos, 2022). Too much iron will essentially “cook” the liver, leading to diabetes or organ failure.

2. Have one banana or chocolate a day.

Bananas are not just rich in potassium but magnesium too, which replenish whatever we lose during our periods. During our periods, we have way too much estrogen and our bodies can’t flush them out without Magnesium (Abdi, Amjadi, Zaheri, and Rahnemaei, 2021; Yaralizadeh, Nezamivand-Chegini, Najar, Abedi, 2021). This is also why we crave dark chocolate and bananas; the magnesium in them relieves the cramps and helps calm our brains when we’re stressed (Shalaby, Moawad, & Mostafa, 2023). While magnesium can’t completely eliminate the cramps, they’ll be much less annoying to deal with.

Some say that nuts are also good but do make sure that you’re not allergic to it before eating!

3. Menstrual pants are such a big help!

Especially if we’re in for an 8-hour work day, have a lifestyle that discourages from using the bathroom, or we just fear public bathrooms in general, menstrual pants handle heavy flows and limit our need to go to the bathroom. A lot of times, we rush to the bathroom, thinking, “Do I have a stain?” (“May tagos ba?”) With menstrual pants at least, we don’t really have to worry.

4. Keep a period kit in your bag.

Nothing is more terrifying than finding out we have our period and there’s no store that sells feminine hygiene items within inconspicuous, walking distance! So, while it adds a little weight to our bags, it’s better to be prepared. If we were to build a period kit, we’d usually put an extra underwear, two napkins (one for us and another maybe for our fellow lady who has a heavy day), a plastic bag to sit on so we don’t stain the chairs, feminine hygiene wipes, wet tissue, and dry tissue to stay clean.

5. A spare black pants, skirt, or dress in the car or bag.

It may be cumbersome to bring extra clothes but it’s like they say, “Fortune favors the prepared.” Imagine being in an event where the outfit is all white and Aunt Flo decides to visit that morning. The thing is, we already confirmed so we feel bad for cancelling last minute. So, bringing an extra thin black skirt or pants is one of those easy period hacks to avoid a fashion disaster. Or if better, a dress — it’s easier to fold and throw on.

6. Keep a period tracking app.

Nothing beats keeping a period tracker app. After all, once we have a good idea when it’ll happen, we’ll prepare before everything it hits. Some apps like the Period Calendar Period Tracker app are quite useful and don’t take too much space on the phone. In fact, it also tracks down other symptoms like severity of the cramps and the like.

Period Hacks To Help Ease The “Visit”

While these period hacks have been tried and tested, more severe cases may not be easily hacked. Periods can worsen depending on our over-all health. Women who have a family history of hormone-based diseases may suffer worse symptoms than others. Then, there’s also moms whose over-all health may have changed only after they’ve had their baby. But when that happens, best consult the OB-Gyne. Nothing is more frustrating than letting our emotions run wild and having someone just dismissing it by saying it’s because of our period.

References

Abdi, F., Amjadi, M. A., Zaheri, F., & Rahnemaei, F. A. (2021). Role of vitamin D and calcium in the relief of primary dysmenorrhea: a systematic review. Obstetrics & gynecology science, 64(1), 13-26.

Alvarenga, A. M., Brissot, P., & Santos, P. C. J. L. (2022). Haemochromatosis revisited. World journal of hepatology, 14(11), 1931.

Benson, C. S., Shah, A., Stanworth, S. J., Frise, C. J., Spiby, H., Lax, S. J., Murray, J., & Klein, A. A. (2021). The effect of iron deficiency and anaemia on women’s health. Anaesthesia, 76, 84-95.

Gattermann, N., Muckenthaler, M. U., Kulozik, A. E., Metzgeroth, G., & Hastka, J. (2021). The evaluation of iron deficiency and iron overload. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 118(49), 847.

Pasricha, S. R., Tye-Din, J., Muckenthaler, M. U., & Swinkels, D. W. (2021). Iron deficiency. The Lancet, 397(10270), 233-248.

Shalaby, A., Moawad, O. A., & Mostafa, M. Y. (2023). Manufacture and Evaluation of Novel Chocolate for Girls’ Dysmenorrhea. Journal of Food and Dairy Sciences, 14(3), 63-72.

Yaralizadeh, M., Nezamivand-Chegini, S., Najar, S., Namjoyan, F., & Abedi, P. (2021). Effectiveness of magnesium on menstrual symptoms among dysmenorrheal college students: a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Women’s Health and Reproduction Sciences, 11(3), 1-7.