Photo credit to houstonmethodist.org
They’re more than a nuisance. Menstrual cramps change women’s brains.
Cramps represent the contractions of the uterus during a woman’s period. They’re powerful enough to change the gray matter of her brain.
Gray matter is critical because it’s involved in emotional balance, in registering pain and interpreting the senses.
It is the case that those with chronic pain, over time, are more sensitive to it, making it worse.
This distress occurs every month unless we’re pregnant and it only stops when we reach menopause. The average woman spends fully 10 years of her life having a period.
That’s a great deal of time to be in pain and the perception of it, how it actually feels, worsens as she moves along in life.
When we have our periods and are in pain, there are differences in the way our brains behave. This cyclical pain in women is serious. If you or your daughter suffer, get help.
Claudia
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