By Gabrielle Lichterman
Dread your period week because of menstrual-related aches and fatigue? Hey, it’s not all bad! The onset of your period signals significant hormone changes that can make you happier and healthier. 
Here are 4 reasons you can look forward to your flow:
1. Your period means the end of annoying PMS!
There’s no better antidote to annoying premenstrual syndrome—and the moodiness, irritability, sleeplessness and other discomforts that come along with it—than getting your period. That’s because the start of menstruation signals that estrogen is rising, reversing the cause of your premenstrual woes: plunging estrogen. Even better? This hormone continues to rise all throughout your menstrual week, improving your mood, outlook and energy as it climbs! (Hint: Eating foods high in iron—such as beans, fortified cereal, spinach and tofu—or taking a daily multivitamin that contains iron can help boost your mood and energy even faster by replacing iron lost during menstruation.)
2. During your period week, the bathroom scale numbers go down!
The arrival of your period signals another significant hormone change: It means progesterone has now bottomed out. And that’s great news since this hormone was the culprit behind uncomfortable constipation and water retention in the second half of your cycle, which had you lugging around an extra pound or two and feeling puffy. This hormone was also the reason your breasts were so sore. Now, you’ll be able to jog and run up and down stairs without squealing in pain!
3. Your period week is a great time to get healthy!
Been wanting to launch a new exercise regimen? Eat less junk food? Or adopt another good-for-you habit? Your period week is a perfect time to start! Why? As your body’s level of estrogen climbs throughout this week, it’s boosting pep, reining in your appetite and cravings a bit, ratcheting up your motivation and creating other positive effects that make lifestyle changes far easier to stick to than if you started them during the second half of your cycle!
4. During your period week, your spatial skills soar!
Need to put together a 1000-piece bookshelf, figure out the directions to a certain destination or beat your high score at Tetris? You’ll excel at these and other tasks requiring spatial skills—the ability to picture and move objects around in your mind—during your period week, according to researchers from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. As the researchers explain, even though estrogen is on the rise, it’s still relatively low, which allows testosterone—a hormone that sharpens spatial skills—to exert a greater effect!
Gabrielle Lichterman is the founder of Hormonology® and creator of the Hormone Horoscope®. Visit HormoneHoroscope.com to learn more about how your hormones impact you during your menstrual week—and throughout your entire monthly cycle—and to get your free daily Hormone Horoscope!
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