How to Delay Periods Naturally - Some Techniques
There may be various reasons why you would want to delay your periods. Maybe a wedding to attend in a couple of days, or a vacation you were looking forward to. Or, it can be because of an important event that you don’t want Aunt Flo to ruin. Whatever the reason may be, you may not always want to opt for medicinal ways to make your periods come later than usual. There are a couple of natural ways that you may want to look into to achieve the same.
Do natural ways work?
There isn’t enough scientific evidence to back up most methods to skip periods naturally. While it may work on some, it may completely fail for others. The best advice is not to pin all your hopes into natural remedies for detaining menses. But, nevertheless, you can give some of these methods a try and see for yourself if they work for you.
How to Delay Periods Naturally at Home ?
The risk with using hormonal pills to delay your periods are the side effects they leave, despite being better at getting the job done. Natural remedies generally do not have too many side effects and the worse that can happen is that they won’t work. However, these are some of the remedies on how to delay your period?
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Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
Opinions are quite varied on this one. A 2013 study on seven women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome found that ACV restored cycles in four of them. Some researchers, however, believe that the acid content in the drink may delay periods, but there isn’t enough evidence to support either of these theories.
But, if you want to give it a try, have apple cider vinegar mixed with warm water about 10 to 12 days before your periods in an attempt to delay your menses. If not that, you have other health benefits of ACV that can be a good thing.
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Gelatin
This is an ancient Chinese hack that many women testify for, but there is no scientific evidence backing it up. It is said that if you mix gelatin powder with warm water and have it, you can delay your periods by at least a few hours. Repeating the process is said to be able to delay menstruation for up to a week.
It does have its side effects though, in the form of gastrointestinal issues and bloating. But try it anyway for emergency cases without overdoing it.
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Gram Lentils
There is no scientific evidence to support this and yet many sources have listed a recipe for powdered gram lentils mixed with a liquid to be a natural method to delay periods when consumed a few days before your periods.
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Lemon Juice
This, again, has no scientific proof that lemon juice helps in delaying periods. However, some researchers believe that the acidic content of lemon juice might succeed in pushing the menses back. Try drinking lemon juice squeezed into a glass of water before your periods to see if it works.
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Avoid spicy foods
Eating spicy foods is known to heat up the body and improve blood flow. Due to this, it is a popular belief that refraining from consuming spices like garlic, pepper, chilies, cinnamon, cloves etc. some days before menses can act as a deterrent.
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Uterine massage
Apart from relieving menstrual cramps, an oil massage on the stomach is also believed to be a natural method to delay periods. Try getting a professional massage and see if it works for you.
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Heavy Exercise
Among all the other methods, this is by far backed by the most scientific data. Female athletes are often known to suffer from secondary amenorrhea, where they lose their menses for prolonged periods of time, or simply skip a couple of periods erratically.
It is published in a research journal that approximately 50% of females who engage in heavy exercise regularly experience changes in their cycle, and 30% actually undergo a loss of periods.
The bottom line
Even though there isn’t enough evidence to back these natural methods, you can always give them a try and see if they work for you. If not anything, at least they won’t have any adverse side effects unless overdone!
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