Us women face various natural processes throughout our life, such as menstruation, puberty, childbirth and many more. But puberty and menstrual cycles are the most crucial periods of our lives due to various myths and lack of awareness that exist in our Indian society. Sometimes, we also end up neglecting psychosomatic effects.
It is not easy to adopt and accept all the changes that our bodies go through during our adolescence. Here, I would like to share my own experience when I entered this phase. I was scared about and uncomfortable with the new changes that were happening inside me. It was quite a disturbing period; I was not aware that I’d have to face this part of growing up in my life. As my mom never told me about these changes during puberty in advance, it became a very embarrassing situation for me.
When I experienced my first menstrual cycle, I didn’t tell my mom due to my hesitation. Though I shared this with my elder sister, she did not understand my anguish, and told my mom. My mom then made everything as easy as it was possible, and I felt comfortable. But I realised after a time that we need to be made aware of menstruation before we reach puberty and provide a very supporting and healthy environment when we reach this stage.
However, in present times, we truly need to spread awareness and bring this issue to the forefront, so that people who are not able to understand the basic, yet essential, information regarding periods and other related issues can get the information and be well-equipped. Various health problems due to lack of hygiene have emerged because of making menstruation a social taboo. Some very common disorders can be seen among females, which are mentioned below.
- Heavy menstrual bleeding: This kind of bleeding is faced by almost a fifth of all menstruating women. Because of heavy flow, they are not able to complete even daily chores. The reason for this problem is often hormonal imbalance.
- Amenorrhea: This issue happens in the endocrine system, which regulates hormones. Sometimes, underweight females also experience this health problem.
- Dysmenorrhea: Pain during periods is very common, but when it becomes unbearable, it is called dysmenorrhea, which is caused by uterine contractions.
- Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): In this syndrome, women suffer mentally as well as physically. Over 40% women are a victim to this problem.
- Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder is the extreme condition of PMS. Its symptoms include mood swings and irritability.
I am just wrapping up my experience with some suggestions for governments, as well as parents and school authorities.
What Parents Can Do When Their Child Menstruates
Being a parent of a teen, one needs to be aware of every minute detail regarding their child’s menstruation cycle. First of all, we should not treat girls as pariahs during periods. We must realise that this virtue is what enables women to bring a new life on Earth. They must be cared for with a lot of affection by every member of the family.
- You must be updated yourselves with the scientific knowledge of this natural process by reading and watching about this topic.
- Be open and courteous to your daughter so that she can share all her experiences without any hesitation.
- Train her to use absorbent in the form of tampon, menstruation cup and pads.
- Give them some medication or other solutions like a hot drink to make them feel at ease.
What Schools Can Do For Menstruating Girls
- It is appreciable if sanitary napkins are provided in schools to keep infection at bay. Free distribution of pads in schools is a praiseworthy step towards girls’ health and hygiene.
- Teachers must be cooperative and kind towards understand the situation of girls when they’re menstruating. Special training sessions should be organised and teachers must regularly provide counselling to them.
- One period of half an hour can be added as physical education for girls and boys, in which they must be educated via counselling session. Boys must also understand the problem of their classmates and friends, and help them feel comfortable during this new phase of their life.
- Good quality disposal bins must be maintained in school premises, and most importantly, disposal of all absorbents in an environment-friendly manner must be practiced, such as burying them deep or using them in compositing.
What Governments Can Do For Menstruators
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has introduced a scheme for promoting menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls in rural areas in the age group of 10-19 years.
The major objectives of the scheme are:
- To increase awareness among adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene
- To increase access to and use of high-quality sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in rural areas
- To ensure safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environment-friendly manner.
In order to fulfil these objectives, governments can take the following steps:
- The Government must initiate awareness programmes on the ground level so young girls can understand this natural process in a very light and bright way.
- They need to provide financial support to enhance all these policies on menstruating in all organisations.
- Implementation of all these policies can take speed only when a bench of authorities monitors the progress of all rules.
- A separate committee must be established to meet deadlines on policy implementation, and share and listen to the concerns of all organisations, making access of materials such as disposal bins, good quality sanitary pads and counselling session available.
- Emphasis on awareness of issues around menstruation should be given in rural areas, where many girls don’t go to schools. Governments must reach out to them and provide them with basic care during their menstrual cycle.
All these recommendation and suggestions can play a vital role in facing all challenges that are faced by menstruating girls, and their life can transform into an enjoyable ride.