We made a TikTok at CRANEL HQ talking about why some people get sick before their period and it BLEW UP!
It’s crazy how little we know about our own bodies.
In any case, we thought it would be worthwhile putting pen to paper for the people who missed the TikTok.
As we know, our bodies are incredible things. The immune system is no exception. It plays a major role in protecting our bodies from harmful substances, germs and cell changes that could make us sick. You probably never notice your immune system until it fails, which manifests into you being sick.
So, what’s the deal with our immune systems failing before our period?
The good news is that it’s not actually failing – your body is suppressing your immunity on purpose!
But whyyyy?
Well, we talked about different hormonal changes in our bodies throughout our cycles in a previous article on period poops here.
At the very end of your follicular phase, your estrogen levels are at a peak helping to support the release of an egg. Once you go into luteal phase (release of the egg) the estrogen drops and progesterone begins to peak in preparation for your uterus to fertilise the egg, implant it and develop it.
Image courtesy of: Hello Clue
The fact that our bodies know to do this proves that women are truly the superior species 😉
It is well understood that estrogen impacts your immunity. Estrogen causes inflammation that fights off infections (which is why women are more resistant to certain diseases).
As above, a large function of estrogen is to fight the unknown. There have been studies suggesting that estrogen drops so as not to disrupt the fertilisation, implantation and development process of the egg (eg not to kill the sperm) – this has been somewhat studied to show that the low immune response is cyclical in women (eg happens every month) so that the body can prepare for pregnancy.
Why are we always going out of our way for men?
The unfortunate side effect for us who menstruate is that when estrogen is low, our bodies aren’t so great at fighting off infections – which is why you may not be feeling so great before your period! If you were an unfortunate one who caught COVID – did you notice that it was before your period?
Ughhhhh!
Now that your mind is blown – we’ll let you get back to your day!
Thanks for reading 😊
