Are you PMS-ing or just sleep-deprived? 😴

Dear friend,

When dealing with cycle issues, often it’s best to start with the low-hanging fruit. When it comes to PMS, for example, sometimes you might have a true hormone imbalance requiring correction, and sometimes… you might just need to stop binging Netflix at an unreasonable hour (guilty!), and get yourself to bed earlier. That is one possible takeaway from a recent study on Korean teenagers that found a relationship between poor sleep and premenstrual syndrome, which we discussed in a new article this past Tuesday. 

But that wasn’t the only study we unpacked for you this week. In other news, we looked at the controversial 2018 ARRIVE trial on labor inductions and a brand-new Australian study that calls ARRIVE’s findings into question. If you’ve ever been low-risk in pregnancy, yet still pressured to induce labor (especially before your due date), you don’t want to miss this article. 

We still don’t know the exact chain of biological events that leads to labor starting, but we do know that a good proportion of women go into labor at night (which takes away any illusions one might have of being able to go into labor well-rested!). In our final new article from this past week, we looked into why you’re more likely to go into labor from the comfortable darkness of your bedroom at night than at any other time and place.

Action Call: Getting to bed earlier can be a great way to practice authentic self-care, which was the topic of our 7th episode from our very first season of The Natural Womanhood Podcast! Check it out if you missed it, and be sure to subscribe to The Natural Womanhood Podcast (or check your inbox) for our next episode, dropping on Monday: “Could body literacy end surrogacy? A conversation with Jennifer Lahl.” You won’t want to miss it! 

Best,
Grace

Grace Emily Stark
Editor-in-Chief
Natural Womanhood

Zzzs, please! Poor sleep and your teen’s PMS  You may already suspect that your teen needs more shut-eye each night. But did you know her poor sleep could be making her PMS symptoms worse? While sleep deprivation is a known risk factor for PMS and dysmenorrhea (that is, painful cramping or abdominal pain that can occur before or during your period) in adult women, its effect on adolescent girls is not as widely studied. A 2023 study conducted in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea showed a connection between poor sleep hygiene and increased premenstrual syndrome symptoms in teens.  Click here to read the full article.

Was the ARRIVE labor induction trial wrong? Over the last 30 years, labor induction rates have tripled. Why have they risen so rapidly, and has this increase been for the betterment of fetal and maternal health? In 2018, the ARRIVE trial seemed to suggest that labor induction for low-risk, first-time mothers at 39 weeks gestation was safer than waiting for labor to start on its own. But a 2024 study from Victoria, Australia published in the journal Birth Issues In Perinatal Care calls the ARRIVE trial’s findings into question.  Click here to read the full article.

Why labor often starts at night: The psychology of labor and birth In a previous article, I talked about how I prepared for labor the way I would prepare for a marathon–and the pitfalls I discovered on delivery-day with that particular method! In this article, I want to tell you everything I have since learned about the ideal birth environment, and how I now understand why my body balked at my running playlist during labor, craving instead a setting of quiet and calm.   Click here to read the full article.