Did The Lockdown Mess With Our Monthly Visitor?
Have you ever heard of mood swings? Everyone can have them! Irrespective of gender or other social constructs. People generally tend to ignore what they feel, and it leads to mental health issues. This burning topic has been talked about by many in this pandemic situation. As people were locked down in their house for seven months, mental stress has taken a toll on everyone.
Though at first, the lockdown seemed like a fun holiday time, it caused a lot of stress and anxiety when the human body did not do what it was accustomed to doing. A report suggests that women missed their periods, felt more irritated and unhappy during their periods during the lockdown. The pandemic situation has caused a lot of mental issues for the menstruating population. But before speaking about the lockdown, let’s travel back in time when everything was normal.
Is Mental Health Important?
How many people ignore a person when they say they have “PMS” (Premenstrual syndrome)? People probably laugh it off and ask what PMS is. We should take these issues seriously. Premenstrual syndrome is a medical issue whose symptoms include, mood swings, anxiety, anger, sadness and irritability.
Anywhere between the cycles, there can be ups and downs as our dear hormone system goes for a roller coaster ride and gives us those mood swings. But one shouldn’t take them lightly. Physicians recommend that this should not be ignored, and it can be treated through proper check-ups and diet plan.
How Covid-19 Is Affecting Menstruation And Mental Health?
Coming back to the present scenario, Covid-19 has changed many of our habits: hand hygiene is necessary, donning masks is a necessity and ensuring physical distancing is inevitable. While many individuals had access to menstrual products during lockdown, some struggled to meet their ends meet. They did not even have the three basic things: food, shelter and clothing.
We all saw the news about the marginalized communities facing the wrath of this lockdown. Families walked for thousands of miles to reach their villages safely. How did the menstruating lot survive these harsh conditions? How did this impact their mental health?
It estimated that the fifth biggest killer of women in the world is ‘no access to menstrual hygiene products’. In an article by the quint, adolescent girls stranded due to the lockdown had to sleep on bare land during rains and rely on cloth and ash. They washed the cloth and reused it when the blood leaked. Surviving in such unhygienic conditions also worsens the overall health of an individual.
In another incident, a mother of three girls travelled through infinite highways and faced a lot of trouble. She was quoted saying “I can manage with cloth, but my daughter is finding it difficult as she has always used sanitary pads. We have to walk so much, and there is no privacy for us to change.” As they faced issues of procuring safe water, her daughter said, “We use one bottle of water to relieve ourselves behind the bushes. Washing the cloth is impossible as there is not enough water”.
One cannot even fathom the depth of grief these people have suffered. No privacy means that their dignity is also compromised. They do not have enough water to relieve themselves, forget about washing their clothes. The mental suffering of such individuals is something we cannot comprehend. No study has been conducted to report about the mental health of these individuals. But I am sure that if anybody researches, they are bound to get astonishing results!
Many people came out in support and gave out hygiene kits to the people who were walking on their dreadful journey. Volunteer groups came forward to distribute sanitary pads to the migrants. A campaign ‘We stand with her’, started by a group of teenagers, also helped women migrants in this situation.
Way Forward
If we look closely, menstruation and mental health are closely related. As menstruation is not a much-talked-about topic among the population, mental health during menstruation is not addressed adequately. We need to acknowledge and accept this fact. Only then, we will be able to empathize with the sufferings of the migrant workers who suffered hell and back during the lockdown.