A nice glass of wine after a long day at work with your favorite comfort meal and show or popping open a bottle while you and the girls sit around discussing anything and everything for your weekly girls' night sounds like a wonderful way to bring in the evening. Even a nice glass at dinner for a date night with your lover sounds like a good time for wine. But did you know that slightly indulging could have more benefits than none? Maybe even during your menstrual cycle? Could a glass of wine be the solution to your period pain? It just might.
RELATED: Health Benefits of Red Wine
The Benefits Of Red Wine
All wines aren’t necessarily created equal. Some have higher alcohol percentages, some have more antioxidants than others, some are good, some are great, and some are terrible.
You May Also Like
No matter how you may view wine, it does have its benefits, especially red wine. Red wine has many benefits such as antioxidants that help prevent certain heart conditions and diseases.
Red wine is made up of polyphenols called resveratrol. Resveratrol has mixed reviews but some studies show that this type of polyphenol could be linked to lowering the risk of inflammation and blood clots.
Another benefit of red wine is that it helps with lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of cancer, depression and insulin resistance due to the many antioxidants it is made of.
You May Also Like
Red wine can also reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in women. In fact, it can also be a reliever for women living with endometriosis.
RELATED: Could a Little Wine at Mealtimes Cut Your Odds for Type 2 Diabetes?
How Red Wine Can Help With Endometriosis
As you’ve read before, red wine has many health benefits when it is consumed responsibly. Red wine can be especially beneficial to women living with endometriosis because of the antioxidants and resveratrol.
Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to the lining that grows in the uterus grows outside of the uterus and in other parts of the body. It causes chronic pain (cramping), infertility and irregular bleeding. To treat it doctors usually prescribe anti-inflammatory medication. The resveratrol found in red wine that comes from grapes (skin), can be an effective therapeutic agent. Since resveratrol has anti-inflammatory properties, a glass of red wine could help with the inflammation that endometriosis is triggered by.
Remember To Drink Responsibly
If you are living with endometriosis and want to try drinking a glass of wine to see if there will be some type of relief even in the slightest, then by all means go for it.
Having a glass or two of wine when you feel painful cramps could possibly help in the moment. The issue is when you overindulge.
Overindulging in wine can cause the opposite of what you want to happen. Too much wine can lead to dependency, depression, serious health complications and even worse, painful period cramps.
Having a glass of red wine once or twice a week while experiencing flare-ups is ideal and recommended. Drinking more than 4 times a week can cause the opposite of the relief you are looking for.
RELATED: Can A Glass Of Wine A Day Keep A Heart Attack Away?
The Best Red Wines For Your Period Pains
There are so many options of wine to choose from when deciding what to buy. For your health, the best types of red wines to drink are:
- Pinot Noir- the healthiest type of red wine with few calories and high resveratrol levels
- Merlot- high levels of resveratrol
- Malbec- high resveratrol levels and high levels of antioxidants
- Sagrantino- very high levels of antioxidants
When shopping for wine, read the nutritional facts on the back of the bottle thoroughly to see what the ingredients are. Make sure they have high levels of antioxidants. If red wine isn’t for you, then go to the roots of where wine comes from, grapes. Buy yourself some grapes both red and green and consume them instead. Wine is made from the skin and juice of grapes and that is where all of the antioxidants and resveratrol polyphenols in wine come from so eating grapes can be just as beneficial if not more. However, you decide to indulge and find aid in your pain, remember to do it responsibly and reach out for professional help as well.
