Recognizing that you have PMS is half the battle in getting to grips with the problem. If you have filled in a symptom chart for at least two months and you feel that your symptoms are due to PMS then there are several things you can do to help yourself before asking your doctor or a natural therapist for help.

The first thing is to take a hard, honest, look at your lifestyle. Do you eat a truly healthy diet? Do you take enough exercise? Do you get enough sleep? For most of us the answer to these questions is 'no', 'no' and 'no'.

Modem living demands a lot of our bodies. We rush out of the house without breakfast to catch a train or sit in a traffic jam to get to work. We spend all morning on the go with endless cups of coffee or tea to keep us going. Lunch might be a rushed snack before more hours sitting behind a desk.

Then it's back home for an evening spent putting children to bed, helping with homework, cooking the evening meal, catching up on the chores or slumping in front of the television before a restless night spent counting sheep or worrying about all the things you haven’t done.

You will have to change your lifestyle. But in the long term you will reap the benefits in terms of better health, fitness and relief from PMS.

There are three steps you can take on the path back to full health:

• eat a healthy diet
• take more exercise
• reduce your stress (this is so important that it deserves a chapter to itself)

Most of us know, deep down, that good health depends on a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. But the message bears repeating because it really does work. Thousands of PMS sufferers are reaping the benefits of a change of lifestyle. Not only is their general health better but they have cast off the shackles of the monthly PMS misery.

If you want to help yourself, these are safe, non-medical, actions that you can take to benefit your general health and your PMS.

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Women’s health