5-Minute Workout: Relief from Cramps

Do these 5 moves as soon as pain strikes and you'll feel better fast.

From the editors of FITNESS magazine; Photos by Chris Fanning

Ease Period Cramps

While period cramps may send you cowering back under the covers, it's exercise, not bed rest, that will revive you the most. And yoga is particularly effective in easing your pain. "Yoga incorporates deep breathing, which helps relieve the effects of oxygen deprivation to the tissues, one of the main causes of cramps," says Suzanne Trupin, MD, a gynecologist at the Women's Health Practice in Champaign, Illinois. Here, how to find relief in just five minutes with these simple moves from Cyndi Lee, director of OM yoga in New York City.