During my informant’s year abroad in Jordan, her Jordanian host mother introduced her to a few herbal folk remedies including one with cinnamon. The informant had very bad cramps, and her host mother said that cinnamon would relieve her cramps and make her period come faster, which my informant found to be ‘completely true,’ and ever since then she’s used cinnamon for that very purpose.

Cinnamon has existed for centuries as an herbal remedy to various maladies, and is still in common use today. Often described as a ‘warming tonic,’ Cinnamon chases chills, dulls pain, and relaxes muscles, which are a few reasons for its soothing effect on menstrual cramps. Cinnamon has also been deemed a uterine stimulant, meaning that it stimulates the uterine muscles to contract, which can induce menstruation by causing the uterus to shed the uterine lining. This property of Cinnamon is also why it can be used in difficult deliveries due to inadequate contractions. Effectively a painkiller as well as a uterine stimulant, Cinnamon is essentially the herbal equivalent of many over-the-counter menstrual medications.