10 Menstrual Period Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
Every month, your body prepares to get pregnant. Your ovaries release an egg. The egg travels down the fallopian tubes. If pregnancy doesn't occur, the egg is reabsorbed into the body. Levels of oestrogen and progesterone fall, and the womb lining comes away and leaves the body. That is your period! It starts on the first day of your last period and ends on the first day of your next period. Though the average cycle is 28 days long, anything between 21 and 45 days is considered normal and perfectly natural.
Despite what a carefree tampon commercial would have you believe, that time of the month can be uncomfortable, varied and complex. Here are some interesting facts about menstruation:
- You don’t bleed as much as you think you do.
Yes, on bad days it can feel like you are bleeding to death, but on average, women lose between a few tablespoons to about a cup each month, depending on their flow.
- You can get your period in your nose!
Okay, this is so rare, but it’s called ‘vicarious menstruation‘ and it involves bleeding from somewhere that isn’t your uterus. Women have bled from their eyes, noses, mouth, skin and even lungs during their periods, and it probably occurs because your blood capillaries all over your body soften during menstruation, and sometimes allow blood to come out.
- In the Middle Ages, people thought that red-haired people were conceived during a period!
Yep, people really did accept this as true. Oh, history.
- There is a Disney movie about your period.
In 1946, Walt Disney made an educational animated film called The Story of Menstruation. And it most likely is the first film to use the word “vagina.”
- Sometimes menstrual cramps can be as painful as early labor pain.
Yes, labor is way, way worse. But the worst menstrual cramps (the truly debilitating kind) have been compared to very early labor pain. It could just be some people's pain threshold, but it's not entirely unlikely.
- You sound changes during your period.
In a study published in the journal Ethology, psychologists asked three groups of guys to listen to the voice recordings of women who counted from one to five at four different points over their menstrual cycle. The men were then asked to guess which recordings were made while the women were on their period. After examining their answers, researchers found that the men were correct a significant amount of the time. This proves that your man is listening to you!
- Periods are more painful in the colder months.
Cold weather can also make your period last longer and be heavier. Another good reason to move to somewhere hot and nice!
- Menstrual synchrony
Scholars debate the existence of menstrual synchrony which is a theory that suggests that women who live in close proximity to each other develop synchronized periods. The concept was introduced in the 1970s and the scientific community has been divided ever since. There’s no solid evidence of menstrual synchrony at the moment.
- Your period has nothing to be ashamed of.
You are a perfectly functioning human while on your period, however mildly uncomfortable you may be. . You can dare to speak its name and do not need to cover in its shadow and make up cute, fluffy names to describe a normal bodily function that's so weirdly stigmatized in order to cope with the fact that this grosses everyone out for some reason! If you are a person who has their period, you've made peace with the fact that this is a thing that your body does, like sweating when you exercise or vomiting when you're sick.
- Having your period doesn’t make you a needy, illogical and sick person
The belief that every girl is rendered completely helpless like a baby bird while she's on her period is a completely ridiculous stereotype originating from patriarchal binary oppositions. Sure, some girls get a little bit needy, but no one becomes an infant again when they're menstruating. So maybe it is time to accept that femininity is not an one dimensional thing and you are not ruled by your uterus and your crazy hormones while having your period. No one's brain has lost its functionality because of a very natural bodily function - that's ridiculous.