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Menstruation
We collect a lot of women’s health news, every weekday. This is where you’ll find everything we’ve rounded up and reported on menstruation. Want to get this news in your inbox, as soon as we find it? Sign up above.
Latest News Snippets: menstruation
The Science of Cravings, Chocolate, and Periods
Breaking down cravings during menstrual cycles, and how some small studies have shown the foods we crave may be driven more by culture than by biology.
What Period Blood Can Reveal About Women’s Health
A deep-dive on how menstrual blood can “unlock health secrets beyond the female reproductive system.”
Withdrawal Bleeding: It’s Not Your Period
When you are taking hormonal birth control and have your week of placebo pills, you aren’t technically getting a period then.
Should Smart Rings Really Be Used as Birth Control?
Scientific American looks at rising use of wearable tech like Oura rings and Apple watches to track periods.
Olympic Athletes Competing with Periods
Stories from athletes who have taken on competition while menstruating
Forty Percent of Women Report Working Through High Menstrual Pain
Shalene Gupta reminds us that unequal pay “is not the only way inequality manifests” among men and women in the workplace.
More on the Moons’ Menstruation
Examining the never-ending allure of menstruation being tied to the cycles of the moon.
California Tries to Ban PFAS from Tampons (Again)
California legislators are trying to once again ban “forever chemicals” known as PFAS from tampons.
The Path to Taking Menstrual Blood Seriously
A fascinating, in-depth podcast with Dr. Sara Naseri on her journey to developing the first FDA cleared diagnostic menstrual pad, Q-Pad.
If You’re Menstruating, You’re Always Maybe Four Weeks Pregnant (And Liable)
There is a “four week window where a person might not be pregnant yet—but according to how we measure weeks of pregnancy they already are.”
Menstruation Reshapes Your Brain. A Lot.
A deep dive from National Geographic on how menstruation ends up reshaping the brain. Every time it happens.
Menopause Approaching Can Make Your Period Longer and Weirder
Period tracker app Flo crunched the numbers from 19 million users and found as women got older their periods got “shorter and more variable.”
The Virtuous Cycle of Women’s Health Innovation
Brittany Barreto explains how Kegg, a device that helps women do kegel exercises and measures cervical mucus electrolytes to predict fertility, now has enough data to study this as a potential type of nonhormonal birth control.
FDA Approves First Menstrual Blood Health Test
The FDA approved a pad from Qvin that doubles as a way to test the blood. The pad includes a removable strip that can be sent to a lab for analysis.