J.B.

What is an irregular menstrual cycle?  Well, that kind of depends on who you ask, but the medical consensus seems to be that a “normal” menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, give or take seven days.  A cycle is considered to be irregular if it occurs more often than every 21 days or if bleeding goes on longer than 8 days.  Early or late periods, and missed periods are also considered to be irregular.

How common is an irregular menstrual cycle?  According to Dr. Amy Autry, Professor of Obstetrics-Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, “at least 30% of women have irregular periods during their childbearing years”.  A 2011 report published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism confirms that many women occasionally experience irregular periods all throughout their reproductive years.

But what causes irregular periods?  Well, like most things, there isn’t just one answer.  The menstrual cycle can be influenced by a number of factors.

J.B.

How often have you heard (or said) “they grow up so fast”?  It’s true.  Kids do grow up quickly and, in terms of the onset of menstruation, it’s speeding up.

According to Sandra Steingraber, the average menstruation onset age has been steadily lessening over the last number of decades.  90 years ago, the average age was 14; 50 years ago the average was 13-1/2 years old; these days it’s 12-1/2 years old.  And it is not unheard of for girls as young as 8 or 9 to get their period.  She claims that, furthermore, half of the girls in the United States now show signs of breast budding before their tenth birthday. 

The exact reasons for this have not been established.  It is held by some “experts” that lowered rates of disease and better nutrition are factors.  But others claim that endocrine-disruptive chemicals in food, drinking water and even the air along with hormonally active agents found in a vast array of consumer items such as hair tonics, pesticides, packaging materials and building products are affecting hormonal balance.  Still, others link it to obesity.

Kaitlyn Luckow

While the holidays are known for being a time of joy and cheer, oftentimes we can also feel a strong sense of sadness and loneliness. We can feel it because we miss family members, we can feel it because of the trauma dealing with family causes, or even just because there’s not as much sunlight during the day.

Whatever the reason, seasonal and holiday sadness is a very real thing and shouldn’t be pushed aside. It can be even more hostile towards individuals who already have a mental illness such as depression.

Although it may not be possible to avoid entirely, here are some ways that can help you survive seasonal sadness this holiday season:

Kaitlyn Luckow

Ever since I’ve started writing about menstruation, I’ve had a surprising amount of men reach out to me with questions and thoughts they have about periods and menstruation. I think it’s so important to open up this discussion to all genders, because everyone should be educated on menstruation, not just people who experience it.

This discussion is vital in order to erase misconceptions about menstruation and could help further education throughout the world. This mentality could erase negative mentalities and improve the health for women throughout the world.

I reached out to men throughout the world to see what they think about menstruation, addressed some misconceptions that they hold, and answered questions that were asked.

J.B.

If you’re like me, you love a good night’s sleep.  It’s refreshing and rejuvenating.  But, for many women, it’s often elusive.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “More than half of American women (60%) say they only get a good night’s sleep a few nights per week or less and 67% say they frequently experience a sleep problem.”

Sleep deprivation is not just a matter of feeling tired.  Sleeplessness can affect your ability to think clearly, it can make you irritable (as if bloating and cramps weren’t enough to make you cranky), and it can affect your health too.  Sufferers of chronic sleep deprivation risk high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

J.B

Image via Brook Lark

Do you suffer from the typical menstrual symptoms?  The bloating, the mood swings, the muscle aches, the fatigue, the cramps (and sometimes severe menstrual cramps)?  Are you convinced that whoever wrote the song “I Enjoy Being a Girl” must have been a man?

You’re not alone. 

But there are some natural, non-pharmaceutical things you can do to ease the symptoms and one of these is diet.   Of course, everyone is different, but there are foods that are generally regarded as being helpful in reducing menstrual symptoms and some foods that can make your symptoms worse.

Kaitlyn Luckow

Image source: Charles Deluvio

It’s always surprising to think about everything that we don’t know about our own bodies. We literally live in them every single day, but let’s be honest, we don’t know the ins and outs about how they work.

Honestly, when I was researching about ovaries for this post, I was so embarrassed about what I didn’t know. I had gone through the entirety of my life not knowing what was going on inside of my own body. And I know I’m not the only one.

I wanted to make sure that you weren’t left in the dark like I was for so long simply because I didn’t seek out the facts.

Here are some things that you may or may not have known about ovaries:

Kaitlyn Luckow

Image @rawpixel

You walk into your gynecologist appointment and they ask you how you’ve been feeling and immediately you say, “fine.”

However, in your head, you might be thinking, “What about telling them about how debilitating your cramps have been?; What about that weird discharge you’ve been having?; What about talking about how painful sex has been for you?”

But how many of us actually talk about these things?

Today is National Women’s Health Day and it’s the perfect time to remind you to take care of yourself. Honest care of yourself. So many of us go to the gynecologist and don’t actually share what we’re experiencing on a daily basis. Or even worse, some of us don’t schedule an appointment at all because we get too anxious even thinking about it.

Not only do we not get the help we need because of that, but we also could be putting ourselves in danger.

Your reproductive health should be your priority and you should not let embarrassment get in the way. Here are some ways that you can prepare to speak up during your next trip to the gynecologist:

By Kaitlyn Luckow

You might remember that day in school where the boys and the girls were separated and your recess time was infringed upon because you needed to have “that talk”. I’m going to go out on a limb here and probably guess that you don’t have fond memories about that day.

I would be surprised if you did. If you were in the girl group, you were told that you were going to bleed out every month forever and that you would have to do all of these things to keep yourself clean and you were probably going to be in pain. Joy.

And if you were a boy, well…chances are you didn’t hear about menstruation at all. Just whispers on the playground about something horrifying that women do every month.

This lack of education, almost solely relied on by rumors, has led to a detrimental misguidance when it comes to menstruation. There are many myths revolving around menstruation and these myths are exactly that—they’re not true.

Regardless, many people go into adolescence holding these myths as true, and many of these myths are held well-on into adulthood.

I talked to many individuals of all genders and asked them about period myths that they have believed in the past. Here are the most common answers and why these myths are in fact just that: