Menstruation/menarche
refers to vaginal bleeding that occurs at the end of a menstrual cycle. The
endometrial lining builds up throughout the course of every menstrual cycle and
is shed at the end, when pregnancy fails to occur. In case you wonder why menstrual
cycles are also called periods, they are called so to mean an "interval of
time" or a "repeated cycle of events", and this since 1822. Here
are 15 surprising facts you may not have known about menstruation.
1.
There are more than 5,000 euphemisms for menstruation around the world. These
are the most frequently used euphemisms for menstruation in English: Aunt
Flo/Aunt Flow/Aunt, Time of the month/TOM/That time of the month, on the
rags/rag/ragging, red tide/river, code red, monthly visitor, mother nature,
lady friend, bloody Mary, shark week. The French say "Les Anglais ont
debarqué", which translates to "The English have landed".
2.
Menstrual taboo can still be observed in certain parts of the world. In areas
around the Jhabua district in India, it is believed that menstruation is a
disease and not a normal biological process. As such, menstruating women are
not allowed to eat spicy foods, touch male members of their families, sleep on
beds and enter kitchens.
3.
You can get pregnant if you have sex during your period. This is especially
true for women with short menstrual cycles, as they may ovulate before their
period is over or within a few days after their period ends. Sperm can live in
a woman's body for up to three to five days, so unprotected sex during your
period could lead to conception.
4. Most
girls get their first period around age 12 but in the olden days (1800s), girls
would have their first period when aged 16 or 17. This change is due to
positive factors such as improved health and diet over the centuries, and
negative ones such as an increase in the prevalence of overweight kids, and
increased stress levels.
5.
An increase in sexual arousal during periods is not abnormal. Estrogen, one of
the hormones that increase sex drive begin their ascent with the onset of your
period. There is also a slight uptick in female testosterone levels. Both
contribute to increased libido during menstruation.
6.
The average female has their first period at the age of 12, and will have them
regularly until menopause, or about age 51. Menopause could be defined as the
cessation of menstruation. Some women experience early menopause, which is the
onset of menopause before 45. Others experience premature menopause or
premature ovarian insufficiency which occurs when menstruation stops before the
age of 40.
7.
A woman cannot menstruate if her fat levels are too low. If a woman's fat
levels drops below 8-12%, her period will abruptly end. Studies show that a
woman's body fat levels must account for 17% of her body weight for
menstruation to occur. Girls aged 18 must have a body fat content of at least
22% for their menstrual cycles to be regular.
8.
Menstrual fluid contains more than blood. The thick and gummy consistency of
menstrual discharge is a result of the shredded uterine tissue it contains.Half
of menstrual flow consists of blood, the other half contains cervical mucus,
vaginal secretions and endometrial tissue.
9.
It is normal to have irregular menstrual cycles until about the age of 18. It
usually takes a few years of menstruation for a regular pattern to set in.
Early menstrual cycles can be as short as 21 days or as long as 45. The
periods become regular around the age of 18.
10.
A woman's periods get worse - longer and heavier - during perimenopause. Perimenopause
is the period right before menopause. The average length of perimenopause is 4
years, but is as short as 10 months for some women, and as long as 10 years for
others. Perimenopause ends when a woman has gone 12 months without
menstruating.
11.
"Vicarious menstruation", an extremely rare medical condition, causes
the affected women on their periods to bleed from other body parts such
as their eyes, nose, ears, lungs, bladder, kidneys and skin.
12.
A woman's odds of contracting a sexually transmitted infection are highest
during her period because the vagina becomes less acidic and more alkaline
during menstruation, making it easier for microbes to survive and multiply in
your reproductive tract. For this reason, unprotected sex during periods is to
be avoided if a woman isn't sure of her partner's STI status. Also, your
partner can easily contract an STI from you at this phase of your cycle if you
have one, given that blood is a vehicle that transmits infections.
13.
In 2009, an Indonesian maid in Hong Kong added menstrual blood to her
employer's food in a bid to improve their strained relationship. She mixed the
blood in a pot of vegetables. In some southeast Asian cultures, menstrual blood
is believed to have special powers.
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