7 Period Myths You Need To Stop Believing

7 Period Myths You Need To Stop Believing



It’s not pretty. It’s sometimes painful. And we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that the first time was oh-so embarrassing. Maybe that’s why so many of us shy away from talking—and learning the truth—about our periods.

Time to come clean.

Just like your digestive system doesn’t need a cleanse, your reproductive one doesn’t either. “The most common misconception I hear from my patients is that a period is a healthy way for the body to ‘cleanse’ itself every month. This sounds lovely, in theory, but is false,” says Maria Sophocles, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn and the medical director of Women’s Healthcare of Princeton. Menstruation marks the end of a month-long routine in which the body grows a lining of uterine tissue to prepare to potentially host an embryo. In the absence of any fertilization, that extra tissue is unnecessary. Once the body realizes this, “hormone levels abruptly drop and the hormonal support to grow the tissue is shed in what clinicians call ‘withdrawal bleed,’” says Sophocles. Similar to donating those sweaters you never wear to Goodwill, think of the process as a way to get rid of extra layers that no longer serve a purpose.

Blowing through that box of tampons quicker than it took to binge-watch the latest Netflix season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia? That doesn’t have to be your destiny until menopause, says Sophocles. “Even if your mom or relatives have [them], heavy periods could be a sign of something awry, and they can be evaluated and treated.” Talk to your ob-gyn if you’re totally filling more than nine normal-sized pads or tampons a day.