All posts tagged: menstruation

You Can Usually Tell How Long Someone Will Live By The Age They Got Their Period, Says Study

You Can Usually Tell How Long Someone Will Live By The Age They Got Their Period, Says Study

Published by Jenni Sidey

It probably seems like forever ago that you might forget when you got your period, but think way back to that awful day that your monthly friend first arrived. Were you a late bloomer, or were you the first girl in your friend group to “become a woman”? The timeline of your body’s changes has always been carrying more information than anyone let on. Most of us were too busy being mortified about the whole experience to think twice about the timing, but researchers have been paying close attention, and the late bloomers among us might actually have reason to feel a little vindicated. While the age when you got your period was sure to affect your middle or high school experience, you may have never realized that it could have an impact on your health, too.  Getting your period early meant navigating locker rooms and sleepovers with a kind of secret weight no one really talked about, and getting it late meant watching everyone else seem to cross some invisible threshold while you waited. …

Experts warn over viral ‘period scooping’ trend that claims to shorten menstruation

Experts warn over viral ‘period scooping’ trend that claims to shorten menstruation

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Social media has a habit of turning health topics into viral trends. The latest example is “period scooping”, a term circulating widely on TikTok that promises a way to manage or even shorten menstruation. The idea sounds intriguing, even empowering. In reality, it reveals how much confusion still surrounds periods. The term “period scooping” is being used to describe several different practices. One involves consciously contracting pelvic floor muscles while on the toilet or in the shower to push out menstrual fluid that has collected in the vaginal canal. This is not new and it is not dangerous. Many people have discovered it themselves over time. But it does not shorten a period, it merely reduces its flow for a short while. Menstruation is the shedding of the womb lining, a process driven by hormonal changes. What happens in the vaginal …

Whoop launches a new blood test focused on women’s health

Whoop launches a new blood test focused on women’s health

Published by skeptic

Fitness wearable maker Whoop is launching a new panel focused on women’s health through its Whoop Labs blood testing service. The company is also adding a new feature to its app that surfaces information about hormonal changes during menstrual cycles. The startup said the panel includes 11 blood biomarkers that can give insights into aspects such as cycle regulation and hormonal transitions: Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH), Progesterone, Prolactin, and Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOAb), Free T4, Free T3, Leptin, Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin), Folate, Magnesium, and Phosphate (as Phosphorus). The company claims measuring these biomarkers will help users understand more about perimenopause, thyroid function, nutrient sufficiency, and bone metabolic resilience, when paired with data on activity, sleep, and recovery. Image Credits: Whoop The test will be available to users for purchase from next month. When Whoop launched its blood testing service in September 2025, it had over 350,000 people on the waitlist. Meanwhile, the Whoop apps’ new Hormonal Symptom Insights and Predictions feature creates a model of hormonal changes over menstrual cycles based on previous data. It uses …

How women are reinterpreting the menstrual taboos in Chinese Buddhism

How women are reinterpreting the menstrual taboos in Chinese Buddhism

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — In many religions and cultures, women who are menstruating or who just gave birth are not allowed to enter sacred sites, such as temples, or participate in religious rituals. This is because they are often seen as ritually impure. Early Christians cited menstruation as the reason for not allowing female deacons or priests. Modern Catholic teachings do not express this attitude directly, but some Catholic feminists argue that views of women’s blood pollution still influence the church’s position against women’s ordination. According to certain Hindu texts, menstruating women should be cut off from the rest of the household and avoid participating in ritual life. In Hinduism, as well as other religions and cultures, traditional taboos related to menstruation and childbirth are, however, no longer practiced widely. An extreme attitude toward the ritual pollution of menstruation and childbirth appears in a Chinese Buddhist text called the “Blood Bowl Scripture,” which I have studied in my research on East Asian Buddhism. This text, written in China by the 13th century, spread to Japan soon …