9 shocking facts about your period we betcha didn't know _ yourtango

8/18/2019 9 SHOCKING Facts About Your Period We Betcha Didn't Know _ YourTango

1/19

25/03/2016 9 SHOCKING Facts About Your Period We Betcha Didn't Know | YourTango

http://www.yourtango.com/sexual-health-sex-facts-you-didnt-know-about-your-period-menstruation-menstrual-cycle

9 SHOCKING Facts About Your Period We Betcha

Didn't Know

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Alexandra Churchill (/users/allie-churchill)

Contributor

(/users/allie-churchill)

SEX (/SEX), SELF (/SELF)

April 10, 2015

Think you know your body? Think again.

As women, periods are something we deal with every month. However, like sex

(http://www.yourtango.com/sex), we still giggle/cringe/shy away from the idea of

talking about them openly. And oftentimes, we can't even call it for what it is. It's

surfing the crimson wave. Being on the rag. A visit from Aunt Flo. Mother Nature's

monthly gift. Or Shark Week (no, not that one).

(/)

(/search/)

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http://www.yourtango.com/sexual-health-sex-facts-you-didnt-know-about-your-period-menstruation-menstrual-cycle 2

Researchers discovered that being on your period actually makes you stupid

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2604245/Could-period-pain-make-STUPID-

Cramps-reduce-attention-span-make-women-perform-tests.html). Say what?

Pyschologists at the University Of Bath asked 52 adult women to complete a series of

computer-based tasks—with cramps AND without them. The results? The experiment

concluded that period pain reduces your cognitive function and attention span, making

you perform worse on tests! (I guess that explains why I flunked so many math examsin college—it was all just bad timing!)

Anyway, given the fact that there still seems to be so much we don't know about

menstruation (and that we're too uncomfortable as a culture to talk about it), we

thought we would dispel the mystery around our time of the month with these little-

known facts:

advertisement

1. Biologically speaking, men are LESS attracted to you on your period.

period fact

Sorry to break it to you, but it's not their fault! Studies have shown that a man's

testosterone levels are influenced by a woman's scent, particularly when she is

ovulating (that is, when she's at her peak of fertility). Scientists Saul Miller and Jon

Maner from Florida State University put this theory to the test. They asked malevolunteers to sniff-test T-shirts worn by women in various stages of their menstrual

cycles. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science

(https://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2010/miller.cfm), found that

when men smelled T-shirts worn by women who were ovulating, their testosterone

levels raised significantly compared to T-shirts by non-ovulating women. When asked,

the men also remarked that T-shirts worn by ovulating women smelled sweeter. What

does this mean? It means to book date night before or after Aunt Flo's monthly visit ...

but maybe not during.

2. Your period makes you friskier than usual.

period fact

advertisement

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2010/miller.cfmhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2604245/Could-period-pain-make-STUPID-Cramps-reduce-attention-span-make-women-perform-tests.html


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Progesterone—the hormone believed by scientists to lower your libido

(http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214836)—is at its lowest

during your time of the month. So while your first instinct might be to climb into your

old college sweatpants, science actually suggests that feeling the urge to "slip into

something more comfortable" (ahem, if you catch our drift) is not so strange at all.

3. Your period turns you into a shopoholic.

period fact

Credit card bills piling up suspiciously at the same time every month? Blame your

ovaries. Women are more likely to splurge on a shopping spree 10 days before their

periods begin. Professor Pine from the University of Hertfordshire surveyed nearly 500

women about their spending habits in correlation with their menstrual cycles

(http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214838). Almost two-thirds

of the women studied who were in the later stages of their menstrual cycle admitted

they had bought something on an impulse. The professor's explanation? Retail therapy.

Women go shopping to help deal with their PMS.

4. Your period, obviously, requires A LOT of tampons.

period fact

We each have our own preference when it comes to products, but about 70 percent of

all American women use tampons. It's estimated that on average, a woman will use

more than 11,000 tampons in her lifetime (http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214830). (Just think of how much money that adds up to in

disposable cotton?!)

5. Disney even made a movie about periods.

period fact

Hmm, I don't seem to recall this one. Back in 1946, Walt Disney released a 10-minute

educational film called The Story Of Menstruation (http://www.yourtango.com/love-

relationship-facts-trivia/214841). It's also believed by some to be the first use of theword "vagina (http://www.yourtango.com/2012152077/what-type-v-do-you-have)" on

film. Not exactly family (/taxonomy/term/33399) friendly, huh? (Have we ruined your

childhood yet?)

6. Your affects the way your voice sounds.

period fact

http://www.yourtango.com/taxonomy/term/33399http://www.yourtango.com/2012152077/what-type-v-do-you-havehttp://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214841http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214830http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214838http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214836


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This proves that your man is listening to you. In a study published in the journal

Ethology (http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214839),

psychologists asked three groups of guys to listen to the voice recordings of women

who counted from one to five—at four different points over their menstrual cycle. The

men were then asked to guess which recordings were made while the women were on

their period. After examining their answers, researchers Nathan Pipitone at Adams

State College and Gordon Gallup from SUNY-Albany, found that the men were correcta significant amount of the time. "Vocal production is closely tied to our biology,"

Pipitone said. "Cells from the larynx and vagina are very similar and show similar

hormone receptors."

7. A Harvard professor warned girls that their periods could be disrupted by college

education.

period fact

Apparently, people once believed that earning your degree would cause permanent

damage to your reproductive organs. In the early 20th century, Dr. Edward H. Clarke of

Harvard Medical School wrote a book called Sex In Education

(http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214850). In it, he suggested

that "higher education would cause a woman's uterus to atrophy." In other words, he

was asserting that if a young woman attended college, all the blood in her body would

be diverted from her uterus to stimulate her brain. Sounds like this guy slept through a

med lecture or two (or seven) himself.

8. People in The Middle Ages believed periods caused red hair.

period fact

Yep, people really did accept this as true. Redheads were thought to have been born if a

woman was menstruating at the time of conception. Oh, history.

9. Periods can make you bleed from OTHER parts of your body—not just your uterus.

period fact

This idea is a little scary. The medical condition "vicarious menstruation

(http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214853)" originally surfaced

around the 1800s and referred to bleeding from a surface other than the mucous

membrane of the uterine cavity that occurs at the time when normal menstruation

should take place. Women have reported bleeding from their eyes, ears, mouths, lungs,

noses and even skin.

http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214853http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214850http://www.yourtango.com/love-relationship-facts-trivia/214839


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9 shocking facts about your period we betcha didn't know _ yourtango

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