Menstruation is a woman’s monthly blood flow. When you menstruate, your body sheds the lining of the uterus (womb).
Menstrual blood flows from the uterus through the small opening in the cervix and passes out of the body through the vagina.
Most menstrual periods last from 3 to 5 days. The term “period” in reference to menstruation dates as far back as 1822 and means an “interval of time” or a “repeated cycle of events.”
When periods (menstrual flow) come regularly, it is then referred to as the menstrual cycle. Having regular menstrual cycles is a sign that important parts of your body are working normally.
The menstrual cycle provides important body chemicals, called hormones, to keep you healthy. It also prepares your body for pregnancy each month. A cycle is counted from the first day of 1 period to the first day of the next period.
The average menstrual cycle is 28 days long. Cycles can range anywhere from 21 to 35 days in adults and from 21 to 45 days in young teens.
Talking about the menstrual flow has been played down by society that so many young ladies have been ignorant on the subject and left to find out about their bodies on their own.
Many girls don’t have a complete understanding of a woman’s reproductive system or what actually happens during the menstrual cycle. That can make the process seem even more confusing and complicating. But the truth is, menstrual cycles are part of our biology, just like the nervous system or the billions of cells that make up our bodies.
Smoking cigarettes can kill a woman’s eggs and cause menstrual periods to stop prematurely. I bet you didn’t know that. There’s much more you didn’t know.
Here are 17 other little known facts about the female ‘flow’ (menstruation cycle) – let’s see how much you knew:
1. Menstruating Girls Have Violent Tendencies
Recent studies reveal that girls tend to be violent when they are menstruating. One particular study of female inmates in a prison showed that there is a high percentage of violent conducts and behaviors in the days leading up to their period than there is after the period
2. Menstruation Will Take Almost 10 Years Of An Average Lady’s Life
This means that a woman will spend about 3,500 days of her life looking at the calendar. Didn’t think of that, right?
3. Menstruation Repels Men
A fine scent from a woman is capable of arousing a man by shooting up his testosterone levels. Foul smell has a way of killing a man’s sex drive, which happens during a menstrual cycle. Studies show that strippers make twice as much in tips when they’re ovulating than when they’re on their period.
4. Bleeding May Occur From Other Body Parts
There is a medical condition which make women discharge blood from other parts of their body besides their vagina during their period.
Although, it happens in very rare occasions and its cause remain unknown, it does exist. This medical condition is known as “vicarious menstruation.” Women with this condition may harmlessly bleed from their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, lungs, and skin when there menstruate.
5. You Don’t Just Lose Blood
Although it is popular believe that women discharge ‘blood’ during their menstruation, this is not the entire truth. And if you take a more careful look, you will find that this is not just blood; it is thicker and darker. That’s because the ‘blood’ that comes out during a menstrual flow is actually the lining of the uterus, a mixture of blood and tissue.
After each ‘flow’, the female body builds up the lining of your uterus in preparation for pregnancy. But if pregnancy does not occur, the thickened lining of the uterus is shed through the vagina. That is why you have the menstrual flow.
6. Not “Much Blood” Is Lost In The Flow
The average amount of blood lost during a menstrual phase is around three tablespoons. This includes blood clots. Any blood loss totaling a cup or more is absolutely abnormal and should cause serious concern because it could be the sign of a serious medical problem.
7. Menstruating Increases Your Sex Crave
The hormone progesterone is said to lower a woman’s libido. Yet while menstruating women produce less progesterone, which makes them hornier during this phase.
8. Civilization Has Affected The Menstrual Cycle
Women in Western cultures will experience about 450 periods over their lifetime. This is not what was obtainable in ancient times.
Western civilization can be blamed for the increase because prehistoric women only menstruate about 50 times over the course of their lives. And also, women in agrarian regions, would only menstruate about 150 times in their lifetime.
9. Your Menstrual Flow Can Affect Your Voice
One study published in the journal Ethology claimed that men who listened to recordings of women’s voices were generally able to tell which women were menstruating. One would assume that their tone while menstruating was slightly more menacing than normal.
10. Women Have Painful Flow During Cold Seasons
Periods tend to be heavier, more painful, and longer in the colder months. A period’s pain level, blood flow, and duration tend to be longer during the rainy and harmattan periods than during the heat.
11. Symptoms May Suggest The Woman Is Pregnant
In the days leading up menstruate, your body secretes hormones that cause irritability, feeling bloated, acne, and fluid retention – which are precisely the same symptoms one experiences during pregnancy.
12. Women Could ‘Take In’ While Menstruating
The possibility is low but it is possible anyway. Since sperm can stay alive inside the vagina for up to a week, taking in during the menstrual flow becomes understandable. In fact, the risk of pregnancy is highest when having sex during the end of one’s menstrual cycle – which is the beginning of the next one.
13. Bleeding May Not Be A Sign Of Menstruation
If you’re bleeding, that may be a sign of pregnancy rather than menstruation. This is entirely different from the general convention but it’s the fact.
During the early stages of pregnancy, most women often experience light blood flow or spotting due to a process known as “implantation bleeding.” So, that ‘blood’ between your legs may not be your menstrual flow after all, check it out!.
14. Women See Their Menstrual Flow At A Very Early Age
In the olden days, the average girl didn’t get her first menstrual flow until around the age of 16 or 17. But today, the age of 12 is an average launching pad for a girl and her period pads, and there are those who get theirs at a lot younger age. She will continue menstruating until around age 45.
This has been attributed to the fact that girls reach puberty earlier these days due to a combination of better nutrition and increased stress.
15. You Need Body Fat In Order To Menstruate
This is unbelievable but very true. Have you been wondering why your ‘flow’ stopped coming or is so little? Maybe, it’s because you are too skinny. If your body fat plummets below 8-12%, your period will abruptly cease, if it ever begins at all. Fat cells are correlated with a woman’s estrogen levels and are thus necessary in both menstruation and procreation.
16. Irregular Menstrual Flow Before Age 18 Is Normal
It usually takes girls a few years before their menstrual cycle settles into a regular pattern. Early menstrual cycles can be very short (21 days) or very long (45 days), but they usually even out around the age of 18.
17. Women Think More Like Men When They Menstruate
Lowered estrogen levels during menstruation may actually enhance a woman’s “male cognitive skills,” lending a temporary cognitive advantage in areas such as spatial thinking.
