Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
A survey of the benefits and side effects of hormonal birth control including natural alternatives for contraception and the treatment of period problems.
With the 2019 news that women don’t need pill bleeds came the assurance that “women don’t need periods.” But is that accurate?
It’s true that women don’t need monthly pill withdrawal bleeds because they’re not periods, but women do need (or at least benefit from) monthly natural menstrual cycles because that’s how women make the hormones estradiol and progesterone.
The ovarian hormones estradiol and progesterone are beneficial for general health. That means natural ovulatory menstrual cycles are beneficial because ovulation is how women make those hormones.
Almost all types of hormonal birth control switch off ovarian function and, therefore, switch off the ovarian hormones estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone. Here’s a bit more about each method.
Can hormonal birth control cause weight gain or impair metabolic health? If so, which types are more likely to do so?
The first thing to understand is that the ovarian hormones estradiol and progesterone tend to promote subcutaneous fat but reduce visceral fat, which is good because visceral fat is the bad fat tied to insulin resistance or metabolic dysfunction. The second thing is that hormonal birth control mostly switches off estradiol and progesterone.