Do Women Need Periods?

do women need periods

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.

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How Science Got It Wrong About Progesterone

Progesterone is important for women's health.

Progesterone has been both ignored and wrongly blamed for side effects it does not cause. How did that happen?

For one thing, progesterone was discovered shortly after estrogen. Thus missing the opportunity to be part of the tidy hormone dichotomy of “testosterone for men and estrogen for women.” Also, progesterone could not (at first) be made into an oral medication, so was replaced by progestins.

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The Secret Powers of Ovulation (It’s Not Just to Make a Baby)

benefits of ovulation

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.

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What Estrogen Does in Your 40s (and How Progesterone Can Help)

Estrogen rollercoaster of perimenopause

Night sweats, mood swings, and crazy heavy periods. Is this menopause already? And you’re only 42? No, menopause could still be a decade away. This is perimenopause or second puberty, which is the decade or so before your final period.

Perimenopause is different from menopause (or post-menopause), which is the life phase that begins one year after your final period.

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