We are all here because somebody had a menstrual cycle.

So why do we know so little about it?

That should be enough to make us pause.

 Menstrual health has been overlooked and treated as a side issue for hundreds of years, especially in western society. This is having a significant impact on people’s health – and not just those with “women’s issues”.

This article outlines the importance of menstrual health, the intersections and impact, and how education, healthcare, research and policy is falling behind with the scale.

One of the biggest problems in menstrual health is that we have been taught to normalise too much.

We’ve been taught to believe that because something is common, it’s normal and we should accept it. 

I don’t agree.

Here’s a run down of four common menstrual health conditions, the data, their impact and how you can best support yourself.

You are not the same person every week, and that’s to be expected.

One of the biggest shifts that happens when you begin learning about your menstrual cycle is realising that you are not supposed to feel exactly the same all the time.

Learn all about the four phases, what’s happening in your body, how they interact and how you can better support yourself.

For a long time, we have been encouraged to think about health in separate categories.

Physical health sits in one box, mental health in another, hormones somewhere else entirely, and reproductive health is often treated as if it only matters in relation to fertility, pregnancy or contraception.

But bodies do not work in neat categories, and the science does back this up.

Menstrual health is still treated as niche, overly personal, or something we should just quietly manage around the edges of “real life”… but it’s central to it. Here’s my story and why I do this work.