A quick run-through on some really surprising facts about being on your period or “on the rag” as they say.
There’s got to be at least a handful in here that you haven’t heard until now!

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Get this…
- Menstruating makes you hornier.
- It’s possible to get pregnant while on your period.
- The average amount of blood lost during a Time of Month is around three tablespoons.
- Prehistoric women only menstruated about 50 times over their lifetime in comparison to the modern woman experiencing about 450 periods in a lifetime.
- In total a woman will spend nearly ten years of her life menstruating.
- A woman will use 12,000 tampons in her lifetime.
- In the 1800s, girls didn’t get their first periods until age 16 or 17.
- You burn more fat when exercising while on your period.
- It’s commonly believed that a woman’s cycle is determined by the monthly phases of the moon.
- Frequent sex can lead to more regular cycles.
- It’s a biological fact that when you’re menstruating you become less attractive to men and when ovulating you’re more attractive.
- Stress can make a period more or less frequent.
- Women experience more brutal periods during the winter than the summer months.
- Science hasn’t yet proven that women who spend lots of time living/working together wind up synchronising their periods.
- Menstrual discharge contains more than blood.
- Your period can change your tone of voice.
- Elephants and humpback whales are the only other mammals that go through menopause like us.
- Your body mimics pregnancy symptoms in the days leading up to your period.
- Menstruating can make you think more like a male.
- In a very rare medical condition – “vicarious menstruation” – women on their period may also harmlessly bleed from their mouth, ears, lungs, nose, eyes, and skin.
This post originally appeared on Thought Catalog.