Menstrual Hygiene- It's time we break the Taboos!

My social media feed was suddenly filled with Menstruation and the taboos around it. It is then I realized there is a ‘Menstrual Hygiene day’ that is celebrated across the world on May 28^th. This day is celebrated to highlight the importance of Good menstrual hygiene management and was initiated in 2014. Though very late, (with probably a reason being our Calendars are already full celebrating every single thing) this was a reason to smile.

Finally, we hope to raise a generation of kids who don’t scourge Menstruation. This is hence a very welcome day. I also read through these feeds a lot of statistics on the need for using Sanitary napkins that are Eco-friendly. The stats are alarming on the time it takes for the disposal of Sanitary napkins, which is worse than that of Plastic. Educate early and help the girls embrace their menstruation with open arms, while equally keeping the environmental hazards of using a toxic sanitary pad is a double bonanza. How I wish I had this insight years ago and did not take this long to switch to more Eco-friendly ways.

While this is something huge, it is as well only a beginning. There should be more awareness among the teens and boys especially, to understand how a women’s body is. After all, the ability of bearing a child is still with the women. There is this hard reality of Girls in their teenage to women who are in their conceivable age and also women who are past menstruation, facing the threats of PCOS, PCOD and the many, which comes as a shocker due to the lack of awareness. If I am to go by statistics, one in twenty women do have PCOS. This is directly linked to many factors, the major of it being our change in lifestyle. A missed period is the only dominant sign that a girl/ women can finally realize about PCOS and in some cases, even a seemingly healthy women with regular cycle, as well has the same issue.

I know of many a families, whose young one misses a period and the poor thing is looked down. And then there are couples who are trying to conceive and then realize about PCOS which turns the table around and impacts the cordial relationship. While PCOS is now a ‘not so alarming’ normal, there is a lot of ground to cover starting with the women themselves unaware on the need to take care of themselves. Many a times, women do not think about how their body works, what is good for it and what’s not. It becomes extremely important for women to ‘Listen’ to their body than go through that instant weight loss diet regime or maintain a certain shape just to please others.

It is sure the need of the hour to educate- girls and boys at the young age how a women is, how beautiful & important menstruation is and that there is absolutely nothing wrong if you see a stained sheet or a women having a cycle issue. Teach them young, to never look down this as some kind of a disease but rather educate them on the importance of bleeding.

Cheers!
Me Myself :)