We’re all familiar with the 4 vital signs that doctors and health professionals often talk about: body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate and blood pressure. Health experts use these signs to measure the body’s most basic functions, and get insight on how to best diagnose or help us. But what if there was another untapped resource that could help menstruating people understand even more about our bodies?
According to a unique new collaboration with 2 health experts and a global period product brand, menstruation could be considered the 5th vital sign and give women more power to know how to best take care of their bodies.
International women’s healthcare brand, INTIMINA, partners with HER USA and women’s hormone expert, Alisa Vitti to demystify what our bodies and menstrual cycles are telling us about our hormones and overall, our physical and mental health. By implementing do-it-yourself biology, the brands’ aim to amplify new intimate and self-care habits.
Being in tune with our bodies can help us understand the role of our hormones and how our awareness of their functioning will help us reach physical and mental harmony. Menstrual cycles, commonly known to gynecologists as the fifth vital sign, can help women understand their hormone health. According to Alisa Vitti, founder of modern hormone health care company FLO Living, menstrual blood color, consistency, flow, duration and more are all critical for detecting hormonal imbalances and communicating what’s going on inside the female body.
“Women’s cycles provide valuable hormonal biofeedback that each woman should be monitoring daily via an app like MyFLO and evaluating trends monthly to understand how her ratio of estrogen and progesterone is responding to the foods she is eating,” said Alisa Vitti in a press release.
“The color of her bleed is one key demonstration of this hormonal ratio. Every woman should check her bleed color monthly, understand what it means for her hormones, and take immediate action with food and supplement changes to optimize her cycle. Period problems, though common, are not normal, and as it is your 5th vital sign, you want to take immediate action to improve these symptoms like you would if you had a fever. The science is in – women aren’t destined to suffer monthly – that is now truly an outdated myth,” she added.
Menstrual cups, like INTIMINA’s revolutionary menstrual cup line, make it easier to assess important variables like output, consistency and color since the liquid is pooled in a container rather than absorbed like traditional menstrual products. As the only brand on the market to offer a comprehensive range of products with varied shapes and sizes, INTIMINA makes it effortless for women to find an option that works best for their individual anatomy.
“Menstrual cups afford women with many advantages including the ability to quantify flow, environmental and sustainability benefits, and huge cost savings over time,” says Dr. Alyssa Dweck, INTIMINA’s Sexual and Reproductive Health expert in the same press release.
“Additionally, since menstrual cups collect flow rather than absorb it, they may eliminate vaginal dryness, irritation or cramping in some women.”
Given the prevailing stigma around menstruation in many areas globally, while certain countries and states are working to eliminate issues like the “tampon tax” and make products more easily accessible, it is clear we need more health professionals working to equip people with information, and this is what the INTIMINA collab aims to do.
“Historically, speaking about menstrual health has been somewhat of a forbidden or taboo subject matter. Thankfully this is changing, in part due to educational efforts by media outlets and companies interested and heavily invested in the space like INTIMINA. More importantly, menstrual health can be thought of as a quick window into one’s general health, often referred to as a “vital sign” of sorts. It’s incredibly important for women to learn about what’s typical and what’s concerning as it relates to menstrual health in general and about their own individual habits starting at a young age,” said Dr. Alyssa Dweck in an email to us.
The team at Intimina told us that despite billions of people experience menstruation, it has historically been treated as something that shouldn’t be seen or talked about publicly, and that is a problem.
“If we look at popular culture, depictions of periods have ranged from wildly inaccurate and unsympathetic to being the subject of jokes and derision. By partnering with companies like HER USA, our goal to bring menstrual health conversations to the forefront get us a step closer in ending period stigma and normalizing women’s health topics in everyday life,” they said.
Intimina offers sustainable products in their range, which is another important aspect of the menstruation conversation, while also allowing more women to examine what is happening in their bodies, as Dr. Dweck explains:
“Menstrual cups collect flow rather than absorb it; this distinguishes them from pads and tampons. This allows for quantifying flow, learning more about flow characteristics such as color or smell and may eliminate dryness or irritation that some women experience with absorptive products. Menstrual cups and discs are environmentally friendly and make for less landfill since they are reusable for years when cared for properly. Many women enjoy freedom from menstrual leakage when cups are used properly. Finally, cost savings are notable month after month with reusable menstrual cups.”
INTIMINA prides themselves on their mission to provide comprehensive and accurate information for women at every stage of life. By leveraging their platforms such as INTIMINA Talks on YouTube, their blog, social media and the experts on their Medical Advisory Board, INTIMINA stands at the forefront of educating women about their bodies and intimate health. Day after day, INTIMINA provides women around the globe with a credible source to gather important health-based information.
“Social media is an amazing tool to drive campaigns such as this because it not only reaches audiences of different geographical backgrounds, but also a wide variety of age group, genders, lifestyles and so much more to shed light on women’s reproductive health topics / issues. It’s an avenue for women’s rights organizations to partner together on campaigns like Bio-Hacking Your Menstrual Cycle, so important initiatives are amplified on multiple platforms,” said the Intimina team.
We believe having control over your hormonal and overall reproductive health is a part of the larger conversation around bodily autonomy, and if menstruation is a tool to help us achieve this, we are all for it. Be sure to speak with your health provider about your health concerns regarding menstruation, and check out Intimina.com for more information.
