Alert: You Can Officially Cancel Your Period

Opt Out Of That Nonsense.

- Ashley Oerman

Aside from the monthly reassurance that you’re not knocked up, getting your period sucks. The hassle of carrying tampons, enduring painful cramps, and dealing with hormonal acne is enough to make any reasonable woman ask: “Can we not?” In fact, in a 2018 survey of 1,000 women by Pandia Health, a women’s telemedicine site, a majority of participants said they’d straight-up shut down their periods for good if they could do so safely. As it turns out, thanks to your never-not-magical birth-control pill, you can. Yes, it’s safe. Yes, you can do it as long as you want. Yes, a lot of your friends are already on board. Here’s how to catch up.

CRASH COURSE

Let’s take it back to health class: Your ovaries naturally produce progesterone and estrogen, hormones that help keep the lining of your uterus in place, making it a cushy spot for an embryo to chill, says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine. But if no sperm hook up with your eggs, your ovaries stop making those uterine-stabilizing chemicals and the lining sheds. Cue tampon being passed under stall door.