- 2 days ago
On this episode of Fact Or Fiction, an OBGYN quizzes a group of people on periods. For each prompt she shares, these individuals need to decide if the statement is true or false. Press play to see how these folks do.
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ABOUT SERIES
In a world of “fake news” and cyber hacking, the world is in dire need of simpler truths. Fact Or Fiction taps experts in the field to quiz people on what is true and what is not in their field of expertise.
ABOUT REFINERY29
Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/
RELATED CONTENT
I Am A Hand Model For A Living
https://youtube.com/watch?v=63Iz9zBTEjc&
I Got A Septum Piercing For The First Time
https://youtube.com/watch?v=T5MPAK1SnEE
I Tried Being A Food Instagrammer That Makes Over $300,000
https://youtube.com/watch?v=8_LzqeMtpfM
SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29
Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29
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Follow Dr. Lisa on Instagram: https://instagram.com/drlisamasterson/
Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/
Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Fact or Fiction?
00:01One menstrual disorder makes you bleed from your eyes.
00:04Wow!
00:06I would be very shocked if that's true.
00:10Today, we'll be playing Fact or Fiction.
00:13And the topic is periods.
00:16I'm Dr. Lisa Masterson, and I'm an obstetrician and gynecologist.
00:20And I've been doing this for over 25 years.
00:23And we'll find out what they know about the topic,
00:26what they think about the subject, and we're just
00:28going to have fun.
00:30Such a good lesson, friends.
00:32I know you guys are all excited to be here today, right?
00:34Yes!
00:35So you ready to start the game?
00:36Yes!
00:37Okay.
00:37So today, we're going to be debunking a lot of period misconceptions.
00:41In general, you kind of want to know about what's going on with
00:4750% of the planet, so...
00:49I feel like I'm going to be surprised about how much I don't know.
00:55Yeah, I think I'll do well today because I am somebody that has
00:58had a period for 24 years.
01:01I personally consider myself an expert in periods.
01:05I'm going to ace it.
01:06I'm a woman, and I've been a woman my whole life, bleeding and all,
01:10so I know everything there is to know about periods.
01:13So let me explain some rules here.
01:15All right, so each question is going to have a fact or a fiction.
01:18And if you think it's a fact, then you're going to go to the blue side.
01:22Fiction is over here, okay?
01:24It'll be a lot of fun just to connect and talk about it and get the
01:27right information out there.
01:28First question.
01:30When people who menstruate spend a lot of time together,
01:32their periods sync up.
01:36So all of you think this is a true statement?
01:39Yes.
01:40And you say it's false?
01:42I think so, yeah.
01:47These guys have it.
01:48Yes!
01:49That's fiction, and almost everyone wants to believe it just because
01:53it has to do with buddy system and bonding.
01:56I was shocked.
01:59I was just on a trip with my fiancee, and my period showed up
02:02four days early unexpectedly when she had hers, and I was upset.
02:07This myth is so strong, it even has its own name.
02:10It's called the McClintock effect.
02:12You know, if you think about it, if somebody has a 28-day cycle
02:15and somebody has a longer cycle, if you live together for a year,
02:17at some point in time, your paths are going to cross.
02:19These brilliant scientists at Oxford University showed that
02:22really, actually, the longer you live together,
02:24the more it has a chance of diverging, instead of converging.
02:27I still do think, from my own personal experience,
02:31that my period lines up with other women's.
02:33We always want to be buddies, period buddies, and all that,
02:37because it makes us feel good, but it's actually not true.
02:40Second question.
02:41Your period can boost your sex drive.
02:44Fact or fiction?
02:46Any comments on why you think it's fact?
02:48I know how I feel before I get my period.
02:52And I feel hot.
02:55When animals are mating, I feel like they're always in this state of heat.
02:58Your body's, like, ready to kind of, like, work it out.
03:06It's actually fact.
03:09So it's fact because of how the hormones go during the cycle.
03:12Really, your sexual drive should be the highest during ovulation
03:15because of fertility.
03:16It's all hormonal.
03:17It's that rise in estrogen that starts to make you feel a little hot,
03:22as you said.
03:22Yeah.
03:23Yeah.
03:24Fact or fiction?
03:26Being in water can counteract your menstrual flow.
03:31This was a stumper for a lot of people.
03:33And it had to do with water pressure and gravitational forces.
03:40Water pressure does counteract gravity.
03:43So if you have that pressure counteracting it, then it's not going to flow.
03:47When the doctor mentioned that water could delay it, I'm thinking, like, great, you know,
03:51I can sit in it and it'll go away.
03:54But she said that as soon as you get out of the water, it'll return to normal.
03:58So I didn't know that.
03:59And that was great to learn.
04:00So this question gets asked a lot.
04:02Okay.
04:03Periods can cause shark attacks.
04:07I don't think that would be enough to draw a shark in, but...
04:10Like, that's the big myth is, like, sharks can smell, like, a drop of blood
04:14in, like, so many gallons of water, and it's not really true.
04:21You hit right on it.
04:24There's just not that much of it that would be enough to attract a shark.
04:28Periods do not cause shark attacks.
04:29This has been, like, I don't know, this myth has just gone on so long.
04:33It doesn't happen.
04:34Otherwise, when I went on a surf trip with my girlfriends,
04:36we'd have had sharks following us all the way home.
04:38So, no.
04:40Now, I'm going to throw a ringer in here.
04:42What about bears?
04:44What?
04:44Bears?
04:46So why do you think it's fiction?
04:48Because it was a joke in Anchorman.
04:50Oh.
04:51Oh.
04:51It's still blood.
04:52They're out here sniffing for food.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Pheromone.
04:56Yeah, maybe it's not even the blood.
05:02Yeah.
05:02Well, I'm sorry.
05:03They proved that it's not.
05:04Damn!
05:06In Yellowstone National Park, they did a study
05:08where they actually exposed some bears
05:10to tampons and garbage at the same time,
05:13and they really preferred the garbage over the menstrual blood.
05:16I found out that bears are, in fact, not attracted to menstrual blood,
05:19which I was surprised.
05:20Like, Yogi Bear is not after that.
05:23He's after the picnic baskets for real.
05:24No.
05:25One menstrual disorder makes you bleed from your eyes.
05:28Fact or fiction?
05:32On the fact side, why do you think that's true?
05:35Well, I know that sometimes it can mess with your blood pressure,
05:38and if you have high blood pressure, it could break your capillaries
05:41and your eyes, maybe.
05:42So I'm thinking maybe that could be part of it.
05:44Ooh, I like the train of thought.
05:45I would just be very shocked if that's true.
05:49It is shocking, and it is true.
05:52Wow!
05:54Wow!
05:56I had to actually look this up, and it's actually true.
05:59There are rare cases of it, but basically,
06:02the blood vessels can follow the same cyclic timing of your period
06:06because, you know, a lot of people don't realize estrogen
06:08acts on the vascular system.
06:09So if you have certain things that are predisposed to that,
06:12like in your nasal canal or in your eye,
06:14then they can follow that same cyclical pattern.
06:17And it's called vicarious menstruation.
06:19That is actually, I apologize for Mother Nature.
06:23That's crazy.
06:24That's a whole movie.
06:25You don't make sense.
06:25Right?
06:27I totally feel that there's a stigma around periods,
06:30especially around women talking about their periods in public
06:33or talking about them with non-vulva-owning people.
06:39It is natural.
06:40We shouldn't be, like, weirded out by it.
06:42It's just nature.
06:44This one's good.
06:46All right.
06:46Menstruation can change your voice.
06:48Fact or fiction.
06:51Menstruation can change your voice.
06:52My voice stays the same.
06:54I feel like hormones control your voice,
06:57and so I feel like it may shift a little.
06:59If it is, it's incredibly minor.
07:01But that means then it's changing all throughout the month,
07:04right?
07:05Because your hormones are fluctuating all the time.
07:10So you're right.
07:13And you're right because it just changes a little bit.
07:15Those hormones can affect us in so many different ways.
07:19They affect our teeth, our bones, our hair,
07:21and changes in our voices.
07:23And they're subtle.
07:24It gets a little higher pitched when you ovulate as well.
07:26I love this next one.
07:29All right.
07:29It's impossible to get pregnant when you're on your period.
07:34Fact or fiction.
07:35It's impossible to get...
07:37I'm here.
07:37Oh, my God.
07:39We all think it's possible.
07:43Well, you're right.
07:45Woo!
07:45You can still get pregnant on your period.
07:47It comes down to the timing of the cycle,
07:50depending on if your period's shorter, okay,
07:53or your cycles last longer.
07:54So you have a 21-day cycle and a seven-day period,
07:57and sperm can live up to five days.
08:00And so if you had intercourse at the end of that cycle,
08:02you just might overlap the ovulation time and get pregnant.
08:05I love that you all got that.
08:07Oh, my God.
08:08Didn't stump you on that one.
08:10Woo!
08:10There's a huge stigma around periods, around female bodies,
08:14and around female sexuality.
08:15It's kind of like one of those relics of masculinity
08:19where it's like, this is their business and not our business.
08:23But it shouldn't be a taboo subject for someone who will make a law about it,
08:28but you can't even talk about it.
08:30Like, it's kind of ridiculous.
08:33Period blood is dirty blood.
08:34I love this question because there are so many negative connotations to periods
08:39and so much outcasting of women.
08:41From what comes out, it seems like it's draining what's in there.
08:45I think you mentioned that there's bacteria in period blood earlier, so...
08:48But don't you have bacteria all over your body?
08:50I don't know.
08:51Then maybe we're all just really dirty.
08:53If it's just part of your natural biome, that's strange.
08:59So, fiction.
09:00Yes.
09:02And that actually comes from the Old Testament
09:04where it says that a woman's period blood can stop seeds from sprouting,
09:08cause plants to die, and make fruit fall off of trees.
09:12And I'll tell you, if I had something that powerful,
09:14I would bottle that mess up.
09:16It's shrouded in this like,
09:18well, we don't want to talk about it because it's icky.
09:19But honestly, I think once people kind of let that go
09:21and just aren't afraid to just either be dumb or not know,
09:25they'll have a better time just like learning.
09:27All right, all right, all right.
09:28So this is a good one.
09:29Changes in body weight can affect menstruation.
09:33I know from my research that when somebody has restrictive eating
09:38like bulimia and anorexia, they can start amenorrhea,
09:42which is where your body stops menstruating.
09:45I've actually noticed during times where I've lost weight
09:48that my cycle completely changed.
09:52I'm going to be vulnerable here and throw my hat in the ring.
09:54I actually don't know the answer.
09:58Hormones is what it's about.
09:59And basically, if you gain weight or you lose weight,
10:02you're going to do different things to your periods.
10:05If you have more fat on you,
10:06it's going to break down into going to more estrogen,
10:09and that's what's going to change your cycle.
10:10Vice versa, if you don't,
10:11you're not going to have enough around to make those hormones.
10:14So if you have too much estrogen around,
10:16so too much fat that breaks down into the estrogen,
10:18then you can also cause irregular periods
10:21and cause uterine cancer.
10:22So it's because the fat actually breaks down,
10:25can be broken down into hormones.
10:27I think it just challenges me a little more to learn.
10:31Everyone who menstruates gets their period every 28 days.
10:35There are definitely months where I've set periods.
10:41Actually, yes, the average is 28 days.
10:44That's why we have the 28 days thing.
10:45But it can be anything seven days or above or below.
10:49And so, yeah, 21 to even 45 can be a normal range.
10:53But your period is a vital sign.
10:55So you should keep track of it, use an app.
10:58If it is irregular, you should tell your doctor
11:00because it may be a sign of something else.
11:03There are other things that can make it be different timing,
11:05again, like birth control pills,
11:08IUDs and things like that,
11:09other disorders like polycystic ovarian disorder,
11:12structural things like uterine fibroids.
11:15Thinking back to when I'm 13, 14 years old
11:18and I would hide my tampons in my bag
11:21so afraid that the other girls
11:23who are also having their periods
11:25will see it slowly through years
11:27of learning about myself and speaking to other women.
11:31I've like truly learned to love my period
11:33and see it as the gift that it is,
11:35the gift to create life.
11:37And I love that.
11:39Fact or fiction?
11:40Most mammals menstruate.
11:43Most mammals menstruate?
11:45I feel like that's just like
11:47one of those evolutionary things.
11:48If we're considered mammals,
11:50I figure that other mammals would also
11:53share the same experience.
11:55All right.
11:55The question, it is tricky because it says most.
11:59It's about menstruation, not reproductivity,
12:01which I think is what threw a lot of them.
12:04There's not that many.
12:06There are some and I'll give them to you.
12:08So only higher primates,
12:10the elephant, shrew, bats,
12:13those are the ones that actually do that.
12:16Yes.
12:16Because if you think about it,
12:17if most did,
12:18there'd be a lot of menstruating things
12:20going around here.
12:21Oh my God!
12:23We're done!
12:26It's not having a period
12:28that defines you as a woman.
12:29There are women who have hysterectomies
12:31or women who don't have ovaries
12:33or to have them taken out for some reason
12:35and they are still women.
12:38So I'm hoping that, you know,
12:40it helps some transgender people
12:41who feel like, you know,
12:43maybe they don't have that experience.
12:46Thank you for watching Refinery29.
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