femtech:brief #06: Menstrual Health
👋🏽👋🏽 Hello and welcome to the sixth edition of femtech:brief! This time we discuss the most common solutions that have come out of femtech, those related to cycle health. In fact the term femtech in itself was coined by Ida Tin, the founder of Clue a period tracker app.
Menstrual health is one area before thought as only involving bleeding and pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), however, it goes way beyond that. Modern period products which development has been accelerated by femtech are providing month-long solutions to help manage symptoms outside of pms and bleeding.
Period Poverty: what is it and why do we need to address it?
Period poverty is when those on low incomes can't afford, or access, suitable period products.
The complex crisis of period poverty is a problem for all of us. When Laura Strausfeld was a law student at Columbia University in New York in the 1990’s, she found out that tampons were taxed because they were considered to serve cosmetic rather than health purposes. She then started working toward period equity and, together with a team of lawyers she is fighting to reach it. At Period Equity, they work so that menstrual products are tax-exempt in all U.S. states and beyond, and periods do not hold anyone back.
An extra fee on women's menstrual hygiene products allows states to profit from menstruation — $120 million per year , according to Period Equity — while anyone who menstruates is unfairly paying the price.
No more pen and paper, behold period tracking apps
One of the main areas, if not the main, that femtech has revolutionized is period tracking. Over the past decade, there has been a surge of apps supporting period, fertility, and sexual health tracking that has changed the way people manage their lives, detect issues with their bodies, and even plan a pregnancy.
AllBodies, an online platform for sex and health education, has compiled a thorough review on period and fertility tracking apps that shows us just how varied the options are if we wished to find an app that is right for our lifestyle and can help us plan for the future.
Should you workout during your periods?
You should, but knowing when and how. Female hormones don't just impact reproduction, but also impact other aspects of physiology and performance. For instance, high levels of estrogen can make your body prioritize carbohydrates over fat loss, make you want to sleep more, and make you want to cool yourself off.
App of the week
Oky - Period tracking app co-created with girls, for girls.
"I want to know what to do when I get my first period and what changes to expect during puberty so I feel prepared, assured and confident to manage them.”
Oky is a mobile application that provides information about menstruation in fun, creative and positive ways. In an effort to reach the most girls, the app functions offline, takes little storage space on mobile devices, is designed to work on lower-end smartphones, is compatible with older software, and is entirely free, without advertisements. As a multi-country initiative — developed by UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, in a collaborative effort by Gender, WASH and T4D teams, and with support from both the UNICEF Innovation Fund and Accelerate to Scale teams.
👩🏽💼 Startups to look out for
The average woman has more than 400 periods in her lifetime.
You might remember your first cycle very well, but most women can expect to experience over 400 of them throughout their lives according to an article published in the scientific journal The Lancet. Let’s see some startups working in that space.
Wild.ai: Helps understand how female physiology impacts athletic performance and allows users to personalise their performance and training based on your own unique physiology.
Moody month :For tracking your daily health and wellness, The Moody Month app provides a convenient way to keep track of menstruation, mood swings, sleep patterns and more to supercharge your cycle.
Flo: Flo is the world’s leading one-stop health app for women during their entire reproductive life cycle: from first periods to menopause, from pregnancy to young mums.
It is worth investing some time in finding apps specifically designed to track your menstrual cycles and ovulation. Take a look at some period tracking apps available in the market: read here.
Growing numbers of people are becoming interested in their hormone cycles. Before this, nobody would have known about the benefits of tracking changes in hormones, but now they do. That's why period-focused products are gaining more attention than ever before, and women are participating in them more than ever before.
👁️ Bonus read
Periods are not always dependable. But are period trackers up to the challenge of predicting right?
💡 Fun fact
"The Story of Menstruation" is a 1946 10-minute American animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions.