Periods, Myths and facts

Hi Everyone,
I Er. Ashu Verma Chaubey from India, through this blog, would like to put light on some common restrictions imposed on women during periods, the scientific reasons behind period practices that have been followed for generations, the myths that have come to be associated with them and the real logic behind following them.

Before I proceed further I would like to share experience of my first period. That day I felt as if I had contracted some terrible disease.

Something like an open secret but there was nobody to explain what was happening and why it was happening.I was in tenth grade then and that morning as I got up to get ready for my school and went to the washroom, I got terrified seeing blood flowing out along with urine. The first thought that came to my mind was that something terribly wrong had happened to me.

I immediately screamed and called my mother who asked me to relax, gave me some pieces of cloth to put inside my undergarments and get ready for school saying that it was all normal.Scared of asking any further questions, I did as directed and left for school but my face revealed my anxiety to one of my friends while I was standing quietly on one side of the stairs, lost in deep contemplation. She asked me the reason behind my worried and anxious look, to which I told her everything.

She said, "Oh five days problem, hota hai hota hai, ghabrao mat theek ho jayega (happens, don't worry, everything will be alright)". I felt a bit relaxed. Somehow those five days passed without any further discussion and at the end of five days I felt so relaxed as if I had passed some major exam in life. But the anxiety didn't end there. Because I had not been clarified about the whole science behind periods and that now I had to accept it as a part of my physical changes, hence the next month when it happened again I got all the more petrified. My mom again gave me some old torn clothes to use and I got ready and went to school. This time I gathered the courage to ask my friend, "Mujhe to vo phir se ho rahaa hai". Kuch aur problem to nahi jo mummy chipa rahi hai (I'm experiencing the same bleeding again. Hope it's not something serious that mom is hiding) to which she replied, "Are baba ye to har mahine sabke saath hota hai, baat samjho (dear this happens monthly with all of us, try to understand)".
So this was my first knowledge about perhaps the most important change in a woman's body.

And this is when I come from an educated background where most of the period myths aren't followed.
So what to talk about people who are uneducated and consider periods to be a taboo topic and something impure happening in a woman's body?

What would their girls know except acknowledging the fact that something wrong happens to them every month for which they are kind of outclassed from the society for these five days and are forced to live in seclusion and bear all the pain and related issues all by themselves and have to follow a certain set of rules and abide by them religiously.

And unfortunately, this is still going on in majority of households. Hence more light needs to be put on the real reasons behind periods and the real scientific logic behind following the customs that have been practiced for centuries and not just blindly abiding by them or associating them with religion.

On this note, I would like to shed light on the most common myths and restrictions that have been imposed on women in India for centuries.

Women in India aren't allowed to enter temples, touch idols or offer prayers during periods as they are considered to be impure during these days, especially the first three days.Whereas our ancient scriptures state that a woman during this time is so pure and full of energy that she can be compared to a living goddess and hence has the power to absorb the energy of the idol rendering the idol lifeless.See, what a contradiction between the scriptures and our mindsets.
But yes, many women report severe cramping and an increase in discomfort after attending prayer and chanting sessions. The Indian system of medicine, AYURVEDA, explains this in scientific terms as the contradictory flow of energy.

During periods a woman's energy moves downwards whereas during chanting and other such processes, the energy flows upwards. Hence during such sessions this creates an imbalance in the energy flow cycle in a woman's body leading to cramping and pain.

Another simple reason why women weren't allowed to take part in prayers and associated activities is that such activities consume a lot of energy and cause physical discomfort whereas due to blood loss and pain associated with periods a woman's body becomes weak and she needs rest, hence she shouldn't exert herself, rather take complete rest.

Also during ancient times sanitary napkins etc. weren't available so women had no option other than remaining confined to one place.

Quite logical were the reasons and still are, isn't it ?? 

Another custom that is still followed is that women aren't allowed to cook or touch sour eatables especially pickles as it is said that if a woman who is on her period touches food items her negative energy will flow into the food spoiling it. In this case, too our ancient texts explain that since cooking was another cumbersome job during the olden days with women having to cook for large families on chulhas(big permanent structures made of mud on which cooking was done using wood or coal as fuel) which was time and energy consuming so to prevent them from getting over exhausted while she was on her periods she was advised complete compulsory rest during these days.

Even we don't like working or cooking while we are on our periods, so weren't our ancestors logical and sensitive towards women while keeping them out of such tasks, which has now transformed into this myth ?

A highly respected spiritual leader conducted a research, in which she involved women having periods to prepare pickles and jams and got the samples tested in labs for months. And she proudly states that nothing happened. The pickles were as good as those made by women who weren't bleeding hence abolishing this myth. She goes to the extent of saying that if life or precisely males are all so pure then how come a woman who goes through this process resulting in birthing a new life can be termed impure. So what more do we need to argue about after this ?

Another important myth associated with periods, bars women from taking a bath during the first three days of their periods.
Now according to AYURVEDA, a heavy bath or a head bath with cold water is certainly not advisable because our body emanates heat during these days and a head bath will cool down our body thus interfering with the peripheral blood circulation. But a normal bath with warm water is advised to maintain vaginal and overall hygiene.
Also during ancient times there used to be common bathing and washing areas near rivers, ponds and lakes. Hence in the absence of separate toilets along with the non-availability of sanitary napkins, how would anyone expect a woman to go to these common areas for obvious physical reasons ?

Also to prevent the likelihood of infections that can occur especially during these days at such places, women remained confined to one place where she would rest and followed a strict regimen till her bleeding reduced and took a proper bath only after her periods finished but with modernisation and advanced drainage system, such issues stand irrelevant hence the reason behind following such practices stands invalid.

So friends, such logical were the reasons behind following these practices that have been wrongly interpreted over the centuries as an impurity of women.

But luckily today many religious and spiritual leaders too are working towards educating people regarding period myths and facts.

So let us all get together in this mission of making people understand, more so accept the scientific logic behind period-associated practices and not just follow them blindly.

Adopting something that benefits us isn't bad, be it age-old customs or modern-day philosophies but yes they have to be justified with logic.

Isn't it ????

What say ????