Who was the first woman to have her period in space? What is it like changing sanitary products while being weightless? And why doesn’t menstrual flow just float up into the body when gravity isn’t around?

These were some of the questions I had when I started researching female astronaut health. The human body goes through a lot of changes when in space. Not having gravity to constantly work against, it loses bone density and muscle mass. The cardiovascular system gets lazy and the body’s balance control mechanisms have to completely readapt themselves to find a new norm.

Therefore, I was surprised to learn that one system that doesn’t change at all is the female menstrual cycle. Studies have shown that women can have periods as normally in space as they do on Earth. What’s more, menstrual blood flow isn’t actually affected by the weightlessness we experience in space, so it doesn’t float back in – the body knows it needs to get rid of it.

The fact that women can get periods in space was once used as an argument that women shouldn’t be astronauts. However, we now know that periods don’t impair an astronaut’s ability. Nevertheless, it may be something that female astronauts simply don’t want to deal with.

A personal choice

Luckily, there are ways to stop women from having periods these days. But research studies have shown that there are certain groups of women who identify with their periods, feeling it is natural to have a monthly cycle, while others would be happy to never have a period again. Experts haven’t reached a consensus on whether to routinely recommend complete menstrual suppression, but the majority do suggest there are no long-term side effects to not bleeding.