The Future Of Periods: Menstruation Trends 2023

I’ve been writing trends posts for years now. Covering areas such as wellness, health, fitness, food, and beauty. Never once did I think that one day I’d be writing about menstruation trends 2023. I mean, we bleed, every month, we deal with it, life goes on, surely there’s not a lot that changes. Turns out however, that just like all those other things I’ve written about, menstruation and the way we manage our periods evolves and lo and behold all of a sudden we’ve got trends going on.

So, if you’re interested in finding out about the future of periods and my predictions for menstruation trends 2023, read on.

1. Pain Relief

There aren’t many women who manage to get through each month without experiencing some degree of menstrual cramps or period pains. And what do we do about it? Well, we pop some more ibuprofen and clutch onto a hot water bottle like our lives depend on it.

But if, like me, you’re not overly happy about popping pills too frequently, you’ll be pleased to learn that there are drug free alternatives out there. And 2023 looks set to offer a lot more variety and choices for our menstrual pain needs.

Livia and Ovira are just two examples of devices that are already out there to help alleviate period pains through the use of small electric pulses. Small pads, which are attached by wires to the device, are stuck onto the abdomen and you can then control the level of electric pulse that you want to send to the pads. These pulses help stimulate the nerves, which then stops them sending pain signals to the brain, and therefore reduces levels of period pain. They’re not cheap, but if it’s something you would use every month because you struggle to cope with the pain, then it’s a worthwhile investment.

At the cheaper end of the market are period heat patches. These are available online and are now also beginning to appear in high street pharmacies and even some larger supermarkets. Patches may vary slightly in appearance, but the concept is the same. As soon as the patch comes into contact with the air it begins to automatically heat up. So, by sticking it on your lower abdomen you direct all that lovely heat onto the area that’s causing you discomfort. It’s basically the same as using a hot water bottle, but way more practical, less faffy, and you can wear it under your clothes without anyone knowing.

If both of these things exist, when in years gone by there was nothing, just imagine what we could have available to us in the future to help with period pain management. Tampons or menstrual cups with in-built pain relief? Now, there’s a thought…

2. Mindful Menstruation

Power comes from knowing more about a subject. Therefore, the more we know about ourselves during each and every stage of our menstrual cycle the more empowered we become. Mindful menstruation is all about paying more attention. From logging how we feel each day, how we manage pain, the physical and mental changes we notice, changes in our vaginal discharge, right through to the period products we use, we want to know EVERYTHING!

What we’re only really just realising is that periods are about more than the week we bleed. There is so much more at play in the days leading up to it and the days that follow it. Our moods can fluctuate a lot; we may be more tearful, anxious, angry, impatient at certain points in our cycle. And our bodies go through subtle changes that can really impact us too. For example, we may be hungrier or crave certain types of food at particular times in the month. Or we may not be quite as on form when we exercise because our legs feel heavy like lead. Or perhaps our boobs are more tender or feel bigger for a few days.

Let’s not forget that it’s hormones at play here. And hormones are powerful things! Mindful menstruation helps us respect those hormones and allows us to cut ourselves some slack on the days we don’t feel quite ourselves. By knowing what’s going on we can essentially become advocates for ourselves, we learn to love our bodies more and to appreciate what they do for us, which is the most empowering ever.

Moving forwards, menstruation trends 2023 suggest that we will want to learn even more about our cycles, which leads us very nicely onto the next one of our trends.

3. Open Conversations

I was a 90s teenager. Back then, although we got the period chat at school, it was still very much taboo. The girls got taken off to the library, we were given a talk, probably a few free samples, and that was it. Better than nothing I grant you, but I remember walking away from that talk feeling as though it was still something to be ashamed of, that it was dirty, and that we shouldn’t talk about it with each other. Hey, one poor girl fainted and fell off her chair, such was the shock for her.

These days, all of us are much more open about talking about periods and menstrual health thank goodness. I started talking openly about periods to my 12 year old daughter as soon as I felt she could handle it and ahead of her being taught about it at school. And now that she has her period, it’s not something she’s frightened of, nor ashamed of, it’s all just a very matter of fact subject, which is exactly how it should be.

In 2023 I predict that the conversations are going to continue to be more open. That the subject of periods is no longer taboo, or embarrassing, or dirty in any way. It just is what it is – a natural process that happens to 50% of the population. Meaning for generations to come, hopefully their period journey will be a much nicer one than the generation of women before them.

4. Tween/Teen Sanitary Products

The average age for a girl to get her first period is 12, compared to girls in the 1960s who would get theirs at around 13-14 years of age. Puberty starts sooner, first periods start sooner, and so it’s important to have discussions about this a lot sooner too.

As a parent of a daughter who has not long started her period, one thing that is noticeably different to when I started my own period, is just how many sanitary products there are out there for girls now. I just had sanitary towels and tampons to choose from, but nowadays girls can pick from period pants, menstrual cups, and lots of different sustainable period products. However, the other thing I have noticed is that when it comes to the standard disposable sanitary towels, which let’s face it is an easy product to get to grips with when you first start, don’t always measure up for the younger girls. I know in an ideal world we should be encouraging them to use the sustainable, reusable products, and actually as a generation this is something that is very important to them too. However, as I have said, for the first few periods it’s all about practicality and ease of use, so there is still very much a market for disposable period products in my opinion.

Girls can get their period as young as 8. But the problem is there are very little sanitary towels that are small enough to fit inside their pants comfortably. Which is why I predict, or rather hope, that a menstruation trend for 2023 will be smaller sized sanitary products for teens and tweens.

Conclusion

The big take home from menstruation trends 2023 is that periods and period chat aren’t going anywhere, but then us girls knew that already! There’s a lot of positivity out there, and the female body and its intricate workings are gradually starting to be celebrated rather than being shamed. There’s still a long way to go, period poverty is still unfortunately a thing, but small changes lead to big changes and change is a coming.