Ever wondered how long you've spent bleeding?
If you are someone who has periods, are you curious to know how many you've had in your lifetime? How many days you've spent bleeding?
According to Sarah Thomas and Charlotte Ellertson, 450 is the average number of periods over a lifetime. Writing in medical journal The Lancet over 25 years ago, they explained that we modern humans have far more periods than our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They only had 160. We get our periods earlier, have our first child later, have far fewer children, breastfeed for less time, and live longer.
I wondered how they arrived at 450, so I did my own rough back-of-the-envelope calculation. Using averages for first period, menopause, number of pregnancies, and cycle length, and making a few minor adjustments, I got 390. Multiplying that by the average number of days people spend bleeding (5) and I got 1,950. That's over FIVE YEARS the average person spends bleeding over their lifetime.
But as several people pointed out on social media, who's really average?! They were right of course. So I've made a calculator so you can work out your own numbers. Enjoy!
If you enjoyed playing with our calculator, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign. We're raising money to study the safety of menstrual cups and discs. You don't even need to spend any money. Just go watch Rebecca Watson's video about our campaign on You Tube. She's donating the add revenue to us!
