Female Friday
I snapped this picture last week on my way home from Body Blitz. Although I've lived in Toronto all my life, I love heading downtown and taking pictures of the CN Tower. I had a pretty low-key week, I found myself stocking up on Christmas decorations (I love a good sale), and finishing a couple of books that I have on the go: Essentialism & The Cheat Code. I hope you enjoy the links I put together this week - I may have had a mini-rant about male birth control. How womanly of me!
Here's what I'm enjoying this week:
The Difference Between Male and Female Birth Control / How many of your male partners would take birth control? My husband said it depended on the side effects. Fast forward to research coming out this week which state that the side effects of this injection that basically stops sperm from swimming causes mood swings, depression, pain at injection site and increased libido. Do some of those sound familiar to you? Women experience mood swings and depression with many hormonal forms of birth control - yet we still take it. The kicker: this study was stopped EARLY because of those side effects. Which begs the question: Why are these undesirable side effects okay for women to experience, but not men?
Male Infertility Test / Infertility isn't just thought to be a woman's problem anymore. A new test is entering the market and will look at signs of DNA methylation of the sperm - which may be indicative of aging, smoking and pollution. In the past, we thought that we're stuck with whatever genes we inherit from our mom and dad. However, now we know that our genes can change due to environmental influence - which is known as epigenetics.
Are you smarter on your period / When women are on their period, a particular part of their brain begins to grow. The hippocampus plays a part in short-term memory and decision-making! Have you noticed any cognitive changes around your period?
Those Chocolate Cravings are Real! / I'll be honest. I've always thought this was a myth. Mainly because I typically don't crave chocolate before my period. And this may be coincidental, but with Halloween starting off this week, I have been eating a piece of chocolate per day & making a hot chocolate (using cocoa powder, a bit of maple syrup and almond milk). But then my period started yesterday, and I finally admitted that maybe these cravings are a thing. As progesterone and estrogen increases, serotonin (a neurotransmitter that helps keep us happy) is suppressed - so we turn towards foods that make us happy!
BPA and Weight Gain / A pilot study showing that women who avoided products for 3 weeks containing BPA or in BPA-laden packaging, had less exposure in their bodies (via urine) and experienced weight loss! This is another facet into the weight loss paradigm - eat well, exercise, sleep and reduce your toxic load! All doable, right?