There’s outrage among women in a Kolkata-based club on “allowing” swimming during periods. Here’s why you don’t have to stay off the pool during periods.

I am 40. My periods have never been a reason for me to pause anything I have wanted to do, including training intensively in martial arts, in a place which has no separate toilets for women and no disposing bins. I swim. I discovered that the benefits of swimming during periods were much greater than being at home and rolling around in the bed with stabbing cramps. During my periods I swim with sanitary protection of my choice. The choice is irrelevant.

I keep myself up to date with the new arrivals in products for sporty women. A quick search on the internet and one might discover the array of choices one has these days to be able to play, swim or do anything without much discomfort. However, discomfort lies inside the minds of some people who are circulating a petition to stop women from swimming during their periods, in the club in Kolkata that I swim in regularly. And no, the petitioners are not men, they are women! And yesterday I got burnt by collective glares as I tried to explain how swimming is possible even while on periods.

Many years back, I was uncomfortable with idea of getting into water during my periods because I was unsure what may happen. Then I started looking for answers. Here is what I found:

Is it OK to swim during periods?

Yes absolutely, in fact it does good to relieve cramps and other aching muscles during this time. Health websites like verywellheath and any other health wellness site or magazine will tell you that swimming during periods releases endorphins which act as natural pain killers.

Is it hygienic to swim during periods? Will there be a bloody trail when you swim during periods? Does sanitary protection work while swimming? Can a sanitary pad be used? Will it disintegrate in water?

There is nothing unhygienic about swimming during periods if you are aware how to. And NO, there will be no blood outside your body while swimming. Articles from TheHealthSite, Cosmopolitan, Female First etc direct you step by step through the common fears of hygiene of swimming during periods.

They explain that the best options while swimming would be to use tampons or menstrual cups which stay inside the body and therefore raise no questions about inflicting unhygienic conditions on others in the water.  Those who are used to sanitary pads need not worry if they use a fresh pad before entering water. No, pads do not disintegrate or melt away when drenched in such short sessions. Periods do not stop under water but while you swim, the counter-pressure of the water stops blood from flowing out, and using any sanitary protection takes care of the change of pressure in case you cough or sneeze, or at the time you get out of water. Swimming even with cloth pads allows you 20-30 minutes before the normal flow resumes.

Helloclue is available on Google Play as an app just like Flo which tracks your period cycles and analyses your health with the symptoms and activity during that time. I personally use Flo which is pretty accurate. However Helloclue provides you with more health articles and answers to queries which may worry you about your periods.

Wikihow explains step by step of “how to swim during periods” with illustrations.

However, if you still are afraid, use period panties (with or without sanitary protection depending on your flow). They are the latest gift to women in active sports. They are absorbent and leak-proof.

What are period panties and how do they work? Are they leakproof even under water?

Buzzfeed provides firsthand experience of using THINX period panties which do not need extra sanitary protection.

Hygiene & you has worked out the indigenous period panty by SOCH which can be used with or without extra protection. Here’s a video that explains how it works.

Another site provides a very detailed explanation of the science behind period panties. THINX panties work with multiple super thin layers of super absorbent and coated fabrics which prevent spilling. Menstrual cups and period panties are available on all leading online stores.

Choose and be sensible with usage and disposal and you can do anything if you have the will and strength. But ordering women to stay at home is the most idiotic thing one can think of. I hope that the petition in the Kolkata-based club — to stop women from swimming during their periods — gets rejected. The club authorities haven’t taken a decision on this yet.

 

Cover photograph representational.