In 21st century the average age for a woman to give birth slowly approaches 35 years, making contraception a particularly important subject. There are lots of couples using condoms, women taking birth control pills and those having IUD. But there are still many myths about contraception. Let us go through some of them and reveal the truth behind them.
1. Woman can not get pregnant during her first time.
Women can get pregnant even before they have their first menstruation. Ovulation happens approximately 15 days before menstruation; baby is usually conceived during this period (7 days through the cycle). Statistics show, that 20 per cent of the teenagers (ages before 16) who get pregnant conceive during their first sexual act, while over 40 percent of the pregnant teenagers (same age group) conceive during the first six months of their sexual life.
2. Woman can not get pregnant when she is breastfeeding.
This myth holds true under certain circumstances. “Contraception” takes place if there is a combination of the following characteristics: no menstruation during the early post-pregnancy period, abundant milk secretion, which is the sole source of nutrition for the infant. Nevertheless, the condition applies only for the first six months after the childbirth.
3. Periodically women need to stop taking birth control pills, since they are harmful to health.
“Rest” from the pills used to be practiced due to high content of hormones in them. Modern pills do not have this shortcoming. A woman will feel physical discomfort, have delayed menstrual cycle, and will need to turn to other means of contraception if she takes “rest” from her pills. In addition, modern birth control pills lower appetite, such that women who stop taking them usually tend to gain some weight. The advice is simple – consult a gynecologist.
4. Contraceptive pills can trigger cancer development.
Women started using contraceptive pills over forty years ago. Numerous studies deny connection between those pills and cancer. It should be noted that this type of medication is one of the most studied drug in the world. Scientific laboratories keep developing newer, more effective, and safer contraceptive pills, which contain less hormones.
According to the data presented by the Hispanic Health Center, when a woman takes those pills for the period of at least 4 years, she also lowers her risks of developing cancer by 40 per cent, and those who take them for 12 years, lower the risk by 40 per cent. The protective effect stays put for 15 years.
5. Make a schedule of your menstrual cycle and you will not need to protect yourself on the “safe” days.
Recent studies have shown that modern women have significant variations in their ovulation schedule. The reason resides in poor ecology, increase in stressful situations in daily life, and weaker immune system. In addition, let me remind you that sperm is capable of fertilization for up to seven days after release. Given those facts, you can no longer blindly trust the schedule.
Source of the image: healthofchildren.com.
