Is there a 'normal' menstrual cycle?

What's Up Docs?

BBC

Nature, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 663 Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken cut through the confusion around health and wellbeing.

In this episode, the Doctors turn their attention to the menstrual cycle. Menstrual health and periods are still surrounded by myths, misunderstandings and stigma. So what are we getting wrong? They're interested in understanding what the menstrual cycle is, the benefits it provides, the stigma that surrounds it, and the issues associated with menstrual products.

To find out, Chris and Xand sit down with Dr Chi Eziefula, Associate Professor in Global Health and Infection at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and an Honorary Consultant Physician. Her research focuses on menstruation and how it’s relevant to human rights and environmental sustainability, as well as to our health.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken Guest: Dr Chi Eziefula Producers: Maia Miller-Lewis and Jo Rowntree Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Editor: Kirsten Lass Researcher: Grace Revill Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable Social Media: Leon Gower Digital Lead: Richard Berry Composer: Phoebe McFarlane Sound Design: Ruth Rainey

At the BBC: Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's like going into an ice bath with your hands as the ice. In 2025, we were here for the entertainment. Ellis and John. Have you not considered just coffee, which is what I do? Sightract with Annie and Nick. Stevie Wonder, welcome. I bless you. Loyal Carnery is with us. I want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. Welcome to Uncloaked, Alan. Oh, thanks for having me, Ed.
0:24.5	The winner. is with us. I want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked.
0:21.1	Welcome to Uncloaked, Ireland.
0:22.8	Oh, thanks for having me, Ed.
0:24.5	The winner.
0:25.2	I know, still hasn't sunk in.
0:26.8	Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:33.2	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:37.3	Zandi, it's lovely to see you. Haven't seen you for a couple of days. What have you got for me? Has anything good to happen? So I was late this morning because my train was cancelled. I normally get the 703. I can feel my blood pressure skyrocketing. Anyway, I live near the train station, so I thought, right, I'm just going to go back home. And there's this thing that I've needed to do for a couple of weeks now that I haven't been getting to, which is we have a walnut tree, and it's full of green walnuts. And if you pick the walnuts now, you can pickle them, and we can have pickled walnuts. And our nickname for Rex, he's our one-year-old, is Mr. Pickles. And so I was like making pickles with Mr. Pickles. And so I picked all these green walnuts and I held him up in the tree to the ones I couldn't reach and he grabbed them. Like he understood what we would do. He got the brief. He took part. He got the brief sort of, you know, he likes to grab a thing. so he's just grabbing these things. So we filled a bowl with them. I'm going to pickle them tonight. Am I going to get a jar of pickled walnuts for my birthday? I think everyone's going to get pickled walnuts. But how great is that? And I felt rather than just seething on a platform and feeling angry and doing what I normally do, I'd sort of had this
1:45.0	gift of 45 minutes in the day. I did something great with it.
1:50.4	Hello everybody. It's lovely to be back in the studio again for another episode of What's
1:54.5	Up Docs? I'm Dr. Chris, and as always, I'm here with my twin brother. That's me, I'm Dr. Zand,
2:00.2	from understanding hormones to microplastics in our diet,
2:03.3	to the power of saying no, this is the podcast that deals with the health and well-being
2:06.7	issues that confront and confuse us all.
2:09.2	That's right, Zandi.
2:10.4	Even dealing with things like the stress of a commute and how to turn a delay into an advantage.
2:16.5	And we talk it through and we try and figure our way through some of the confusion.
2:21.2	Today we're focusing on the menstrual cycle.
2:23.6	It's fair to say there's a lot of confusion about menstrual health and periods.
2:26.7	There's a lot of stigma and a lot of shame around them too.
2:29.4	That's right.
	...

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