Apple Highlights Women's Health Study Data to Help 'Destigmatize Menstruation'

[MacRumors]

In 2019, Apple partnered with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to launch a Women's Health Study through its Research app on the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple today highlighted preliminary data from the study, offering insights on women and their menstrual symptoms. Among the first 10,000 participants to enroll in the study and respond to a demographics survey, the most frequently tracked symptoms were abdominal cramps, bloating, and tiredness, all of which were experienced by more than 60 percent of participants who logged symptoms, according to Apple's press release.

More than half of the participants who logged symptoms reported acne and headaches, based on the preliminary findings. Some less widely recognized symptoms, like diarrhea and sleep changes, were tracked by 37 percent of participants logging symptoms.

Apple said the preliminary data from the Women's Health Study "highlights how large-scale, longitudinal research on menstruation can help advance the science around women's health and destigmatize menstruation."

"These findings take us a step further in validating and destigmatizing period symptoms," said Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple's vice president of Health. "Harvard Chan researchers are leaders in the field on this critically important subject, and we couldn't be more proud to support and help scale their efforts through the Research app."

Apple said the Women's Health Study aims to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles and how they relate to various health conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), infertility, and menopausal transition. Participants must be at least 18 years old (at least 19 years old in Alabama and Nebraska and at least 21 years old in Puerto Rico) and have menstruated at least once in their life.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Women's Health Study Data to Help 'Destigmatize Menstruation'

 

[Darth Tulhu]

I was not aware menstrual cycles needed destigmatization!

As a husband of 23 years and a girl's father, this is good news and I'm glad Apple is taking an interest in women's (and actually, everyone's) health.

 

[nvmls]

'Destigmatize Menstruation'​

what the..?!

First world issues?

 

[mansplains]

I just wish I could remove the cycle tracking app from my watch since I'll never be able to menstruate.

It's weird that it's enabled always, and that I have to see the women's health study that I can't sign up for because it asks my gender. Is gender real or not?

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

I feel like Cycle Tracking is a lot so I’m glad I’m not a female.

 

[CrashSpyroXP]

I was not aware menstrual cycles needed destigmatization!

As a husband of 23 years and a girl's father, this is good news and I'm glad Apple is taking an interest in women's (and actually, everyone's) health.

Anything that's remotely a joke is "stigma" in the West. Literally nobody in the world cares. They know it's natural and it happens and it's okay to joke about it. America has a penchant for the dramatics as usual.

 

[thadoggfather]

Please explain how a study that "aims to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles and how they relate to various health conditions" is related to insanity and/or the "left".

--

Next we should de-stigimitize that everyone poops perhaps. Except to a broader demographic of people of all ages, not just children, because some of us are pedantic children no matter how old we get and despite new information and life experiences! weeee

x

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Anything that's remotely a joke is "stigma" in the West. Literally nobody in the world cares. They know it's natural and it happens and it's okay to joke about it. America has a penchant for the dramatics as usual.

Or, it's a legitimate issue. Being dismissive helps no one.

I found these articles interesting, in case you're actually interested in finding out what this is truly about:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565611/#:~:text=The%20stigma%20of%20menstruation%20has,revelation%20of%20one's%20menstrual%20status.

https://pha.berkeley.edu/2018/06/05/menstruation-stigma-must-stop-period/

 

[Feyl]

Men have periods too! Do not forget about this oppressed and overlooked demographic too Apple.

 

[DocklandNightShift]

Are they serious

What, exactly, is the “Stigma“ around a period

Their level of wokeness is reaching insane levels I never thought I’d see

 

[coachgq]

I was not aware menstrual cycles needed destigmatization!

As a husband of 23 years and a girl's father, this is good news and I'm glad Apple is taking an interest in women's (and actually, everyone's) health.

I came to say the same stuff. Husband of 17 years and father of a 12 year old daughter and I didn't realize there was a stigma either. But obviously there is and hopefully it will disappear.

 

[CrashSpyroXP]

Or, it's a legitimate issue. Being dismissive helps no one.

I found these articles interesting, in case you're actually interested in finding out what this is truly about:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565611/#:~:text=The%20stigma%20of%20menstruation%20has,revelation%20of%20one's%20menstrual%20status.

https://pha.berkeley.edu/2018/06/05/menstruation-stigma-must-stop-period/

Nobody is saying it's not an issue, and nobody is being dismissive about it. It's just that people from other parts of the world don't act this dramatic over these things. Non-Americans have the ability to laugh at their own hardships, no matter how "inappropriate" it may be. It doesn't mean they don't take it seriously.

 

[nikaru]

Or, it's a legitimate issue. Being dismissive helps no one.

I found these articles interesting, in case you're actually interested in finding out what this is truly about:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565611/#:~:text=The%20stigma%20of%20menstruation%20has,revelation%20of%20one's%20menstrual%20status.

https://pha.berkeley.edu/2018/06/05/menstruation-stigma-must-stop-period/

This is BS big time. Menstruation has not been a taboo in the civilized world for some decades now. It may be still a thing in very poor rural areas in third world countries, but these people dont have Apple Watches anyway. Menstruation is as natural as breastfeeding, sexual relationships, masturbation and so on, which have existed since the beginning of time. Im OK to see more studies aimed to improve health, but if a study is made for the sole purposes of destigmatizing something that is not stigmatized in the developed world, then it is pure activism and nothing else.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Nobody is saying it's not an issue, and nobody is being dismissive about it. It's just that people from other parts of the world don't act this dramatic over these things. Non-Americans have the ability to laugh at their own hardships, no matter how "inappropriate" it may be. It doesn't mean they don't take it seriously.

Sorry, but saying "Literally nobody in the world cares" is the DEFINITION of dismissal.

And for the record, I'm not an American and have lived in many diverse parts of the world.

Such generalizations about the global community are nonsense.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

This is BS big time. Menstruation has not been a taboo in the civilized world for some decades now. It may be still a thing in very poor rural areas in third world countries, but these people dont have Apple Watches anyway. Menstruation is as natural as breastfeeding, sexual relationships, masturbation and so on, which have existed since the beginning of time. Im OK to see more studies aimed to improve health, but if a study is made for the sole purposes of destigmatizing something that is not stigmatized in the developed world, then it is pure activism and nothing else.

Sounds like you've done your homework on this.

/s

 

[Picklefoot]

Show us your homework, Darth.

 

[Picklefoot]

Waiting on a company to destygmatize eating popcorn.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I just wish I could remove the cycle tracking app from my watch since I'll never be able to menstruate.

It's weird that it's enabled always, and that I have to see the women's health study that I can't sign up for because it asks my gender. Is gender real or not?

I removed it from my watch. Swipe to the left and it’s gone.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

You were there right behind me to show your immediate dismissal of the issue. And you claim to have no insecurity over your empathy levels but here you are justifying them.

For me this is personal; I have a wife and daughter. I WANT to know if this is a legitimate issue, and if it is, address it (which 5 minutes of Googling shows that it is).

But even if I didn't have my current familial connections, I'd feel the same way.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Show us your homework, Darth.

Few posts above. Missed the links?

 

[thadoggfather]

since I'll never be able to menstruate.

That really depends though... what is your truth? In 2021, truth is highly customizable + this holy thing that cannot be questioned. It's so strong on its own, that questioning would pose no threat whatsoever.

 

[orbital~debris]

I just wish I could remove the cycle tracking app from my watch since I'll never be able to menstruate.

It's weird that it's enabled always, and that I have to see the women's health study that I can't sign up for because it asks my gender. Is gender real or not?

What's weird is that you think it's "weird that it's enabled always". The chance of an Apple Watch owner being female is roughly the same as them being male, from a planetary population perspective.

Besides, I'm not sure you're not trolling. If you had actually looked into removing the cycle app from your Watch, you'd realise it is possible.

 

[swingerofbirch]

So that I don't have this banned, I will respond to some of the above posts in a general way:

Yes, even in the US there are groups who stigmatize periods, and women during periods are restricted from what they are allowed to do and have to go to a certain place once a month.

I don't think Apple's study will do anything to change that. But yes, there is stigma.

I apologize if this is too vague, but I have found I can't say truthful things without it being deleted.

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes, even in the US there are groups who stigmatize periods, and women during periods are restricted from what they are allowed to do and have to go to a certain place once a month.

I am curious now.

I live in the US and have never heard of these things.

Does it have to do with bears?

 

[thadoggfather]

Yes, even in the US there are groups who stigmatize periods, and women during periods are restricted from what they are allowed to do and have to go to a certain place once a month.

I can't believe I have to actually break this down.

There is and always will be a 'stigma' with bodily fluids of strangers that are observed. Except it's not a stigma, one that writes off an entire population for their gender, its an adverse reaction to publicly displayed bodily fluids.

I periodically get nose bleeds from dry air, and no I don't do drugs + I don't have a deviated septum

My first and really only response is to clog up my nostril with a packed piece of tissue paper and fix it and minimize it. It's not to ask all of society to change.

And I'm not thrown off or surprised when people observe I do have a huge piece of tissue paper clogging up my nostril.

Women get periods. That's perfectly fine and normal and healthy. If someone is bleeding through white capris in public on public transportation for example, yeah I don't really find that a neutral event and I would prefer to not have to look at it to be entirely frank. I think many women would probably feel exactly the same, as people who endure periods themselves.

Doesn't mean that person who had an accident is terrible or mistakes don't happen. But it is a natural response to not want to see it if given the option.

When people projectile sneeze in a small space, independent of their ethnicity or gender or any of the rest of it, I really don't take too kindly to it

FORTUNATELY - products also exist that can minimize having to witness such a thing in the first place. Like tampons.

Who would've guessed - an entire industry makes a boatload of money, for being the solution to this very event!