Doctors Think Your Period Should Be a Fifth Vital Sign

Physicians are learning to ask more questions about periods to get a better understanding of a person’s overall health

Starre Julia Vartan
Elemental
Published in
8 min readMar 16, 2020

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An illustration of a woman holding a glowing tear drop.
Illustration: Sophi Gullbrants

ItIt happens monthly, for two up to seven days at a time. A woman will menstruate for about seven years during her lifetime, on average. And yet there are still plenty of…

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Starre Julia Vartan
Elemental

AKA The Curious Human. Science journalist & nature nerd w/serious wanderlust. Former geologist. Still picks up rocks. Words in @NatGeo @SciAm @Slate @CNN, here.