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Vaccines save lives. Thanks to the development of vaccines, we have been able to eradicate or at least control many deadly diseases such as smallpox and polio. Currently, our world is battling the COVID-19 virus, which can also be contained with vaccines. As a valuable defence against life-threatening illnesses, vaccines stimulate the immune system to create the desired antibodies, but the process creates challenges that temporarily affect the body and also the menstrual cycle.

The menstrual cycle is a major driving force for women’s health and well-being throughout their reproductive years and well beyond. Even so, researchers have only recently started to take periods into account when designing studies; and in every-day life we are only now beginning to distance ourselves from the stigma associated with menstruation. To reclaim periods as a normal and even empowering experience, new approaches to how we view the menstrual cycle are emerging. For example, likening the phases of the menstrual cycle to the seasons of the year.

Cannabis and the various products derived from it are slowly becoming legal for recreational and medicinal uses in many places around the world. The painkilling and relaxing properties of cannabis make it an enticing option for the treatment of menstrual pain and PMS-related symptoms. Interestingly, many women report noticing differences in the effect produced by cannabis products depending on where they are in the menstrual cycle. While research on the effects of cannabinoids—the active substances in the cannabis plant—is still ongoing, it is clear that the menstrual cycle has an effect on how a woman’s body reacts to outside influences, especially in the case of potentially addictive and psychoactive substances.