I recently finished The 28ish days later Podcast by India Rakusen and BBC Radio 4. The podcast dives into the menstrual cycle, exploring topics such as hormonal changes, menstrual pain, endometriosis, fertility challenges, societal attitudes to periods and the possibility of harnessing power from your period.

I absolutely LOVED this podcast.

 

A little overview

 Each episode follows a day of the cycle, discussing the stage of the cycle it is at and then a wider topic that is linked to the cycle more generally. As well as hearing from India, the wonderful host, we hear from authors, researchers, medical professionals, advocates and real people recording their own thoughts on each day of their cycle.

 

Why I loved this podcast

I think I discovered 28ish days later at the perfect point. I have recently become really interested in the menstrual cycle as a whole but I would say I am at the beginning of my journey to learning more. I felt the podcast provided such an amazing foundation level of knowledge. The short episodes in the structure of the cycle made it accessible, and hearing from a wide range of people provided great next steps to access new resources and continue my learning journey.

 

Inclusivity

I really appreciated that the podcast makes an effort to include lots of different people who flow. We heard from people who loved their period and some who hated it. We heard about those with mild menstrual symptoms to those with menstrual disorders such as endometriosis, PCOS or fibroids.  As well as this, the podcast correctly highlights that not all women have periods and not all those who have periods are women. In particular I loved the episode with Kenny Ethan Jones, a trans model and activists who gained incredible notoriety after being featured on a period product advertisement and subsequently began raising awareness about his own experience of periods as a trans man.

 

Everyone is talking about it!

Maybe it is my period care bubble, but everyone I chat to has listened to it. I have ended up getting into some amazing conversations with people about the menstrual cycle and our new learnings. Fair to say I am a period nerd! I have already began to recommend it when I deliver workshops on periods and the menstrual cycle within schools.

 

 

Would I change anything?

 It is really hard to think of anything to criticise about this podcast because I enjoyed it so much. But, if I was being picky, I would have loved a little bit more on hormonal contraception. I got a hormonal IUD fitted at the start of the year and I am getting used to the impact it is having on my hormones and body. Although there is an episode dedicated to hormonal contraception it focusses primarily on combined contraception like the pill and predominately on the negative impact it has. Listening the podcast almost made me feel slightly guilty about having the IUD because I have essentially stopped my natural cycle. It would have been great to hear a little bit more about understanding your hormones when you are on hormonal contraception and possibly the power you can harness for them. It has highlighted that I am really interested in learning more so I am on the hunt for my next resource as we speak.

 

Have you listened to this podcast? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.