Lesson video

Hello.

I'm Mrs. O'Neill.

Thank you for joining me today.

This is the sixth and final lesson in our changing adolescent bodies unit.

We've looked at changes to the body during puberty.

We've looked at changes to the brain.

We've also looked at hygiene and first sexual relationships and sexual feelings.

Last lesson, we focused on periods or menstruation.

Today we're going to continue that.

Today's lesson is called understanding periods.

We're going to try and look little bit deeper and get a little bit more understanding about periods and how they affect us.

And this lesson, just like last lesson, is relevant to everybody.

Whether you are someone who has periods or who doesn't, this is really important information for everybody to have that's relevant for everybody in their lives.

Let's begin.

In this lesson, all you're going to need equipment-wise is an exercise book or paper to write on and some kind of pen to write with.

Please grab those items now if you've not got them already.

Let's look at the agenda for today's lesson.

I'm hoping that you've already completed today's intro quiz.

And at the end of the lesson, I'll be directing you towards the exit quiz.

We'll be looking today at what is meant when we use the term heavy periods.

We're going to also consider painful periods, what that means and how we can help to ease the pain associated with periods.

We're going to look at who we can seek advice from and help, if we are suffering from heavy or painful periods, or if we need to advise somebody ourselves who is.

So let's look at the keywords for today.

Heavy period.

This essentially describes a period where there is blood loss of more than 80 millilitres.

It's not expected that people measure that blood flow in millilitres.

It's not something that people tend to do regularly, but that amount gives a benchmark if someone is concerned, and there are ways to measure perhaps using menstrual cups, which we talked about last lesson, as a way to understand if the period is heavy or not.

But essentially if a period products has to be changed far more frequently than it's expected to be based on the instructions that go with that period product, we can assume that perhaps the period is heavy.

Most people come to know their bodies, their cycles, their periods quite well to understand if their period is heavy or not.

And we'll also be talking about period pain, which is stomach or lower back cramps that often occur either during or just before a period.

I want to start with the question.

If you were concerned about something to do with your health, and it doesn't need to be period related, who could you talk to about it? Take a moment or two to think of two or three examples, or to jot that down, your two or three ideas, and then I'll share mine with you in a moment.

Okay I'm hoping that you've thought of two or three examples of someone you might speak to if you have concerns about your health.

You want to tell me what those examples are? Okay, let's have a look and see if they match mine.

So who can you talk to with health concerns, your GP, your doctor.

If that is something that you've written down, well done, it's a really obvious and correct answer.

Everyone should have a registered GP, and you should all be able to access an appointment if you need to.

Many GPs now have online services and you can ask questions or even seek online appointments as well through the service that they provide, if they have it.

So that might be something worth looking into for you if you have health concerns in the future.

Obviously, liaising with a trusted adult where appropriate too.

A school nurse.

So your schools should have a school nurse that visits a particular time of the week or particular time of the day.

And you should be able to access an appointment through with the school nurse.

You might want to find out how you go about doing that.

Some schools will have a drop-in lunchtime session, for example, with the school nurse, where you can turn up without an appointment, some schools, you might need to go through the school receptionist, or email a certain person, or speak to your form tutor, perhaps, in order to access the school nurse.

Worth finding that out if you don't know already.

A parent or trusted adult at home.

Also really good person to talk to if you're concerned about your health, because they can often give you some reassurance or help you access some more specialist advice if needed.

So there's a really important question.

What is a normal period? And to be honest, a normal period is different for everybody.

Normal period for one person may not be normal for another.

And I just want to really emphasise that, especially for those of you who may be experiencing periods for the first time, and maybe comparing to your friends, please don't.

Don't let it concern you if your experience of periods is different to theirs.

But essentially the definition of normal menstrual period bleeding is losing less than 18 millilitre, having periods that last less than seven days, and needing to change a tampon or sanitary pad or towel every four to six hours on the heaviest day.

Some of you, your normal period may be slightly outside of those parameters.

And that's fine.

So true or false question.

Is it normal to change tampons or parts every hour during a period? True or false, please point to the correct answer on the screen now.

Let's see if you are correct.

It's false, because actually in a normal period, if we're going to use that word, a tampon or sanitary towel or pad should need to be changed every four to six hours.

It may be a little more often on heavy days if that's normal for you.

However, every hour we would consider to be a heavy period.

So continuing this theme of heavy periods that we're looking at now, we talked about heavy bleeding being more than the 80 millilitres, longer than seven days, and needing to change more than every four hours.

And so adding to that, it's not usually necessary to measure blood loss.

Most women have got a good idea like I said before about what's normal for them.

And if things change, they can normally tell without having to measure.

And if those changes are concerning without reason that might be a time to seek some medical advice.

But for most women, listening to their own instincts is probably the best way to measure or not whether a period is heavy and does need some medical attention.

So we have a multiple choice questionnaire, which is not a sign of heavy periods.

So there's four options.

One of them is incorrect or false.

Is it more than 80 millilitres of blood loss? Is not a sign of every period.

Periods lasting more than seven days, less than 50 millilitres blood loss, or changing a tampon every two hours.

Please point to which answer you think is not a sign of heavy periods.

Let's see if you are correct.

The fact that less than 50 millilitres of blood loss is not a sign of heavy periods.

That's the wrong statistic in there, because we should've been looking at 80 millilitres.

Now let's turn our attention to period pain.

I want to start by saying that period pain is normal.

Light exercise can help and normal day-to-day activities can continue.

So yes, a bit of discomfort, cramping within the tummy, or the lower back is really common and is normal.

And if your day-to-day life can continue, then that pain isn't something to be concerned about.

If you've got my old pain, and again, if that's associated with periods or not, or some kind of discomfort, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Again, just think of two or three examples, or maybe jot those two or three examples down.

Just going to give you a moment to do that.

Again, why not tell me what your examples are? Thank you very much.

Let's now see if they match my ideas.

So mild pain.

What can you do? The examples I've given here, taking a mild painkiller, something like Paracetamol.

Must say, shouldn't be taking any medication without adult supervision, so please make sure that if you are a child you are taking any medication under adult supervision with their permission and their knowledge, et cetera.

But yeah, a mild pain killer can take away mild pain, whether that be tummy cramps, headache, lots of examples.

Sometimes an enjoyable activity can help to distract us, so that could be going for a walk, going for a run, going to the cinema, doing something to keep ourselves occupied to take our mind off the pain and discomfort can sometimes really help.

You might want a comforter, hot water bottle, for example, something that can help alleviate the pain by giving good comfort.

Nice, hot drink is another example there.

Remember, we're talking here about mild pain, not serious pain.

Well, there may be times when people need to seek help over their periods.

Please speak to a parent, trusted adult, school nurse, teacher, or GP if: there is pain that interferes with regular activities.

So if during your period, the pain stopped you from getting on with your day-to-day life, then that is perhaps a problem.

Maybe there is a genuine worry that the periods are too heavy, changing the sanitary protection product far too often, to being aware that, actually, the loss is quite a lot, that is something that you may think, mm, "I perhaps do need to speak to somebody." Periods that regularly last longer than seven days, or generally, you've got questions, you don't like the look of your menstrual blood, or there's just something that instinctively isn't quite right, don't be afraid to seek help.

It's more than likely that your mind will be put at rest, but there are some medical conditions that you may be suffering from, and there may be medication or there may be particular activities or procedures that can be recommended by a medical professional to help.

Like I say, in most cases, people will be completely fine.

There's nothing to worry about at all.

But if you are concerned, please don't be afraid to seek that advice.

Let's look at another scenario.

This links back to our last lesson, and we met Chelsea then when she was considering which period product to use.

So we're going to continue with Chelsea's understanding about her periods by looking at her story and considering our own responses to that.

Your Chelsea's friend, and she's confided in you, having started her periods a few months ago, that she's worried.

As her friend, I would like you to think of a minimum of three questions you would ask Chelsea to help her understand if she needs to seek medical help or advice from a trusted adult or medical professional.

So let's just recap this.

Chelsea has told you as her friend that she's worried about her periods.

What three questions would you ask her to advise her whether or not she needs to speak to an adult or medical professional? I've given you two examples there of how you might start your questions.

You don't have to use those, and you might want to push yourselves a little bit further with a bit of extra challenge.

You might want to imagine what Chelsea's answers might be if her periods were normal or even indeed not normal.

So when you are ready to attempt this task, please pause the video and resume when you have completed it.

Please pause the video now.

Thank you for rejoining me.

So let's look at some possible questions that you may have come up with to ask Chelsea in order to see if her periods are something thing that she should be concerned about to the point where she does need to speak to a trusted adult or medical professional.

My possible questions that you may have come up with something that's similar to, are: are your periods painful? Do your periods last more than seven days? And are you changing your period product more often than every four hours? With the first question, you may have mentioned it a little bit further, and you may have asked Chelsea if the pain is manageable if it's the sorts of pain that she can still get on with her day-to-day life with.

And if not, then again that's perhaps another area where she might be concerned over, and she might want to seek just an extra little bit of reassurance from an adult or from a doctor or a school nurse, just to make sure that everything's okay.

Well done if you came up with similar questions, and well done if you were able to think of some of the answers that Chelsea may have given in order for her periods to be proven to be completely normal, or perhaps something that she needed just to seek the extra bit of advice over.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

I'm going to end with the final reflection.

Periods are nothing to be embarrassed about.

Why is this statement important to remember? And I want all of you watching this video to think of an answer to that question, why periods are nothing to be embarrassed about? And there may be a time in your life where you need that reassurance yourself or you need to give that reassurance to someone, a friend or family member, who may be feeling embarrassed about their periods.

Again, just a reminder, 50% of the world have or have had periods.

Therefore, people really shouldn't be embarrassed.

Can you think of a main reason something that you would use to reassure yourself or others as to why being embarrassed of periods is something that we should never be? I really, really want to say thank you to those of you who have stuck with me through all of these lessons about the changing adolescent body, some really difficult topics, some thought provoking topics.

And I hope that you've gained some knowledge, some reassurance, some learning from the series of lessons that we've gone through together.

There's lots of information out there to help reassure you further about changes that happened during puberty and adolescence.

First point of call should always be a trusted adult, teacher, school nurse, who will always be able to point you in the right direction if you have any concerns at all.

Thank you so much again.

Please don't forget to complete today's exit quiz, and hopefully I'll see you in another of our RSHE lessons.

Goodbye.