Name: 女性為什麼會停經？停經是安全的嗎？讓 SciShow 解釋給你聽！ (Some Women Are Ending Their Periods. Is That Safe?)
Uploaded: 2025-04-04T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 13 min 34 s

So I was talking to a doctor the other day. I'm fine, don't worry, we're not talking about me.

前幾天我和一個醫生聊天。我很好，別擔心，我們說的不是我。

We somehow got on the subject of periods.

不知怎的，我們聊到了生理期。

She mentioned that she, and most of the doctors she knows, do not suffer through periods anymore.

她提到，她和她認識的大多數醫生都不再經受月經的折磨。

They are too inconvenient, too unpleasant, and apparently not physiologically necessary.

它們太不方便，太令人不快，而且顯然不是生理需要。

Now, this probably won't come as a surprise, but I don't get periods.

現在，這可能不會讓人感到驚訝，但我不懂生理期。

Still, I found this conversation fascinating, so I hope you don't mind me, a non-period-having guy, covering menstruation and contraception.

儘管如此，我還是覺得這次談話很吸引人，所以我希望你們不要介意我這個沒有月經的人談論月經和避孕。

Also, I should say, I did not write this episode.

另外，我得說，這一集不是我寫的。

I pitched it and then other people on the SciShow team took it on.

我提出了這個想法，然後 SciShow 團隊的其他人接受了它。

But the reason I did that is that I started to wonder if menstrual suppression is okay for the human body.

但我這樣做的原因是，我開始懷疑抑制月經是否對人體有益。

Like, doing that must have other effects, right?

比如說，這樣做一定會產生其他影響，對嗎？

And answering those questions is what SciShow is for.

回答這些問題正是 SciShow 的目的所在。

If we don't do it, we can't make more humans.

如果我們不這樣做，就無法制造更多的人類。

And our species has been doubling down on menstruation lately.

最近，我們這個物種對月經的關注加倍。

We're having way more periods than we used to.

我們的生理期比以前多得多了。

Like, 2.8 times more than we had in prehistoric times.

That increase is probably due to the fact that people spend less time in pregnancy and breastfeeding than they used to.

這一增長可能是由於人們在孕期和哺乳期花費的時間比以前少了。

But today, we also have a lot of ways to not get periods.

但如今，我們也有很多方法來避免月經不調。

And as I mentioned, I hear periods are not pleasant.

正如我提到的，我聽說經期並不愉快。

So maybe it shouldn't have been such a revelation to learn that people are using birth control methods to do more than just prevent pregnancy.

當我們瞭解到人們使用節育方法不僅僅是為了避孕時，也許就不會感到驚訝了。

What I'm talking about here is intentionally pausing your menstrual cycle and not having to deal with it every month through the power of birth control.

我這裡說的是有意暫停月經週期，通過節育的力量，不必每個月都面對月經。

現在，這種情況其實可以自然發生。

Some people end up skipping periods and going into a state called amenorrhea without the help of contraceptives.

有些人在沒有避孕藥具幫助的情況下，最終會出現月經不來和閉經的情況。

But when your body naturally does this, it's not always a good thing.

但是，當你的身體自然地這樣做時，並不總是一件好事。

Amenorrhea can be a symptom of extreme undernourishment.

閉經可能是極度營養不良的症狀。

In that case, your body might focus its hormonal resources on you rather than a potential pregnancy.

在這種情況下，你的身體可能會把荷爾蒙資源集中在你身上，而不是潛在的懷孕上。

And because hormones maintain pretty much everything in the body, that shift could lead to more broken bones than usual, or even heart problems.

由於荷爾蒙幾乎維持著體內的一切，這種轉變可能會導致比平時更多的骨折，甚至是心臟問題。

So that kind of natural period suppression isn't really something to strive for.

這種自然的經期抑制其實並不值得追求。

But artificially stopping your period using contraceptives is a different matter.

但使用避孕藥物人為地停止月經則是另一回事。

If you have any number of conditions like endometriosis, fibroids, or heavy bleeding, it can be medically beneficial.

如果你患有子宮內膜異位症、子宮肌瘤或大量出血等疾病，這對你的身體是有益的。

There are several contraceptives that can significantly reduce the pain from those conditions, according to a recent clinical trial.

根據最近的一項臨床試驗，有幾種避孕藥可以明顯減輕這些病症帶來的疼痛。

But a lot of professionals who suppress their periods do so because of the impracticalities of bleeding.

但是，很多抑制月經的專業人士都是因為出血不現實而這樣做的。

Astronauts and military personnel, for example, don't always have convenient times and locations to deal with their flow.

例如，太空人和軍事人員並不總是有方便的時間和地點來處理他們的人流。

And you don't need to be an astronaut to do this, either.

你也不需要成為太空人就能做到這一點。

Period suppression can be gender-affirming.

That's not to say that it's going to end your gender dysphoria or depression if you're dealing with that.

這並不是說，如果你有性別焦慮症或抑鬱症，它就能消除你的性別焦慮症或抑鬱症。

But that's better than treating none of them.

So for any number of reasons, a person might choose to take birth control to stop getting periods.

出於各種原因，一個人可能會選擇服用避孕藥來停止月經。

In fact, back in 1957, the first birth control pill, an Ovid, was approved by the FDA as a menstruation regulator.

事實上，早在 1957 年，美國食品及藥物管理局就準許了第一顆避孕藥——奧維德，作為月經調節劑。

Before it was ever approved as a contraceptive, the pill was used for this purpose.

在被準許作為避孕藥之前，避孕藥就被用於此目的。

Today, similar drugs are still the most common method of menstrual suppression.

如今，類似藥物仍是最常用的月經抑制方法。

Instead of cycling through ups and downs in your hormones each month, you stay in the same stage of the cycle every day.

你不再每月經歷荷爾蒙的起伏週期，而是每天都處於週期的同一階段。

So when you take a birth control pill, you don't release an egg, and you don't get pregnant.

當你服用避孕藥時，你不會排出卵子，也就不會懷孕。

On the Inovid pill, there was no medical need to have a period at all.

服用 Inovid 藥片後，在醫學上根本不需要來月經。

But people who used it kind of still did because of how it was administered.

但由於其管理方式，使用它的人還是會這樣做。

The idea here was to reassure users that they weren't pregnant.

這樣做的目的是讓用戶放心，他們並沒有懷孕。

A person would take a regular hormonal regulator pill for 21 days, and then get a 7-day break.

一個人會服用普通的荷爾蒙調節藥片 21 天，然後休息 7 天。

During that break, they would experience something called withdrawal bleeding, which is the body's response to withdrawing from the hormonal pills.

在這段時間裡，她們會出現一種叫做 "撤退性出血 "的症狀，這是身體從荷爾蒙藥丸中撤退時的反應。

So technically, the bleeding that a person might have on birth control isn't even a period.

從技術上講，服用避孕藥的人可能出現的出血甚至都不是月經。

But for all intents and purposes, it's still a whole lot like one.

但就所有意圖和目的而言，它仍然非常像。

Many people who take the pill today follow a similar schedule of skipping a week for that bleeding to occur, even though it's unnecessary to prevent pregnancy.

如今，許多服用避孕藥的人都會遵循類似的時間表，跳過一週的出血時間，儘管這對於避孕來說是不必要的。

Now, you might have been told that you need to shed your thick uterine lining.

你可能已經被告知，你需要排出厚厚的子宮內膜。

And that is actually true if you are normally cycling.

事實上，如果你平時騎自行車，情況也是如此。

When you're on some forms of birth control, this is less of a problem.

如果你採取了某些避孕措施，這個問題就不那麼嚴重了。

For example, if you take contraception that introduces multiple hormones into your body, such as estrogen and progestins, your lining doesn't thicken in the first place, so you don't need to shed it.

例如，如果你服用的避孕藥在體內引入了多種激素，如雌激素和孕激素，那麼您的子宮內膜首先就不會增厚，所以也就不需要脫落。

Which means you can choose to not have a period.

也就是說，你可以選擇不來月經。

And since the FDA approved that first method in Ovid, we've done a lot of iterating.

自從 FDA 準許了奧維德的第一種方法後，我們進行了大量的反覆試驗。

Today, there are dozens of different hormonal birth control methods that accomplish this.

如今，有幾十種不同的荷爾蒙節育方法可以實現這一目標。

They all alter the amount of hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, throughout your cycle.

它們都會在整個生理週期中改變荷爾蒙（如雌激素和孕酮）的含量。

The main difference are which hormones they target and at what dose.

主要區別在於它們針對的激素和劑量。

And from the FDA's perspective, they are safe.

從食品及藥物管理局的角度來看，它們是安全的。

Menstrual suppression is a known effect of many approved birth control pills.

月經抑制是許多已獲准許的避孕藥的已知效果。

It's just that, also, there's more to the story.

From pretty much the beginning, some research has suggested that birth control pills can increase the risk of blood clots, especially in the legs and lungs.

幾乎從一開始，就有研究表明避孕藥會增加血栓的風險，尤其是在腿部和肺部。

And even today, doctors aren't sure what's driving this.

即使到了今天，醫生們也不確定是什麼原因造成了這種情況。

It may be that estrogen increases the pro-clotting factors in your plasma.

可能是雌激素增加了血漿中的促凝血因子。

A study that began in 1968 found that people who took birth control pills were four times more likely to develop a certain kind of blood clot than people who didn't.

一項始於 1968 年的研究發現，服用避孕藥的人患某種血栓的機率是不服用避孕藥的人的四倍。

This calculation probably depended on what dose people were taking and which hormones the contraception messed with.

這種計算方法可能取決於人們服用的劑量以及避孕藥會干擾哪些激素。

But those specifics are a little murkier.

但是，這些具體細節就比較模糊了。

And a 2018 meta-analysis found that some newer pills, like desagestrel, put you at an even higher risk of developing blood clots than others that have the same amount of estrogen.

2018年的一項薈萃分析發現，一些較新的藥片（如地塞孕酮）與其他含有相同數量雌激素的藥片相比，患血栓的風險更高。

Depending on which pill you take, the risk of blood clots may be as much as six times higher for people on the pill than those who aren't.

根據你服用的藥片，服用避孕藥的人患血栓的風險可能比不服用避孕藥的人高出六倍之多。

Even so, the risk is still fairly low, at only 12 in every 10,000 people developing this side effect.

即便如此，風險仍然相當低，每 10,000 人中只有 12 人出現這種副作用。

The FDA has always stood by the pill because the number of people who would die from a blood clot complication on the pill is still actually smaller than the number of people who would die from pregnancy complications off it.

美國食品和藥物管理局一直支持避孕藥，因為服用避孕藥後死於血栓併發症的人數實際上仍然少於服用避孕藥後死於妊娠併發症的人數。

And that's a huge point that I will keep coming back to here.

這是我在這裡要反覆強調的一個重要觀點。

When you're not using contraceptives, some of the most common of which are hormonal pills, you are way more likely to get pregnant.

當你不使用避孕藥（其中最常見的是荷爾蒙藥片）時，你懷孕的機率就會大大增加。

And universally, pregnancy is one of the most life-threatening things we do.

而從普遍意義上講，懷孕是最危及生命的事情之一。

In 2020, someone died from pregnancy-related complications almost every two minutes in the world, totaling just under 800 deaths every day.

2020 年，全世界幾乎每兩分鐘就有一人死於與妊娠有關的併發症，每天的死亡人數不到 800 人。

Now, of course, this varies drastically depending on where in the world you live and the kind of access to healthcare you have.

當然，這取決於你生活在世界上的哪個地方，以及你能獲得什麼樣的醫療服務。

So for low-income countries, birth-related complications account for the number 9 and number 5 leading causes of death, while they do not make it on the top 10 for upper-middle-income countries.

在低收入國家，與分娩有關的併發症分別佔主要死因的第 9 位和第 5 位，而在中上收入國家，這些併發症並沒有進入前 10 位。

But on a global scale, the World Health Organization says that the best way to prevent these deaths is to use contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies.

但在全球範圍內，世界衛生組織表示，防止這些死亡的最佳方法是採取避孕措施，防止意外懷孕。

This SciShow video is supported by Brilliant, an online learning platform that helps you build real knowledge through lessons you'll actually remember.

本 SciShow 影片由線上學習平臺 Brilliant 贊助播放，該平臺可幫助你通過實際記憶的課程構建真正的知識。

We all want to know more stuff, so the dream is to learn effectively, remembering and understanding information the first time you learn it.

我們都想知道更多的東西，所以夢想就是有效地學習，在第一次學習時就記住並理解資訊。

And that's what Brilliant tries to make a reality.

而這正是 Brilliant 努力實現的目標。

One way they do that is letting you get involved with the concepts yourself.

他們做到這一點的方法之一就是讓你自己參與到概念中來。

You play with the concepts you're learning about through a mixture of problems, competition, and encouragement.

你可以通過問題、競爭和鼓勵等多種方式來玩轉你正在學習的概念。

That way, you stay motivated and on track to learn.

這樣，你才能保持學習的動力和方向。

You can try it with the first 30 days free at Brilliant.org slash SciShow, the QR code, or the link in the description.

你可以通過 Brilliant.org/SciShow、QR code 或說明欄中的連結免費試用前 30 天。

That link gives you 20% off an annual Premium Brilliant subscription.

通過該連結，你可以享受年度 Premium Brilliant 訂閱八折優惠。

So birth control pills can increase your risk for blood clots.

避孕藥會增加你患血栓的風險。

They also reduce your risk of pregnancy-related death, and that's by a much larger margin.

它們還能降低與妊娠相關的死亡風險，而且幅度更大。

With all that in mind, the World Health Organization has noted that your personal and family history of blood clots should be taken into consideration when starting a new contraceptive.

有鑑於此，世界衛生組織指出，在開始使用一種新的避孕藥時，應考慮到你個人和家族的血栓病史。

The thing is, blood clots aren't the only potential risk of using the pill to suppress periods.

問題是，血栓並不是使用避孕藥抑制月經的唯一潛在風險。

Another concern is that it weakens your bones.

另一個令人擔憂的問題是，它會削弱骨骼。

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女性為什麼會停經？停經是安全的嗎？讓 SciShow 解釋給你聽！ (Some Women Are Ending Their Periods. Is That Safe?)

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