Period-tracking app is ‘game-changing’

It’s 2016, and women still don’t feel comfortable talking openly about periods. In fact, one Internet survey captured 5,000 different euphemisms for monthly menstruation that call it everything but a period.

But, like most things these days, there’s now an app for that.

“Periods remain both mysterious, sacred, interesting and filled with all sorts of feelings for people…,” Julie Metzger said.

Metzger is known locally by some as The Puberty Lady and has taught frank classes about growing up for more than two decades. She loves the idea of an app for periods – saying it could reverse the damage done by years of misinformation.

“If you go back and look at the 1940s or the 1930s girls in the United States would receive a pamphlet that would really discourage you from exercise while you’re having a period. No basketball, no dancing because somehow you needed to rest or, I guess, limit your activity for some reason that that would affect your health or well-being,” Metzger said.

Indeed. If you shuffle through YouTube videos of 1950s menstruation PSAs you’ll find that advice was standard. Limited dancing (especially square dancing for some reason), no skating, no horseback riding, volleyball or basketball. Basically, anything that would bounce you around.

That may be good advice based on the cumbersome flow-catching methods girls had back in the 1950s, but we know today that women can do anything while menstruating. Metzger makes it a point to tell girls that in her class.

“There are women in outer space, in combat in a desert, in the ocean, in a scientific lab, performing scientific experiments that will change the word, they’re writing prize-winning literature and poetry,” Metzger said, her list continuing endlessly.

So, with all the misinformation of decades past it’s no wonder we’ve ended up here – where “period” is still a dirty word. That’s where Clue comes in.

At Clue’s website, it says “track your period, it’s beautifully complex.” The app is anything but complex. It’s not pink, it’s not called “Aunt Flo” and that’s part of its worldwide appeal. It’s just a practical app that, according to Clue, is used by 2.5 million women in 190 countries.

Lisa Kennelly is Clue’s Director of Marketing and finds that their app is helping women, both new and old, learn about periods.

“There’s this sort of misconception that every women’s cycle is 28 days long and that’s just completely not true. It’s totally within the range of what’s normal and average to be within 25 to 40 days. And [the period] can vary, too. There’s a lot of things that can vary, right? Whether it’s stress, jet lag, diet, exercise and so just saying ‘OK I know my period is going to come like clockwork every 28 days’ is not really realistic,” Kennelly said.

You can enter information about your cycle; how you’re feeling, what you’re craving, how much sleep you’re getting, exercise, etc. And Clue begins to get to know you. The longer you track Periods with Clue the more it becomes personalized.

“So if you’ve entered six of your past cycles it’s going to start to know here’s what your variations look like; here’s when you’re must likely to get your period so I think that’s what people like is that they realize it’s a bit more complicated – an app that learns from me,” Kennelly said.

Clue will also send your phone push notifications, giving you a heads up on when to expect PMS if you experience it.

Sarah, a user of Clue, is a 33-year-old real estate agent in Seattle and finds the Clue both empowering and informational.

“For me, that’s one day where I need to cry. I could be having the best day ever it doesn’t matter I’m going to need to cry on this day,” Sarah said.

She said no matter what education level you think you’re at with your period the app will be helpful.

“I feel like it took me a lot of years to really get familiar like ‘oh this is actually pretty predictable’ and when you’re at the highest risk for getting pregnant and things like that that really it took me a lot of time to connect those dots because I feel like I did it on my own slowly over time,” Sarah said.

She’s been using Clue now for about four months.

“It’s interesting to go back and see, you know, on the first day of my cycle is that when I’m extra tired or maybe a little cranky or something so that ca help me plan for what’s coming. I’m also finding it really interesting that there are a couple of trips I’m planning six months from now, might just be a three day weekend away or something like that, and it might be nice to work around the period maybe,” Sarah said.

Clue is also a place where women can learn about periods in general. It’s full of educational material and has a place where you can submit questions. Clue answers every email they get – sometimes hundreds a day.

“We have users from all over the world. Definitely in Latin America – Mexico, Brazil – we hear from a lot of younger girls who really have not had any education about this before and they write to us with different medical questions thinks like ‘if I use a tampon am I still a virgin?’ is something we’ve heard more than once and ‘I took the morning after pill, what does that mean?,'” Kennelly said.

Based on questions like that, you can tell that there’s still a lot of learning to be done about periods – both an a basic and at an individual level.

Leave it to smartphones to revolutionize even a period – and how we talk about it. Metzger says any talk at all is healthier than the alternative.

“Up until now it’s sort of like something you’ve been afraid to touch, or to even acknowledge and an app like this, or a book, or a class, or a conversation allows you to claim the truth and I think people are relieved by claiming,” Metzger said. “That’s game-changing.”