Women who suffer from heavy periods can attest how terrible it feels when their time of the month comes around. Thankfully, heavy periods may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a pioneering new study into the causes of heavy menstrual bleeding. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, explored how the shedding of the endometrium (the womb lining) is linked to dropping levels of oxygen during menstruation. When the endometrium is shed, this causes a woman to bleed during her period.
In order to reduce the amount of blood lost, the surface of the womb that has lost its lining must heal. The study, which was published in journal Nature Communications, noted that when hypoxia occurred (lowered levels of oxygen), the body produced a protein called HIF-1 (hypoxia-inducible factor one). Production of the HIF-1 protein speeds up the healing process of the womb lining.The researchers…
