Researchers in Bradford hope up to 3,000 women in the district will take part in a major study on periods and the menstrual cycle.
The CycleTrack project, run by health research organisation Born in Bradford (BiB), aims to determine why some women experience more difficult periods than others and how they can receive faster diagnoses and more effective treatment.
It will include women aged 18 and over who experience normal periods, as well as those living with pain, heavy bleeding and conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids.
BiB’s Salma Chopdat said: “The idea really came from recognising that menstrual health has been overlooked for a very long time in research and clinical practice.”
Chopdat, a BiB community research coordinator, said: “Periods have a huge impact on everyday life, whether that’s going to work, going to school, getting on with everyday things, socialising, exercising…
“So it does have a big impact on your life.
“We’d like 3,000 women to take part, that’s including the 18-year-olds as well.
“Obviously we’re still at the inception phase at the moment, we’re still at the very early stages of sending the questionnaires out.
“Then there will be the testing and everything that goes along with any research.”