Tag Archive for: contraceptives

Oral Contraceptives & the Autonomic Nervous System: the Effects of the Pill on Your Body’s Autopilot System


Authors: Tania J. Pereira, PhD candidate, Women’s Cardiovascular Health lab at York University| Editors: Romina Garcia de leon, Shayda Swann  (Blog Coordinators).

Published: November 4th, 2022 

It has almost been 100 years since it was discovered that you could make an animal infertile by implanting an ovary from a pregnant animal. This discovery would be the basis for the birth control pill, although it wouldn’t be commercially available until the 1960’s. Since then, multiple variations (known as generations) have been created to reduce the side effects of birth control use – ranging from blood clotting to unwanted weight gain or acne and changes in mood. Thankfully, newer generations of birth control have been made with lower hormone levels – although some of the more minor health-related side effects persist. 

While most side effects are physically visible, what about the unseen consequences? 

Research suggests that within three months of use, birth control changes certain tissue volumes in specific regions of the brain. These regions control our emotions and how we manage emotional information. This means that birth control users could experience more negative and intense emotions. Birth control also changes the connections between different regions associated with higher cognitive function and emotional processing, meaning that birth control may alter mood by affecting how an individual regulates their emotions. 

From these changes, it is understandable how birth control might affect a user’s mood – but could other functions also be altered?

My research focuses on how birth control alters the function of your autonomic nervous system, which controls all unconscious processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure or breathing. The autonomic nervous system is a network of the brain, neurons and the body’s organs. This system is also responsible for your “fight or flight” response. 

More specifically, I am interested in how the body controls these processes in response to exercise. During exercise, key feedback about the physical movement and the metabolic environment of the exercising muscle are sent to the brain. This feedback is used to adjust your heart rate, blood pressure or breathing to support the exercise intensity.

Interestingly, birth control users have lower blood pressure responses to passive movement and handgrip exercise than non-users. Additionally, birth control users breathe more rapidly during handgrip exercise than non-users. Women generally do not increase their blood pressure during handgrip and other studies have observed that birth control rescues the blood pressure response. Both studies used similar exercises and performed the trials at similar times of their pill cycles (i.e., the birth control pill has an active dose phase ~21 days and a sugar pill or no-hormone phase ~7 days). Although, the types of birth controls used in each study were different; the first had increasing hormonal doses over the pill cycle, while the second had the same hormone dose with every pill.

While it is not clear what the effects of birth control are, both studies confirm that birth control use is altering the control of the body’s exercise response. 

There is not a lot of research on birth control, and it is made more complicated by the fact that different types of oral contraceptives can have different effects. Additionally, birth control is not the only form of hormonal contraceptive. There are implants, injections, intrauterine devices, vaginal rings, and patches. Each unique method of administration could present unique altered effects. 

My future research will aim to clarify some of these inconsistencies by more strictly controlling for phases, formulations and generations, as well as expanding the current body of knowledge on alternative hormonal contraceptives. 

Hormones are a complex and fascinating aspect of women’s health that I hope to further explore. 

Are All Women in Canada Really Free to Choose?


Author: Kennadie Chaudhary, AccessBC Campaign Coordinator | Editors: Alex Lukey and Arrthy Thayaparan (Blog Coordinators) 

Published: February 26th, 2021

Access to contraception, as a reproductive right, is a basic human right. However, many Canadians are unable to exercise this right for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is the significant barrier of cost. People who can get pregnant are disproportionately affected by the often high costs of contraception. These costs can include between $75 and $380 for an intrauterine device (IUD), $20 per month for oral contraceptives, and up to $180 per year for a hormone injection. Lack of coverage for contraception means youth, people with low-income, and those from marginalized communities face a severe disadvantage when making choices about their bodies. Thus, acknowledging the factor of cost is essential to making universal access to contraception a reality. 

There are numerous benefits to accessible contraception, which are evident in studies in North America and around the world. In Canada, the cost of contraception is almost entirely the responsibility of the user, with few exceptions. This is in contrast to several countries which similarly have universal health care, but have chosen to subsidize prescription contraception, either in full or in part. Countries with universal healthcare that subsidize contraception include over 11 members of the European Union, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Countries with universal access to prescription contraception have recognized the social and public health benefits of doing so, and their programs are often revenue positive. A 2015 study in the Canadian Association Medical Journal​ estimated that the cost of delivering universal contraception across Canada would be $157 million. Yet, the savings for direct medical costs of unintended pregnancies alone would be approximately $320 million. 

A Colorado program offering free IUDs to young people saw a 54% reduction in teen pregnancies and a 64% decline in teen abortion rates over eight years. The program came to a cost of $28 million, saving the US government an estimated $70 million. In Canada, about 59,000 adolescent pregnancies per year are unintended. Studies such as the Colorado program show the immense impact that access to contraception can have. Unintended pregnancies are expensive and can significantly alter an individual’s life plans. Further, reducing unintended pregnancies and allowing women to properly space births by providing them with access to contraception prevents over 200,000 maternal deaths worldwide each year.

Access to contraception is not only an issue of health. Contraception is also an issue of gender equality. While condoms are often easily accessible at little or no cost and vasectomies are covered under provincial health insurance plans, people with uteruses face significant barriers to autonomous contraception due to cost and requiring a prescription. Advancing gender equality requires recognizing that the costs of prescription contraception should not disproportionately fall on women alone. Women’s right to decide if and when they want to get pregnant should not be based on what they can afford. The ability to make that decision freely will contribute to the status of women, their right to health, and their empowerment as decision-makers.

AccessBC is a province-wide campaign that advocates for universal no-cost prescription contraception in British Columbia. AccessBC is currently running a letter writing campaign to urge the BC Government to include this policy in the upcoming 2021 budget. You can learn more about AccessBC, the need for, and benefits of, making all prescription contraception universally available at no cost, at www.accessbc.org.

Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash