Foods To Get Fit - What Should You Eat When Exercising?

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Weight loss diets are tied to the idea of reducing calorie intake present in different proportions of fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. A proper diet for weight loss should include sufficient nutrients which when combined with physical exercise and training will yield the desired results. Training is the stimulus that sends impulses to the muscles instructing them to work at a specific level.  For the trigger to be effective, proper feeding is fundamental. The type of diet incorporated depends on the kind and intensity of the exercises. Energy is needed for the body's various functions including growth maintenance, daily activities, exercise , and other body movements and operations. This article is intended to provide education on the best foods to eat while exercising. Weight loss diets are tied to the idea of reducing calorie intake present in different proportions of fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. A proper diet for weight loss should include sufficient nutrients which when...
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What Are The Side Effects of Contraceptive Pills?

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Family planning is an exercise developed to provide people with a means to achieve the desired number of children and decrease incidences of unplanned pregnancies and abortions.
Assorted contraceptive pills

Family planning is an exercise developed to provide people with a means to achieve the desired number of children and decrease incidences of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. It is geared at improving the health of women and children and promoting lower population growth and rapid economic development. Read More...


Birth control is a tool that puts the numbers, timing, and spacing of births among women and children in check. It improves the health of infants by widening the spacing gap between births. 


Contraception is a practice that existed in ancient times. Medieval women placed ground herbs mixed with honey or oil in their vaginas or inserted sea sponges soaked in lemon juice to provide a barrier to conception. However, the techniques have been overtaken by modern developments in medical science and technology. 

Read: Causes of Bad Vaginal Smell 


Women seek birth controls that are safe, affordable, and convenient to use. The choice of the birth control method is dependent on the stage of life of the user. Women whose ambition is to achieve infant spacing will not use the same contraceptives as those who want to stop giving birth completely. Although different types of contraceptives have been created, this article will aim at finding out the side effects of birth control pills.

Types of Contraceptives

  • Barrier contraceptives - Condoms, diaphragm, sponge, and cervical cap

  • Chemical spermicides - creams, jellies, foams, vaginal suppositories, and contraceptive films

  • Hormonal - Intrauterine devices (IUDs), Intrauterine systems (IUS), birth control pills, transdermal patches, contraceptive rings, and injections

  • Sterilization - Vasectomy and tubal ligation

  • Natural method - withdrawal

  • Safe sex - occurs when the woman is not fertile for conception

  • Abstinence

What Are Birth Control Pills?

Birth control pills include Ethinylestradiol and Norethindrone. They work by altering the normal levels of hormone estrogen and progesterone in reproductive women thereby either suppressing ovulation, stopping the interaction between the sperm and ovum in the oviduct, or creating a hostile ambiance to fertilization and implantation. 


Pills containing a synthetic progesterone hormone inhibit ovulation by thickening cervical mucus making it impervious to the male gametes. They also interfere with the normal monthly changes occurring in the uterine lining.

What Are The Side Effects of Contraceptive Pills?

Most women benefit from additional non-contraceptive outcomes of the pills such as improvement of acne vulgaris, dysmenorrhoea, lower risks of ovarian and breast cancer, stabilization of menstrual bleeding pattern, and reduced ovarian cysts.


Besides the safety profile of contemporary combined oral contraceptives, fears of adverse metabolic and vascular effects caused by estrogen components and possible neoplastic impacts of these formulations persist. Concerns about the side effects particularly those influencing the menstrual cycle and body weight can not be ignored. It is important to note that combined oral contraceptives like all other medications have some contraindications. The ‘pill’ could be a formulation not intended for everyone.



The ability of the pills to repress vital body functions leads to the build-up of ill health that later in life the woman may be unable to make a connection to the cause of certain diseases.
A woman and birth control pills

Health complications attached to oral contraception can manifest a few months, years, or longer into use as each woman processes the synthetic components in the pills differently. The ability of the pills to repress vital body functions leads to the build-up of ill health that later in life the woman may be unable to make a connection to the cause of certain diseases.


The most prominent serious health effects associated with pill use include blood clots, venous thromboembolism, cerebral stroke, and heart attacks. These adverse effects are more pronounced in users who engage in smoking, especially above 35years. Mild, moderate, or severe side effects of the pills can interfere with the woman’s quality of life. They include the following:

Intermenstrual Bleeding

Oral contraceptives are formulated with estrogen and progestin. The ratio of the two steroids could affect bleeding. Menstrual disturbances are contributed by the prevailing levels of estrogen. Amenorrhoea and intermenstrual bleeding cause worries about pregnancy and the effectiveness of the pill.


Chlamydial infections and smoking are significant in the rate of spotting and breakthrough bleeding. Frequencies of intermenstrual bleeding are also contributed by inconsistency in the use of oral pills. Smoking increases unscheduled bleeding by altering the estrogen level.

Weight Gain

The majority of women are preoccupied with their body image. Pills in some women cause a noticeable impact on the body weight and body composition such as fat mass, fat-free mass, total body water, intracellular water, and extracellular water.

Mood Change 

Some women on oral contraceptives may acquire volatile moods or depression which may influence their decision-making and impair their social functioning. Cognitive and emotional factors are implicated with specific arrays of negative effects on pill users than nonusers.


The fluctuation in the reproductive hormones affecting the synchrony between the components of the circadian system may alter amplitude or timing relationships thus contributing to the emergence of mood disorders such as sporadic panic attacks in depressed women. Progestin and progestogens can induce negative mood and irritability.

Change in Sexual Desire

The negative mood change induced by hormones in the contraceptive pills affect female libido and sexual satisfaction. The sexual disturbances are due to vaginal dryness and low sexual desire even after maximum stimulation. The effect can be related to free testosterone levels which combine with sex hormone binding globulin.  Vaginal dryness may be attributed to the low estrogen dose with consequent arousal or enjoyment disorders.


The negative mood change induced by hormones in the contraceptive pills affect female libido and sexual satisfaction
Decreased sexual desire

Biologically, androgen level modification and loss of estrogen balance act on sexual aspects by lowering libido and vaginal lubrication. Effects on sexual desire work hand in hand with biological, psychological, and social facets.

Skin Problems

The pharmaceutical agents including hormonal contraceptives affect the health of the skin by their toxicity in certain individuals. The adverse effects of oral pills on the skin alter the quality of life in the affected women. 


Some of the complications on the skin include melasma, photosensitivity, bullous pemphigoid, and moniliasis. Hyperpigmentation accounts for about 60%  of all cutaneous side effects of oral contraceptives.


The activities of progesterone change the biochemistry and PH of the skin and sebaceous glands thereby enabling the eruption of acne vulgaris
Acne Vulgaris

The activities of progesterone change the biochemistry and PH of the skin and sebaceous glands thereby enabling the eruption of acne vulgaris. Hypersensitivity reactions may include urticaria and eczema. The symptoms vary from generalized skin eruptions and gastrointestinal and abdominal problems to cardiovascular diseases and systemic anaphylaxis. The skin manifestation of hormonal contraceptives relies on the levels of estrogen.

Jaundice Disease

Jaundice appears within the first six months of pill use. Besides the reduction of biliary excretion, combined oral contraceptives provoke jaundice because of the presence of estrogen and progesterone in their formulation. Women taking oral pills regularly have elevated cholesterol levels in the bile juice which leads to biliary lithiasis.

Headache And Migraine

Combined oral contraception intake triggers an exogenous hormone-induced headache. The prevalence of headaches increases with age. The headache can be linked to estrogen exposure. Migraine may arise during episodes of uterine bleeding in women taking second-generation progestins.


Headaches connected with the usage of combined oral contraceptives improve with the continuation of pill use. Conditions such as age, tobacco smoking, hypertension, obesity, and stroke exacerbate the growth of headaches and migraine.

Cardiovascular Effects

Using combined oral contraceptives escalates the risks of circulatory diseases which are strictly associated with the dose of the contained hormones. High risks are more captured in women smokers over 40years of age. 

Read: How Tobacco Smoke Affects The Body 


Oral pills stimulate a mild rise in blood pressure whose severity surges with the advancement of age and instances of obesity. During the engagement of hormonal contraceptives, the blood pressure undergoes physiological changes as a result of hormonal fluctuations. Other cardiovascular diseases associated with oral contraception include: 


Cancer Risks

The Agency for Research on Cancer established that combined oral contraceptives are carcinogenic to humans. Current pill users have increased exposure to cancer of the breast, cervix, liver, and skin. Oral pill takers have reduced the risks of cancer of the endometrium, ovaries, and colorectum 

Read: Types of Female Sexual Dysfunction


Scientific evidence suggests that estrogens have a role to play in the development of breast cancer. Progestin plays either an anti-proliferative or proliferative role depending on the cell phenotype and the microenvironment of the species.


The skin expresses the receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and androgen. The steroid hormones in oral contraceptives affect skin cell cycle control and can potentially encourage tumor colonization.

Vasculitis

Some studies confirm that hormonal contraceptives can induce vasculitis. Cutaneous vasculitis may be restricted to the skin or be associated with systemic disease. Hormonal contraceptives can affect the skin of some individuals through toxicity. Though rare, the toxicity is potentially dangerous.


The world's population is growing exponentially and in 2050 it is predicted to hit the 9.1 billion mark. In addition, unsafe abortions and unplanned pregnancies are on the rise. As a result of these events, the need for safe methods of birth control is imminent. Fears of adverse metabolic and vascular side effects in oral contraception ingredients stand. Therefore contraceptive hormones should be selected and initiated by considering the risk factors for the users.




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