Dig into the science of what makes period cramps so painful, and find out what we still don’t know about this common experience. -- Period pain affects hundreds of millions of people. Anywhere from 50 to 90% of people who menstruate deal with painful abdominal or pelvic cramps during their period. Individual experiences can vary, from mild discomfort, to throbbing aches, to contraction-like cramps that rival the pain of labor. So, why do menstrual cramps hurt so much? Chen X. Chen explains this surprisingly common experience. Lesson by Chen X. Chen, directed by Caitlin McCarthy. Support Our Non-Profit Mission ---------------------------------------------- Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreon Check out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop ---------------------------------------------- Connect With Us ---------------------------------------------- Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletter Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebook Find us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitter Peep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram ---------------------------------------------- Keep Learning ---------------------------------------------- View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-things-that-cause-painful-periods-chen-x-chen Dig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/3-things-that-cause-painful-periods-chen-x-chen/digdeeper Animator's website: https://www.strangebeast.tv/directors/caitlin-mccarthy Music: https://www.workplaywork.com ---------------------------------------------- Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jay M, Constantino Victor Delgado, Andrea Galvagni, Andrew Tweddle, Laurel-Ann Rice, Fernando A. Endo, Helen Lee, pam morgan, sarim haq, Gerardo Castro, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, Abdulmohsin Almadi, AJ Lyon, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Brian Elieson, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Nevin Spoljaric, Sid Chanpuriya, Anoop Varghese, David Yastremski, Noah Webb, Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk, and Aaron Torres.

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