This is why your Pill could help you this winter

New research has found a surprising benefit to taking the contraceptive pill

Let’s face it – news revolving around contraceptive pill benefits is usually pretty thin on the ground. More often than not, the pill receives a pretty bad rep thanks to its association with mood swings, weight gain and more worrying health issues like blood clots and breast cancer.

Most of the time, good news about an alternative to the contraceptive pill always comes with a caveat such as the risk of heavier periods, or a higher likelihood of pregnancy.

But before you start to rethink your contraception, take heart in the fact that new research has found one really useful health benefit to being on the contraceptive pill.

What is this benefit, we hear you ask? Well, it could help keep flu at bay.

A recent study carried out by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has found that there is a link between certain hormones and warding of common (yet super annoying) illnesses such as flu.

So if you’re taking pills which contain it, you could be less likely to suffer from colds and flu.

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Although more research needs to be undertaken to further investigate this correlation, so far it seems that the Pill really can help – excellent news this time of year when, in the words of Jon Snow, ‘winter is coming.’

So which pills contain progesterone? Well, a lot of them. Progesterone-only pills (often known as the mini pill) such as Cerazaette, Cerelle, Micronor, Aizea, Nacrez, Noriday and Nogeston, all use progesterone alone making them great for women who can’t take oestrogen.

Mean while combined pills, such as Microgynon, Marvelon, Cilest, Femodene, Yasmin and Loestrin, use both oestrogen and progesterone to stop you ovulating – just what you need if you want to keep that cold at bay over the winter months.