---
title: Do birth control pills help with menstrual problems? | Niyora
description: Yes. Birth control pills reduce heavy periods, painful periods, and irregular bleeding. Many women also see improvement in acne and excess hair growth.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/noncontraceptive-health-benefits-of-combined-oral-contraception-2005/
---

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- Do birth control pills help with menstrual problems?

Review, 2005

# Do birth control pills help with menstrual problems?

Yes. Birth control pills reduce heavy periods, painful periods, and irregular bleeding. Many women also see improvement in acne and excess hair growth.

 Moderate study design

Women using combined oral contraceptive pills

## What they did

A review of research on health benefits of oral contraceptive pills beyond pregnancy prevention, focusing on effects on menstrual and reproductive health.

## What they found

Oral contraceptives relieve heavy periods, painful periods, and irregular bleeding. They reduce long-term risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. Some women improve in acne and excess hair growth. They can treat heavy bleeding and endometriosis.

## What it means for you

Birth control pills provide real relief from menstrual symptoms. The main limit is that this summarizes existing research rather than presenting new data, so effectiveness depends on the quality of studies reviewed.

## About the study

Original title Noncontraceptive health benefits of combined oral contraception Authors ESHRE Capri Workshop Group Journal Human reproduction update Year 2005 Study design Review What was tested Combined oral contraceptive pills Read the paper [doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmi019](https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmi019)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)[Endometriosis](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-endometriosis/)[Work and productivity](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-work/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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