What your period says about your lifespan will surprise you

Ladies, our Aunt Flo is a pretty dependable visitor. But before her first appearance, we late bloomers spend our adolescence craving her arrival. Yet new research from University of California, San Diego, says that her late arrival may mean you live longer.

That’s right. During the study, researchers examined data from the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term analysis of 16,000 postmenopausal U.S. women. They found that women who began menstruating at age 12 or older, and who experienced menopause at 50 or older, had a higher likelihood of living to their 90th birthday party.

Well, I’m suddenly feeling a lot less ornery about not getting my period until high school!

As study author Aladdin Shadyab, Ph.D., explained in a press release:

Researchers also discovered that women who began their periods later in life and started menopause when they were older were also less likely to be smokers or suffer diabetes. Dr. Shadyab told Women’s Health that more research needs to be done to understand why these correlations exist. Regardless, the researchers claim that the demographic of women having their periods and menopause later in life will quadruple by 2050. Yassss, queens! Time to rule the planet!