“I hear this one all the time. 'Hormones are bad, birth control delivers high doses of hormones, and I don’t want all that in my body.' But it’s just not true,” says Dr. Krajewski. “In a natural menstrual cycle (one when you’re not on birth control), your body experiences high levels of oestrogen and progesterone and extremely low levels. Instead of these big ups and downs throughout the month, combined birth control methods — those containing oestrogen and progestin — keep you on a more straight line, delivering a continuous, average amount of hormones. This is the reason many women actually experience fewer symptoms of PMS while on birth control.”What’s more, there’s little need to worry that birth control hormones will somehow build up in your body. “The hormones in birth control only last a day — that’s why you need a daily dose,” says Anne Burke MD, MPH, associate professor of gynaecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.However, some still wonder whether it’s “unnatural” or harmful to stop your body from ovulating for an extended period of time. “The whole time women are pregnant or breastfeeding, they don’t ovulate, and no one is worried about that,” says Dr. Krajewski. “Our bodies don’t have to ovulate every month, and your body won’t forget how to do it if you use birth control for several years. In fact, diseases like ovarian cancer are directly related to the number of times you’ve ovulated, which is why birth control can lower your risk for ovarian and endometrial cancer.”The rare risks — such as blood clotting and stroke — associated with combination progestin and oestrogen birth-control pills are actually highest when you first begin taking birth control, so stopping and starting is not safer. (Plus, it will only put you at risk for an unplanned pregnancy.) If you’re still not comfortable taking hormones or don’t like the way the hormones make you feel, consult your doctor. Many women feel better on progestin-only methods or hormone-free alternatives such as the copper IUD (coil.)