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  • This Is Your Brain on Birth Control

  • How the Pill Changes Everything
  • Written by: Sarah Hill
  • Narrated by: Nan McNamara
  • Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (84 ratings)

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This Is Your Brain on Birth Control

Written by: Sarah Hill
Narrated by: Nan McNamara
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Publisher's Summary

An eye-opening book that reveals crucial information every woman taking hormonal birth control should know

This groundbreaking book sheds light on how hormonal birth control affects women—and the world around them—in ways we are just now beginning to understand. By allowing women to control their fertility, the birth control pill has revolutionized women's lives. Women are going to college, graduating, and entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and there's good reason to believe that the birth control pill has a lot to do with this. But there's a lot more to the pill than meets the eye.

Although women go on the pill for a small handful of targeted effects (pregnancy prevention and clearer skin, yay!), sex hormones can't work that way. Sex hormones impact the activities of billions of cells in the body at once, many of which are in the brain. There, they play a role in influencing attraction, sexual motivation, stress, hunger, eating patterns, emotion regulation, friendships, aggression, mood, learning, and more. This means that being on the birth control pill makes women a different version of themselves than when they are off of it. And this is a big deal. For instance, women on the pill have a dampened cortisol spike in response to stress. While this might sound great (no stress!), it can have negative implications for learning, memory, and mood. Additionally, because the pill influences who women are attracted to, being on the pill may inadvertently influence who women choose as partners, which can have important implications for their relationships once they go off it. Sometimes these changes are for the better...but other times, they're for the worse. By changing what women's brains do, the pill also has the ability to have cascading effects on everything and everyone that a woman encounters. This means that the reach of the pill extends far beyond women's own bodies, having a major impact on society and the world.

This paradigm-shattering book provides an even-handed, science-based understanding of who women are, both on and off the pill. It will change the way that women think about their hormones and how they view themselves. It also serves as a rallying cry for women to demand more information from science about how their bodies and brains work and to advocate for better research. This book will help women make more informed decisions about their health, whether they're on the pill or off of it.

*Includes a PDF of figures from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Sarah Hill (P)2019 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about This Is Your Brain on Birth Control

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Insightful information!

Highly recommend this book as it gets s filled with lots of science to help women better understand the pill and know their options.

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A must read!

This book was very interesting. Things I have never even thought about before. A lot of it is relatable and very interesting. I am sharing all my knowledge I have learned with my friends and mom. Some of the information is quite shocking to even think is going on. It makes you really think about things.

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  • HH
  • 2023-04-07

Wow

This book is fascinating and really delivers on its claim to help women make informed decisions about their bodies. Some of this information blew my mind, and a lot of it was deeply validating as well. The science/psychology nerd in me really appreciated the data, and her interpretation was often honest and accessible. If you’re on the fence about listening to this one, do it!!

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Lots to think about

I would recommend this for mothers with daughters and any women using or planning to use contraceptives. A lot of great information to question and consider.

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Game changer

The information provided absolutely delivers author’s intention of helping women making a better more educated decision when it comes to a pill. Absolutely loved this book! Huge plus, Sarah is very funny!

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  • E
  • 2022-01-21

eye opening book!

incredibly written and the perfect balance science and humor to prevent it from getting dry. made me reconsider my birth control options having been on the pill for four years.

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Interesting

I learned so much listening to this book, thank you for sharing your knowledge in a very informative book.

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Eye-opening and relatable

A really interesting book that is funny and humble. Women who have used hormonal contraceptives can likely related to some if not most of the information. For me, it hit the nail on the head and helped me make an informed decision about my future in use of hormonal contraceptives. I hope in the near future we will begin to study these effects most closely and take better care in our decisions.

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Very Informative

100% would recommend this book, Decided to listen to this because I was having concerns about my birth control, and it solidified my choice to stop taking hormonal birth control.

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Insightful but simple

The book provides insight at a level that anyone can understand. I wish it were a little more science-heavy though because a lot was redundant generalization

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  • brenda
  • 2020-01-18

Alright.

The subject matter was interesting, and worth the read/discussion, but the voiceover from Nan makes it sound like you are being talked down to. The author states this is a scientific piece, but it is not. Her metaphors and analogies are for 2nd graders. I am glad she included the graphs and charts from the studies she talks about, but everything she mentions is up in the air with no discernable evidence. Luckily, she is aware of this, and makes sure it is clear throughout the book that these issues need to be studied further. It is a good stepping stone into these issues and I hope to see more information about hormonal contraceptives soon. I would recommend, but prepare for repetitive writing in an annoying tone.

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  • Emily Forbes
  • 2020-11-24

This book changed my life.

As a general rule, I don’t write reviews, but I have recommended this book countless times.

I wish it was available decades ago. It is a much-needed, detailed, approachable review of the available literature on hormones, how they interact with each other and other systems in the body and brain, and what hormonal contraceptives do to those systems. Each chapter resulted in a paradigm shift for me. I only wish I had read it sooner!

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  • Hildegard
  • 2021-04-15

A Must-Read for Men Too

This book was fascinating. Admittedly, much of the book is speculative in nature, since in-depth research and studies have not been done on all the ways the Pill has potentially impacted women, and by extension, the world. Regardless, the research findings that DO exist certainly give one pause. It's compelling enough that this book will be required reading for not only my daughter, but my 3 sons, as well.

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  • Lauren Brien
  • 2022-05-18

Good for young adults or those without a science background

I’ve got a BS in a human biology related field and I found it to be a little too simplistic, but I would absolutely recommend it for a high school student who is interested in the topic or someone considering birth control who doesn’t have a background in science.

I didn’t feel like some of the scientific points were explained well, given that some studies were preliminary and haven’t been repeated yet. Also, some of the studies discussed have been talking points for political organizations seeking to take away people’s health care options (though the author clearly states that this is not their opinion)

To me, the colloquial writing style didn’t pair well with the narration, at times it felt like I was being lectured by a grade school teacher who was trying to sound cool by cursing.

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  • S
  • 2021-04-08

so much new info

this was great. The last chapter will really get into you. she presented a lot of interesting research while bringing to light some gender imbalances.

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  • Ashley D.
  • 2020-12-10

A book all women should read!

This book does a great job explaining science without being pushy about what you should do for your own body.

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  • B
  • 2019-12-20

Objective, unbiased and interesting

a very unbiased and objective look at how the pill changes your brain. not an advertisement for getting off the pill AT ALL. it did slow down a little in the middle chapters (lots of repetition) but chapter 11 blew my mind. well written and enthralling!

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  • Raymundo Reyes Favela
  • 2023-07-25

Must-Read for Young Women

I really enjoyed reading this and wish I would have done so before using birth control. This book is a great tool to educate women before making that decision.

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  • F. Ferriolo
  • 2023-07-04

Enlightening!

All women and men too should read this book. I had no idea how important this information is to making a decision on whether to use or not to use the birth control pill.

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  • WyattsMommy27
  • 2023-07-03

Very informative

All women should know about this book. We are in the dark about so many things.

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