What you will learn in this blog about how switching from pads to a menstrual cup can benefit an active lifestyle:
- National-level athlete Pooja Raghu shares how period irritation, leaks, and discomfort affects her during training, tournaments, travel, and modelling.
- Switching from pads to a menstrual cup gave her long-lasting leak-proof period protection, letting her surf, trek, travel, and compete without planning around her period.
- She found added relief from period cramps with Nua’s Cramp Comfort Heat Patch, helping her stay active even on painful days.
- The story highlights how the right period products for athletes can reduce irritation, improve comfort, and support an active lifestyle.
- Pooja encourages girls not to let periods stop them from sports, travel, or trying new experiences, and to find products that work for their bodies.
There’s a specific kind of panic only an athlete on her period understands. You’re 40 minutes into a 100-minute ultimate frisbee game, playing “savage” — no substitutions, you’re on the field for the entire match — and somewhere between a sprint and a dive, you feel it. Wet. Your brain splits in two, half is still in the game, the other half is calculating if you’re going to stain your white jersey shorts before you have the chance to go to the washroom and take care of the situation.
For most of my early 20s, that was just my normal.
I’m Pooja, and I’m an ultimate frisbee player, a model, a surfer, and someone genuinely incapable of sitting still. Add snowboarding, climbing, rugby, and an unreasonable amount of travelling and modelling on top of that. If there’s a version of “jack of all trades” for a person who wants to try everything, that’s me. And for a long time, my period felt like the one thing with the power to stop me. Back then I had no idea that switching from pads to a menstrual cup would one day make that exact panic disappear for good.
But we’re getting ahead in the story. Let’s backtrack to my very first period, so I can walk you through my whole journey.
My First (Fake) Period
This is a secret I’ve kept for years: I faked my first period.
I was a kid, watching the older girls get showered with love and attention the moment they got their period, and I thought, “I want that.” So I staged the whole thing – told everyone I got my period, excited for all the attention. But it was nothing like I expected. Nobody warned me about what came after, like being pulled aside, told not to jump onto my dad’s or my brother’s laps, told to sit still and behave a certain way. For a kid whose whole personality was bouncing off the walls, that stung.
And, naturally, when my real period actually arrived, I had no clue how to react, or ask for help, because as far as everyone knew, I’d already “had” it.
Our period “education” was one school demo with a pad, some red ink – Everyone, come, have a feel. Nobody mentioned mood swings, breakouts, cravings or cramps. Just, “you’ll bleed, here’s a pad, good luck.” I still remember the white-uniform days, leaking through a skirt, then hiding in the restroom and using some chalk to rub over the stain so nobody would see. Plus, no one prepared us for how wildly different periods are from one girl to the next, either. One classmate landed in hospital with cramps every single month, while my body gave me so few signs that I usually didn’t even know I’d started until my skirt was stained.
Why Pads Didn’t Work for Ultimate Frisbee
The irritation I remember most vividly came later, after the school years. My flow has always been “mid,” never the kind that soaks through in three hours, so I’d leave the same pad on far too long, because pads are expensive and I hated “wasting” one that wasn’t full. Terrible idea.
Now add on an athlete’s routine. I’m sprinting, diving, running full savage games, never still, so the friction was constant, and the pad irritation during sports only got worse the longer I stayed on the field. The pad’s top layer would start chaffing and rubbing against me so much that it basically started disintegrating in my underwear. There were little particles — probably the substance meant to absorb the blood — shifting around, and I’d think, mid-game, “Wait, what is that grainy stuff, and is it going inside my body?!” On heavier days it was gross in a whole other way — soggy, smelly, carrying blood around with you for hours. And a rainy tournament was the worst; the pad would be soaking, slipping and peeling off mid-dive.
Playing sports on my period wasn’t some rare occurrence, it was basically the schedule of my life. Tournaments run over three days, and for years almost every single one seemed to land on my period. Again, because my body gave me zero warning – no cramps, no signs, nothing – I’d only feel the wetness mid-sprint. And playing savage means you don’t sub out, you’re the defender the team needs, you’re on for the full 100 minutes. So, I’d quickly run to a washroom between points, borrow a pad or a spare pair of shorts off another girl, and get straight back into the game.
And honestly, the hardest part wasn’t physical. Ultimate frisbee is mixed-gender, and most of my captains were men. Back then, the idea of telling them, “I’m on my period, can I take it easy?” felt impossible. I never once used it as a reason to sit out. I’d just deal with it and keep running.
That was when I started to truly hate pads. I’d tried every big brand, and it was the same story each time, so I decided this was simply what periods were.
Making the Switch: How Switching from Pads to a Menstrual Cup Changed the Game
Then, during the 2020 lockdown, everything changed. Two of my teammates, Madhu and TJ, kept nudging me, “Girl, you have to switch to the cup!” I had every fear you can imagine — how do you even put it in, what if it gets stuck, what if it won’t come out — but lockdown was the perfect time to experiment. I was home, relaxed, and there was no one to see if things got messy. Switching from pads to a menstrual cup remains the single best decision I’ve made for my body, and it settled the whole ‘menstrual cup vs pads for an active lifestyle’ debate for me almost instantly.
The freedom was almost disorienting. I kept reaching to “check” and realising there was nothing to check. If you’ve spent years planning your day around the next washroom, Nua’s Menstrual Cup hands that time back, up to 12 hours of wear so you can honestly forget about your period and get on with your life.
And getting on with my life is the whole point. By 2020, I’d already been playing competitive frisbee for a couple of years, but I’d just started travelling for Team India camps and international tournaments. 2020 was also the year I discovered surfing, so all of a sudden my world was opening up in every direction at once. My friends used to sit out entire trips saying, “I’m on my period, I can’t get in the water.” I’d say, “Girl, switch to the cup and just come!”
Surfing on My Period for the First Time
If you’ve ever wondered, ‘can you surf or swim on your period?’, my first time in the water with a cup is the story I always tell. It was in Mahabalipuram, and I was so nervous that I wore a fully black surf suit, bracing for the worst. And then I paddled out and… nothing. No panic, no layers, no leaks. Just me, the board and the ocean, feeling like an absolute queen.
It mattered even more because of an older memory. It was a beach trip years earlier when my pad came off in the water, and I was consumed with guilt. I’m very passionate about the environment, especially the ocean, and the thought of that pad floating out into the ocean upset me more than the embarrassment did. For me, switching from pads to a menstrual cup is what turned surfing on my period from a worry into a joy.
That feeling of paddling out fully present, instead of half-panicked, is one I want every water-loving girl to have. Whether it’s swimming on your period with a menstrual cup in a pool, paddling out in the ocean, or getting caught in a downpour, Nua’s Menstrual Cup is a biocompatible menstrual cup that sits internally with nothing to leak, slip or float away. So “I’m on my period” stops being a reason to sit on the shore.
Leak-Proof Protection When There’s No Bathroom for Miles
Since then, the cup has come with me to many places where there were no bathrooms at all. Like snowboarding in Gulmarg in February, when you ride from one phase to the next and there’s no restroom until you’re back at the gondola. Or my first winter 8-day trek to Har Ki Dun where the logistics of a pad consumes you, like, where do you dispose of it, how do you carry it out without it stinking, how do you change in the wilderness? On snow, on a trail, mid-climb, the cup is the thing that lets me stay out there instead of planning my day around disposal — the most hassle-free period care I’ve found for the outdoors.
Travel is where all of this adds up. My old packing routine was a maths problem. I would ask myself questions like how many pads, what if they run out, where will I change. And now, it’s nothing. I keep one cup permanently in my travel pouch and a backup at home, so I never even have to think about it. Pair your cup with a Nua Panty Liners and you’ve got a safety net, too, for long travel days when you might flow out of your cup.
The One Thing The Cup Couldn’t Fix: Cramps
The one thing the cup couldn’t fix was cramps, and for years, I barely had any. That’s changed. Lately I’ve been dealing with more irregular cycles and some genuinely brutal cramps, and I’ve started being far more open about my PCOD (now known as PMOS), because so few of us actually talk about it. Saying it out loud has honestly made me feel more in control, not less.
I’m not someone who reaches for tablets, so the first time I tried Nua’s Cramp Comfort Heat Patch, I genuinely didn’t expect much – which is exactly why I teared up a little when it worked. I’d had one of the worst cramp days of my life; I stuck it on, and the relief was so immediate I messaged the Flow & Tell group chat about it that very day.
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Periods On The Road And On Set
Modelling came with its own challenges, because on a shoot, how you look is the job. In my early modelling days, I’d be on a pad, panicking when a stylist handed me tight pants — you could always tell when there’s a pad under seamless fabric — begging for baggier options. The cup ended that overnight. Now I don’t flinch at tights or anything fitted.
And then it all came full circle on a recent Nua shoot in Mumbai. I’d come straight off a frisbee training camp in Chennai — exhausted, on my period and cramping — shooting a concept about relaxing and refusing to let your period run your life. So there I was, in a fitted gym set that old-me would have completely spiralled over, wearing my cup and Nua’s Cramp Comfort Patch tucked under my clothes, actually cramping, actually on my period… and completely at ease. I wasn’t performing the “relax, you’re on your period” idea for the camera, I was living it, for a brand I’d loved long before we ever worked together. I announced this to everyone on set. It felt like my whole journey landing in a single shoot.
Passing It On: Recommending Period Care for Active Women
The best part of all of this is getting to pass it on. . I’m forever telling girls how a comfortable menstrual cup for sports changed everything for me. More and more of them are switching from pads to a menstrual cup too, mostly because they watch me play through my period without a second thought and want that same ease for themselves.
And thankfully, the whole culture has shifted since my early days. Now everyone, women and men, talks openly about periods. Those same male captains I once couldn’t say a word to will now tell you to sit on the sideline and hydrate if you’re cramping, no questions asked. That would have been unthinkable when I started.
And it’s exactly why I keep pushing the cup, especially for tournaments. Every single one of us has to be on the field, making every play, and there’s no one to cover for you. So when playing in a rain-soaked tournament, the ground all slushy, half the girls playing on their periods, their pads literally slipping off mid-game with no way to stop and fix it, all I can think is, ‘Girl, there’s a better way, let me show you!’
For Every Girl Just Starting Out
So if you’re 18 and something about your period is holding you back from the water, the trek, the sport, and you’d rather it didn’t – here’s what I’d say: If you’re still asking, is a menstrual cup better than pads for intense sports? – my honest answer after years on the field is: Yes. I started sports late, at 18 or 19, and my only real regret is not starting sooner. The earlier you get in, the more the whole world opens up, and the more you realise the things you thought were hurdles never really were. My mum taught me that your time and your health won’t wait for you, money comes and goes, but experiences don’t come back around. If you skip the ocean because you’re on your period, the only person who misses out is you, and the world is right there waiting.
I’m about to test all of it again. I’m training for the World Championship in Ireland with my club, the Airbenders. We just won India’s first-ever Gold in a mixed tournament in Malaysia, and now we’re training for what comes next. I already know it’ll be cold, wet and windy for seven to nine days straight, and yes, I’ll be on my period around the usual time. So I’m prepping the way I now know how, my cup is packed, heat patches ready, I’m sorted.
If your period is the reason you keep saying “next time” to the water, the trek, the trip, and you’re not okay with that, I’d gently ask you to reconsider. Switching from pads to a menstrual cup, and slipping in Nua’s Menstrual Cup before you go is the smallest possible step toward a life where your cycle never decides what you’re allowed to do, and honestly, it might be the best decision you make this year. It was for me.
Disclaimer
The content of this article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared is of a general nature and may not be appropriate for all individuals or specific circumstances. Readers should not disregard, delay, or substitute professional medical advice based on the information contained herein.
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