First Paleo-dieting, now Paleo-dating: Why the contraceptive pill has more to answer for than ugly boyfriends

A recent study is here to tell you that your birth control might be making your boyfriend ugly. More specifically, the science suggests that a woman taking the pill when she meets her boyfriend might find him less attractive when she stops taking it, especially if he wasn't hot to begin with.

This is the latest statistical speculation as to how oral contraceptives might skew male-female relations. Other studies have concluded that pill-taking women like less masculine men or that men are attracted to ovulating women.

Coming in on the wave of enthusiasm for Paleo-dieting, we now see increasing interest in Paleo-dating. The theory goes that biological compatibility as established via the connection of the biochemical signals we all emit creates a long-lasting, happy relationship.

When I came off the pill after a decade, at the end of two long years of terrifying side-effects, I was asked most often about the impact on my relationship. I did what research like this convinces us we should not do: I stopped taking the pill after my honeymoon and not because I wanted to get pregnant. Am I still with the same man? Yes, some five years later, I am. Is our relationship better now that I'm not subject to panic attacks, depression, fatigue and chronic health issues? Obviously.

Coming off the pill after years of use, and going through the subsequent withdrawal, can be difficult and requires support, especially from your partner. If you get that support from a boyfriend or husband who has seen the side effects, perhaps you'll be more likely to stay together. Studies like this don't delve into the social pressure put on women to stay on the pill until they want a baby, and the lack of wider support women get in making the transition to another contraceptive method, particularly if it's a non-hormonal choice. Surely this impacts on what the researchers describe as overall "satisfaction" in a partnership and elsewhere.

Our hormones affect 150 of our essential bodily functions, and their fluctuations over time are inextricably linked to the biological systems that control our energy levels, memory, brain waves, vitamin retention, metabolism, the acuity of our senses and more. When we discuss biological compatibility, what we mean is the connection between our hormones and our immune system, the source of the drive to date some men over others. We're also talking about how hormones help us navigate the exterior world, in part through our senses, and align our experiences with our internal world.