Those stats are concerning purely from a work satisfaction and business point of view. But they’re especially frustrating when you realise the lack of progress we’ve made in making women feel comfortable when talking about periods. Women can expect to have between 350 and 450 periods in their lifetime – most of which occur during their working lives. You’d think trying to combat period shame in the workplace would have huge benefits for all concerned.

It’s clear we’ve got a long path ahead of us. Indeed, the results of this research largely mirror those uncovered by a similar Bupa study six years ago, which showed that over a third of women (36%) felt they couldn’t be honest with their manager when missing work for period-related reasons.

Overall, women suffering from severe period symptoms take around five sick days each year as a result. Across the UK, this means nearly 17 million period-related sick days are taken every year. So, what can be done to improve the workplace landscape?

Sarah Melia, general manager at Bupa Health Services, said the onus is on companies to foster a supportive and open environment for the women they employ.

3 million women have had to take a period-related sick day over the last year – but a million have kept the true reason a secret