CLEVELAND -- Millions of women take oral contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but what if you could take them to avoid your monthly cycle?

Birth control pills to prevent pregnancy and periods -- that's the new recommendation coming out of this year's meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, according to NewsChannel5.

"This is a very safe way, and (it's) healthier not to have a period due to the fact that (it's) a contraceptive method making you not have a period," said Dr. David Plourd of the Naval Medical Center. "It's actually healthier not to."

It's healthier because new studies show that eliminating monthly cycles eliminates the symptoms that come with it.

"That's the really good news, that women really don't have to suffer," said Dr. Anita Nelson of the UCLA Medical Center. "We can say goodbye to headaches, cramps and the mood swings at many times, too."

And for those who say this goes against Mother Nature, doctors said that women who take birth control pills are already taking nature into their own hands and that this new method just takes it a healthy step further.

"We build the lining of the uterine wall, put the uterus to rest," Nelson said.

Nelson said that until new products become available, women can ask their physician about skipping the placebo pills in their current regimen. New long-lasting birth control methods, like the latest in intrauterine devices, eliminate periods within four to five months.

But the pill may not be for everyone. Oral contraceptives may slightly increase a woman's risk for stroke and heart attacks, so while the incidence is rare, the pills may not be an option for high-risk women.

Yet for those already taking the pills, the new recommendation could offer a newfound freedom.

A clinical trial is under way on a specific formulation of oral contraceptives, and the product will be marketed as birth control that suppresses monthly cycles.