Our Monthly Cycle, Part 1: How Well Do You Know Your Cycle?
I haven’t always been obsessed with periods. I was once just a girl who dealt with it as it came every month, not talking or thinking about it much. It’s just part of life, ya know?
But one day that changed -- and I can’t even place exactly what happened or why -- I knew there was a “better” way to experience my period. I knew deep inside of me that I didn’t want to feel so disconnected and burdened by this monthly biological gift (or inconvenience is probably what I thought at that time). AND, I really wanted to learn how everything works - like biologically, was my period “normal”? - I didn't know. It seemed normal, but my cramps hurt and my irrational crying seemed a little over the top at times. I’d always talk myself out of wondering by saying “I’m just super emotional” “cramps are just part of it”. Little did I know that wasn’t “just the way it has to be” - thank goodness.
A few years ago, I started to really research all of my questions and experiment with my own lifestyle to see if I could “improve my period” and connect to it from the perspective of a healthy relationship (vs “the enemy”).
As I dug in and started sharing what I was learning with my friends some interesting comments came up…
“I didn’t know I couldn’t get pregnant all month long???”
“My cervix moves?!”
“A menstrual cup seems so GROSS!”
“Yeah, but do period panties REALLY work?...”
“How do you not get pregnant if you’re not on birth control?”
“Well you’re just lucky -- my period isn’t regular so I never know what to expect - and it sucks!”
The list goes on and on. The more I’ve learned and shared the more I realized I need to be sharing my learnings with my digital friends (you) too! Most of my “period conversations” have been with my best friends and I haven’t really published these learnings, thoughts and experiments anywhere.
But now it’s time. Each week I’ll be bringing you a new blog post in this series called, “Our Monthly Cycle” covering everything I’ve learned about periods and the biological monthly cycle (!!!!) and I’m stoked about this.
If you can’t tell, I'm obsessed with women’s health and sharing “everything I didn’t learn growing up”. Meaning everything I’ve learned has shown me what I never learned and it’s honestly infuriating. So, I want to help you, too. Because it seems like we weren't taught a lot of basic information about our own bodies and health - which is insane and a disservice to all women.
The lack of information shared effects the generations before us, currently and women to come.
Throughout this blog series, I’m going to share with you my learnings so far. We’ll cover: each phase of the monthly cycle, natures cycles and phases around us and how they relate to our internal cycle, how food affects our cycles, movement habits related to our monthly flow, products that are SAFE to put in our bodies (and which ones aren’t safe), sex drive and sensuality, birth control options, and so much more.
AN OVERVIEW
In my case, the reproductive and menstrual cycle was briefly covered in 4th grade (I was 9/10 years old). I remember getting a little pamphlet that had images of breast growth over time and pubic hair. I’m not even sure if it had much information about my upcoming period at all. Worse over, I didn’t start my period until 13/14 years old so this little “talk” they gave us wasn’t even relevant to me for years, meaning I was sort of flying solo when my period came. I didn’t know what questions to ask the women in my life and just sort of kept quiet about it for years. Everything seemed normal so I just did what everyone else I knew did… covertly sneaking tampons up our sleeves to sneak off to the bathroom hoping no one saw… praying to God that when I stood up in class I hadn’t leaked on the chair… or navigating the horrible feeling of your period arriving and not having a tampon or pad on you. Growing up with the shame of having a period is hard -- I hope we, the women of today, can make this natural process a little more enjoyable for ourselves and all of the women who come after us.
There is NO SHAME in this natural, HEALTHY process. It’s actually fascinating once you dive into all of the details of how the monthly cycle works from a biological level. We have the literal power to bring LIFE into the world, through our bodies, and our periods are part of that process. INCREDIBLE, I tell you.
Here’s what happens:
On day 1 of our cycle (day one of bleeding), when we aren’t pregnant our bodies shed the uterine lining (re: endometrium) *which there are actually two layers to this!! - we’ll talk more about this later*. This is what we see as period blood (menstrual fluid). Over the course of the menstrual cycle (average 3 - 7 days in adults), the average flow amount should be on average 50 mL., or in the range of 25 - 80 mL (you can convert this to ounces but it’s a little easier to explain in mL).
The easiest way I found to figure out how heavy my flow was was by using a menstrual cup (I chose a cup for a lot of reasons, but this was definitely a deciding factor). I wanted to know if my flow fell within the normal range. I knew it was HEAVY but I also knew it was normal…. Some months were so painful and heavy I had my doubts but turns out my period falls within the normal range every month and I am grateful for that (and my menstrual cup). A regular tampon holds 5mL of fluid and a super tampon holds 10mL, so if you are using tampons you’ll want to pay attention to how “full” the tampons are and count those accordingly (*You can always check the box of whatever product you're using to confirm how much mL/oz it holds).
The period is so important that it has been deemed the fifth vital sign of health (along with pulse, temperature, breathing rate, and blood pressure). This means, if you pay attention, your period is always telling you something about your health. You can also look at this monthly bleeding as a time of letting go - literally - but also internally (mentally and emotionally). Our hormone levels are at their lowest and our bodies are letting go of what was to prepare for the next cycle (what could be). What a wonderful time to release what isn’t working in our lives and think about where we want to shift our focus in the coming month.
After we stop bleeding, we enter the follicular phase. This is the phase where it’s said to be a good time to start new projects and also where our energy is higher. Our hormone levels are going back up and our uterine lining (endometrium) is starting to replenish itself once again. After 7-10 days in the follicular phase, we shift into ovulation. Yes, it’s ideal to ovulate every month whether we intend on getting pregnant or not - it is a sign of good health. ALSO - if you are on hormonal birth control you are not ovulating! We will talk more about the importance of ovulation in an upcoming post in this series. Ovulation is how we hormonally progress through our cycle and it is possible to have a period without ovulating. Ways of tracking ovulation include: taking your basil temperature first thing every morning, observing discharge for fertile mucus (more on this soon), and closely tracking your entire cycle.
After ovulation, we move into the luteal phase which is broken up into 2 parts really - week 1 and week 2 (10-14 days on average). Our metabolism speeds up during this phase and our bodies actually burn 89-279 more calories per day naturally compared to the first half of our cycle. As the luteal phase comes to an end our hormone levels start to lower and we prepare for menstruation. A fact that I can’t get over here is that PMS symptoms only arise when estrogen and progesterone (hormones) are imbalanced during the luteal phase. Meaning, we can minimize or eliminate PMS with proper diet and lifestyle changes. As I said, it’s all very fascinating!
As a review - there are four phases in the monthly cycle and each one has a purpose.
Menstrual Phase - 3-7 days. Releasing, letting go, turning inward.
Follicular Phase - 7-10 days after you stop bleeding. Likely when you’re open to new things.
Ovulation - 3-4 days. Fertile, receptive, when your hormone levels are at their highest.
Luteal Phase - 10-14 days - During the first week of this phase you will have more energy then in the second half you’ll likely want to shift toward taking more care of yourself to prepare for the menstrual phase.
Please note that all of these phases can vary in length and transition in and out of each other. Our bodies don’t just flip a switch from one phase to another (we aren’t robots - thank goodness). These phases are integrated and flow from one to the other with overlap. The beauty of all of this is that it isn’t concrete and it’s all connected. Whatever you are doing right now will have an impact on your future period (for better or worse) and I think that’s really cool. Our choices greatly impact our health - so what will you choose?
At this point, you may be wondering, “How did you start tuning into your own cycle?”
I simply started observing each day and taking note of what I noticed. Not judging or trying to fix it. Just observing what was happening and how I was feeling. After some time observing I started making choices that I thought (through tons of research) might best enhance my experience (food, lifestyle, supplements, etc) and began experimenting. The process looks like this: Observe, Act, Adapt, repeat.
Right now, we are in the Observe step together.
To help you start observing, I’ve created this free pdf daily tracker that you can use. Just click here to download or sign up below and you’ll be one step closer to better understanding your cycle and daily health.