These facts about your period or menstrual cycle will help if you’re trying to get pregnant! Here, a doctor and author describes the benefits of getting your period.
First, a quip about women and menstruation from Whoopi Goldberg…
“Whenever women are together for more than two days, they talk about their periods,” says Goldberg.
You’ll have lots more to say if you’re armed with these facts about your menstrual cycle. Dr. Rebecca Booth, author of The Venus Week: Discover the Powerful Secret of your Cycle…at Any Age encourages women to think in positive terms about their periods and hormonal power. To learn more about The Venus Week, click the image, and read on to learn fascinating facts about your period…
6 Facts About Your Period or Menstrual Cycle
1. The very first period, known as menarche, heralds the gift of the reproductive cycle, endowing a young woman with the option to someday carry a child. Many cultures (such as native Americans) celebrate this event as a sacred passage. The period is the sloughing off of the uterine lining, the starting point of the cycle of hormones that is responsible for fertility.
2. Regular periods are the best sign of hormone balance. When my patients feel their hormones are “out of whack”, one of the first questions I ask is if they have regular periods. Assuming a patient is not pregnant, nursing or in menopause, a regular menstrual cycle indicates that things are working the way Mother Nature intended. If you’re skipping periods or not menstruating at all, read 8 Natural Ways to Regulate Your Period.
3. A regular period is a sign that you are having a “Venus Week” – the week that follows menstruation and leads up to ovulation. The hormonal “recipe” that begins shortly after the period starts helps us look and feel our best. Once my patients understand that their period signals the beginning of a cycle they look forward to the ideal week that follows, and usually notice a significant improvement in how they feel and look on or about day three or four of their period.
4. The least ideal part of the cycle is not your period. The low point for women hormonally is not their period, but the days that occur just before it. It is the pre-menstrual period when women experience a significant drop in estrogen, progesterone and testosterone and often report feeling their energy declining (thus PMS). While most women associate PMS with their hormones it is actually the absence of hormones during this period that leaves them feeling less than ideal.
5. Bloating is reduced during your period. The period follows a drop in progesterone, a hormone that encourages water retention and slows metabolism. Usually a day or two after the period starts progesterone is low and most women lose water weight and metabolize carbs better.
6. The purpose of the period is a cleansing or sloughing of the old uterine lining to make way for that of the next cycle. The uterus contracts to gently push this lining out, and the remarkable contraction movements can actually be visualized on a pelvic ultrasound. Painful cramps can result if the uterus is strongly tilted back (retroverted), if the opening (the cervix) is narrow, or if the lining is very thick. The birth control pill causes a temporary thinning of the lining; making the periods less heavy and painful. For more info about periods, read 4 Types of Menstrual Period Problems.
To learn more, here’s info about periods, menstrual cramps, endometriosis, or fibroids from StopFibroids.com. Or, read How Endometriosis Affects Female Fertility here on Quips and Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility.
Do you have any questions or thoughts about these facts about your period or menstrual cycle? I welcome your commentes below…
In her book, The Venus Week, Dr. Booth discusses the way a woman’s hormonal cycle really works and how knowledge can empower women (in and out of the bedroom!). The Venus Week is the one week of the month when estrogen (the “feel-good hormone”) and testosterone (the “hormone of desire”) are at their peak.
~ Resources for Getting Pregnant & Fertility ~
If you're trying to conceive a baby, learn about getting pregnant easily and naturally.
Are you or your partner coping with low fertility levels? Try FertilAid for Women or FertilAid for Men.
And don't forget about vitamins and minerals, which are essential to a healthy pregnancy! Make sure you're taking the right Pregnancy Plus Prenatal Vitamins.
The day immediately before my period I know that it is coming because I am dog tired. It’s almost like I can barely stay awake as the day progresses. Also, pre-IVF my cycles were irregular, now that I’ve got my hormones in line I’m as regular as they come – very strange.
I believe that I am in my perimenopausal state but my GP doesn’t think so. I am almost 46 and for the past couple of years I have noticed a distinct change in my moods. My periods have become regular for the first time in my life, my breasts are overly senstive and painful, I am very moody, tired and suffering painful headaches and I just cannot lose weight.
I have had my blood tested twice in the past year and each time my GP advises that I am ‘within the normal range’. Is tha normal for all women or normal for me?
Could it be possible that I am perimenopausal?
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Lorraine — it’s absolutely possible that you’re in perimenopause! You could get a second opinion from another GP….but I don’t know that an “official diagnosis” matters. There aren’t any cures for menopause — there are only different ways to manage the mood swings, headaches, and weight struggles.
I just wrote an article for alive magazine about menopause and perimenopause — and here are a few exerpts that you may be interested in:
If you’ve seen no evidence of your period for 12 consecutive months, then you’re officially in menopause. Perimenopause is the period before menopause, and involves hormone-related symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, sleeplessness, and decreased libido.
“Every woman experiences menopause differently,” says Dr Melinda Ring, Medical Director at the Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness in Illinois. “Some sail through with no problems, while others have debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily activities and quality of life.” Lifestyle, genetics, and hormone metabolism all play a role – and Dr Ring adds that a woman’s view of menopause also affects her experience.
Signs of menopause can occur from age 35 to 59; some women start noticing changes in their early 30’s. According to Dr Mary Jane Minkin, MD, co-author of A Woman’s Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause, hot flashes and sleeplessness are the two most common symptoms in North American women.
Mood swings, weight gain, and decreased libido are other symptoms of perimenopause.
If you like, I can send you the article I wrote on menopause, which includes many solutions for symptoms. The article won’t be out until July 2009 issue of alive, but if you email me lauriekienlen at yahoo.ca and I’ll send it to you. It should help — and it lists a couple of books on menopause, as well.
Warm regards,
Laurie