Track your period

Are you tracking your period? 

Logging your period every time, can tell you more about your health than you might imagine. Whether you want to get pregnant or avoid pregnancy, or simply be aware of your female health, tracking your menstrual cycles and symptoms can provide you with invaluable information and insights.

Let’s start by how you should track your period?

1. The simplest way to track your cycle is to log when your period occurs, the start date and end date. You will establish your average cycle length, and understand its frequency, whether it’s regular or not. A 28-day cycle is the text book perfect cycle, but may not be your personal average. 
2. It is useful to note down the changes in your cervical mucus to be able to better track when you ovulate. Some women feel ovulation, others don’t. Body temperature and cervical mucus are good indication to when your ovulation can be expected, therefore you can better predict your fertile days.
3. You can also track your mood throughout your cycle marking days when you feel calm and balanced, or irritable and angry, other times perhaps finding difficulty in concentrating. These mood swings can be caused by hormonal changes, the effect of estrogen and progesterone on serotonin levels in the brain. 
4. Notice and register spikes and lows in your energy levels and sexual desire. Around ovulation women’s sex drive often increases.
5. You can use a simple calendar or an app to track your period. Once you started tracking you will probably see a pattern developing.

Benefits of tracking

• When you understand your cycle and you can predict it, you will naturally feel more in control and less likely to be surprised when you get it. 
• You will know around when your ovulation is and when your fertile window is. While the actual day of ovulation is very difficult to predict, you can have a good approximation. This is especially important if you are trying to conceive. 
• You can understand and manage your changing mood. It’s not just about PMS. Hormonal changes throughout your cycle can cause mood swings, including irritability, anger, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, difficulty concentrating, and tension. 
• Your awareness of your overall health and wellness improves. Your periods are your body’s way of telling you if things are working as they should.

There are many applications, both free and paid for, that you can choose to track your period. I’d like to recommend one called FEMM. This Women’s Health app is not only a period tracker, but it helps you keep track of your health, understand what is going on with your body, and flag potential issues.