HOW YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE WORKS WITH JEMA LEE.
Ahhhh your menstrual cycle. If you’re anything like me at age 15.5 when my first period arrived I was blind. It wasn’t just me either, most of my friends also knew nothing about their menstrual cycles except the very basics. Tampons, pads, bleed, don’t talk about it. Well, fast forward almost 2 decades and we’re in the era of menstrual cycle awareness.
Did you know that your menstrual cycle is your vital sign of health? Think of it like your monthly health check. If you’re new to cycle awareness and exhausted by ‘cycle signs’ that may even be affecting your life. I got you, here’s the menstrual cycle 101 you wish you got at school.
Your menstrual cycle is broken down into 4 phases. Menstruation, post menstruation / pre ovulation, ovulation and post ovulation / pre menstruation. Each of these phases coincides with a change in hormones, energy, libido, cervical mucus, food desires, movement and much more.
To simplify things I refer to each of these phases as seasons;
Inner Winter - menstruation
Inner Spring - post menstruation / pre ovulation
Inner Summer - ovulation
Inner Autumn - post ovulation / pre menstruation
Every menstruators cycle is slightly different and therefore has different lengths, this is due to slightly different ovulation times. Reminder; your cycle may be cyclical and occur roughly every month but it’s not clockwork. As much as we may desire for our cycle to run on time to fit into our day-to-day lives, it all occurs when the bodies ready.
I believe a healthy cycle length can vary between 26-32 days. Irregular cycles generally have either longer or shorter cycle lengths. When these occur it’s a great message from your ‘period health check’ to enquire further as to why your cycle is irregular. Working with a menstrual cycle coach or doctor can be very beneficial short and long term.
Irregular cycles can occur for many reasons, the most common is due to hormone changes. Given that we have 4 main hormones that govern our cycle; Estrogen, Progesterone, Follicular Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and the Luteinising Hormone (LH).
Each of these hormones has a unique purpose however they all contribute to the main menstrual cycle goal of ovulation. Ovulation occurs during Inner Summer, it’s when our ovary releases and egg for fertilisation. This is the peak of your cycle and it’s full of Yang. Ovulation time often also has us feeling more energised, confident and ready to peak with our physical movement. On the flip side of our cycle we have Menstruation. Menstruation is our bleeding time which generally lasts between 3-5 days, it also marks the peak of our Yin. At this time of our cycle we’re drawn to rest, turning inward we have much less energy than in the other phases of our cycle.
Follow Jema Lee’s journey here.