Regularly recording your menstrual cycle can provide much more information than just the expected arrival of your period. The length of your cycle, the intensity and course of your period, and other accompanying symptoms can be important indicators of your health. Keeping track of your cycle is also useful for women who want to increase their chances of conceiving, as well as for those who would like to avoid pregnancy. In this article, you will find out how to start effectively tracking your menstrual cycle and, most importantly, 3 main reasons why it can be worth it.
Why track your cycle?
By regularly recording your menstrual cycle and writing down information, you will understand what is normal for you and your cycle, you will always have an overview of which part of the cycle you are in, and in short, you will have a much better overview of yourself. However, you do not have to keep the information from the collected data only for yourself, but you can also provide it to your doctor , and thanks to this, you can, for example, detect possible problems related to the menstrual cycle and reproduction in time.
By regularly recording your cycle, you will find out when and whether you ovulate and how your fertility is doing - which you can use to support pregnancy or if you would like to avoid it naturally without hormones.
A woman's libido is also tied to ovulation, which naturally rises and falls throughout her cycle. It's normal and natural for us to feel more desire on certain days of the month than others. By tracking our cycle, you can better understand these patterns.
Unexplained feelings of irritability, sudden sadness or loneliness that seem to come out of nowhere. Hormonal changes during the cycle can have a big impact on mood, but they can also affect many other aspects of a woman's body; sleep patterns, hunger and appetite, energy levels or recovery after sports activity. Once you have an overview of your cycle and all these changes, you can also better understand the symptoms that you encounter during your cycle. In short, you will understand why you feel the way you do on a given day.
What to watch for starters
Tracking your menstrual cycle doesn't have to be complicated; all you need is a notebook and a pencil, or you can try some of the free mobile apps. To start, choose a method that you can easily access and refer to regularly.
Subsequently, you can regularly focus on each cycle:
- cycle length , which is the time between the first day of menstrual bleeding and the last day before the start of the next period
- How many days do you bleed during your period?
- intensity and color of blood flow
- accompanying symptoms during the cycle, such as pain, energy levels, mood, sleep patterns, or symptoms of premenstrual syndrome
If you want to fully engage in cycle tracking, in our webinar Symptothermal Method in Practice, we will teach you how to effectively monitor and record changes in basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and how to use all of this to determine the most fertile period of the cycle or as a form of natural contraception.
