Have you spent most of your life being taken by surprise every time your period came? A period calendar is the best way to make sure that PMS or your periods don’t catch you by surprise. Still wondering about the need to chart your menstrual cycle? Just go through the following piece of read to understand the need for tracking or charting your menstrual cycle.
How to Track Your Menstrual Cycle?
While not as common in today’s times, women many years ago tracked their menstrual cycles according to the phases of the moon. Having its own cycle with different phases and a total count of 29.5 days, it made complete sense to use moon’s phases to track the menstrual cycle. However, with the invention of artificial light, women devised many other creative and effective methods to track the symptoms of their menstrual cycle. Just like their cycle is unique to them, the method selected to track their menstrual cycle also varies from one woman to another. While some prefer tracking their menstrual cycles and penning down the information in a journal, some use online menstrual tracking calendar or mobile application for the purpose. It is extremely important for each and every woman to learn and understand their body. This is a basic survival strategy. Charting of menstrual cycle not only gives them a better control over their reproductive health but also helps women to perfectly understand the rhythms of their body.
What to Track about Menstrual Cycle?
Women must keep track of their period symptoms on a monthly cycle calendar. Not only should they note the date of starting and stopping of their period, but should also try and mark the dates when they experience cramps, mood fluctuations, changes in their vaginal discharge, unexpected pain or other period related symptoms. Ones who have been having periods for a while will know what their normal menstrual flow is. These women can also note and keep track of light or heavy bleeding and any changes in texture and colour of their cervical fluid. A note of any unusual vaginal secretions, which occur during the month, can also be made. A thicker or stickier discharge at mid-cycle is, however, a normal phenomenon which indicates ovulation. After a few cycles pass, a pattern is likely to emerge. By studying this pattern, one can rightly foresee symptoms and be ready for them. Women should practice this exercise of charting their menstrual cycle regularly, without fail, to get accurate readings.
Why Chart Your Menstrual Cycle?
Even if it feels weird, regularly recording everything about the menstrual cycle can help one stay more prepared. Whenever expecting their PMS to strike, these women can stash some medicines in their purse and manage their conditions more easily. On the date when their period is due, they can stock up on sanitary pads to avoid getting caught without one when they need it the most. By charting their menstrual cycle, women are able to provide more accurate and important information to their doctor, especially gynaecologist, about their periods and related symptoms and other health issues if any.
Wondering whether you are fertile now? Charting of menstrual cycle is extremely vital for women who wish to conceive. A woman’s body gives out many signals throughout the month about her fertility. She should just know how to read them rightly. Women are only fertile at certain times during their menstrual cycle. These times are during mid-cycle ovulation and during their natal lunar phase fertile time. Ovulation occurs when the ovary releases a mature egg for fertilization. This occurs 14 days before the start of next bleeding. So, for various cycle lengths, ovulation can occur at different times. This is a rough estimation since stress and sickness can delay ovulation. The fertile window begins a few days prior to ovulation when the cervical mucus starts becoming wetter and more profuse. By maintaining an accurate chart of menstrual cycle, also called a fertility awareness chart, women can easily know of the times when they are most fertile and when their chances of conception are the highest.
Final Take
Although, tracking your menstrual cycle may seem very unimportant initially, you gradually tend to understand its importance in time. Not only does charting the changes that occur throughout the month help you know your body better and become more aware of your menstrual and vaginal health, but the menstrual chart also comes handy when planning to have your little one.
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