How To Track My Period Cycle

Period Tracking And Pregnancy

How to track your cycle (without a period!)

For many women, a missed period is the first indication of pregnancy. That fact alone is reason enough for sexually active women to keep track of their monthly cycles. Most forms of birth control don’t quite hit the 100% effectiveness mark, and an unplanned pregnancy is the last thing you need.

In addition to birth control, following the ârhythm methodâ â in which a woman avoids sex during her most fertile days to prevent pregnancy â relies on accurate period tracking.

On the other end of the spectrum, women trying to conceive can use period tracking to learn when they are the most fertile. This may boost the chances of conception significantly.

Benefits Of Menstrual Cycle Tracking

Keeping record of the length and timing of your period, qualities of your menstrual fluid , and symptoms like cramping or fatigue can help you learn what is normal for your body. Finding out what a typical period is like for you can make it easier to spot trends that help you prepare for your next one. This information can also help you estimate when your next period will come. This can be helpful when deciding the days for your next big vacation or even when planning for certain health care appointments like an IUD insertion, etc.

Knowing what is normal for your body when it comes to menstruating can also come in handy when meeting with a health care provider. Because periods are important health indicators, its pretty common for clinicians to ask about the first day of your last menstrual period during a visit. This information is a lot easier to provide when you track your cycle.

Cycle tracking can also help you identify significant changes to your cycle or symptoms that might be worth mentioning to a doctor like unusual bleeding between periods, feeling dizzy while on your period, severe pain that keeps you from engaging in regular day-to-day activities, and heavy flow that means you need to change you tampon or pad hourly. Tracking the menstrual cycle may help to identify patterns that clinicians might be able to help with by prescribing a hormonal birth control method that could make your period lighter or more regular.

Why You Should Be Careful With Apps

Menstrual-tracking apps help people keep tabs on their periods, ovulation and pregnancies. What they dont always do is keep that information to themselves.

Research into the privacy practices of popular period-tracking apps has consistently raised concerns. A 2021 report from the International Digital Accountability Council found period trackers sending unencrypted personal information or sharing data with third parties without fully disclosing that in their privacy policies. The period app Flo got in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission last year for deceptive practices around its data sharing. Flo says it now does not share health data with any third party. IDAC also referred the app Premom to the FTC and other regulators for alleged inconsistencies between its privacy policy and practices, said IDAC president Quentin Palfrey.

Premom didnt reply to a request for comment.

Natural Cycles, the first-ever app cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for birth control, can collect sensitive information linked to your identity, according to its listing in the Apple App Store.

Unlike details you share with a health-care provider, the health information you turn over to an app is not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act . That means it could end up in the hands of data brokers who collect and sell hoards of personal data insurers, employers and even law enforcement.

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Changes In Mood During The Menstrual Cycle

If you experience PMS or PMDD, your moods may seem subject to random fluctuations. By tracking your moods in the days leading up to and during your period, you just might find that you wake up on the wrong side of bed exactly two days before starting your cycle each month.

Forewarned is forearmed, so the more you know about what to expect from your moods, the better you can cope with them as they come.

What If I Bleed Through My Clothes Are They Ruined

Menstruation Cycle Menstruel Calendrier

Not necessarily! Before we get into the nitty-gritty, know that leaks happen to everyone.

When you first start your period, youre learning about how much you bleed, how much your menstrual product can hold, and when your flow is heaviest.

If you can, keep a couple of stain wipes in your bag. They can help get the worst of the stain out and hold things over until youre able to clean the fabric properly.

You can also tie a jacket or sweatshirt around your waist to help cover the stain until youre able to change.

When you get home, try this method to get blood stains off:

  • Soak the stained fabric in cold water as soon as possible. Warm or hot water will cause the stain to set into the fabric, so make sure the water is cold.
  • If you have stain remover handy, nows the time to spray it on. Make sure the affected area is completely soaked. Allow it to sit for as long as the products label recommends.
  • If you dont have a stain remover or you want to double up on your technique rub bar soap or dab liquid soap into the affected area. You should get a small lather, where little bubbles appear on your pants.
  • Rinse and repeat the soap scrub until the stain lifts.
  • If the stain doesnt remove all the way, you can wash the clothing in the washing machine. Just make sure you use cold water instead of warm or hot.
  • Allow the clothing to air-dry. The heat from the dryer can make the stain set permanently.
  • Read Also: Does Birth Control Regulate Your Period

    Also Check: Why Do I Spot A Week Before My Period

    When Does Pms Start

    PMS symptoms usually start about five days before your period starts and end about four days after the period has started. PMS may happen around this time because estrogen and progesterone levels drop after ovulation.

    Its also possible that these hormonal changes cause chemical changes in the brain, affecting serotonin, a neurotransmittera brain chemicalthat affects mood, fatigue, cravings, and sleep.

    Understand The Science Of Your Body

    Get personalized insights when you log your symptoms and track your cycle in the Obie app.

    If you are trying to get pregnant and you have regular spotting before your real period begins, we suggest that in addition to using the ovulation calendar, you also use the BBT and an ovulation detection tool in order to find out when you can get pregnant. If you have a lot of spotting, you might want to talk to your Ob-Gyn and assess your progesterone level shortly after presumed ovulation.

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    Supporting Varied And Changing Reasons For Tracking

    Apps support many of the motivations women have for tracking their menstrual cycle . Supporting many tracking motivations provides benefits, including supporting people when their goals change. S148 initially started because I was fairly irregular and wanted to find any trend I could, but now has different goals: now I track to make sure I’m not missing my period a pregnancy check, basically. S318 originally tracked for awareness: before, it was to know when it would next come, and is now trying to become pregnant: more recently, it has been to know when I’m ovulating for conception. In practice, apps for menstrual cycle tracking are not wholly successful at supporting varying goals. S127 has tracked for both health and fertility, noting some have features for health and some have features for fertility planning to make the most, I have used various apps at the same time and entered data into them twice.

    One option to better support these goals is to include more information and options relating to fertility, pregnancy, and post-partum. However, some women believe apps already focus too much on these areas. S467 felt her app is clearly trying to support my getting pregnant and not just agnostically for tracking . A1936, who just started having her period, felt the ovulation information in Clue was not relevant to her: I would like it if they made a kid’s version because idc about fertile!! I’m too young!!

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    Log Previous Cycles If Possible

    Garmin Connect: Tracking Your Menstrual Cycle

    Before I deleted my period-tracking app, I took screenshots of as much past data as I could, like cycle trend overviews and past months I’d logged. This gave me a more stable place to start when I began tracking by hand.

    If you don’t have that information available, don’t worry, you can simply start logging when your upcoming period begins.

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    Whens Your Period How To Track Yours With Ovia And How We Predict When It Will Come Next

    After ovulation, your levels of the hormone progesterone spike. This hormone thickens the lining of the uterus in preparation for a fertilized egg. When your body recognizes that there is no fertilized egg, progesterone levels fall which causes the uterine lining to shed. This is what you see when you get your period. Read on to learn how period tracking works in Ovia.

    And Is Gaslighting Considered Abuse

    Abuse may sound like a loaded term, but gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse. So what does that really mean?

    UK-based nonprofit SafeLives explains that psychological abuse can include:

    • When someone regularly and intentionally uses their words and actions to scare or upset you
    • When someone tries to control your actions or confuse you into not knowing what the truth is anymore
    • When someone tries to break your confidence and change the way you see yourself by speaking down to you or humiliating you

    Being given the silent treatment during arguments, feeling like you cant hang out with certain friends or family members, being made to feel responsible for your partners emotions and reactions, and being made to doubt your own memories and beliefs also all fall into this.

    It can be really jarring to attach the term abuse to your relationship. Many of us think itll never happen to us, but youre never alone. Try to reach out to someone you trust and explain what youre going through. This might be as simple as running through some examples of their behavior and how it made you feel.

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    When Is Your Fertility Window And How Long Does It Last

    Sperm can live for up to five days in your body after sex. Certain cervical mucus changes during this time create an environment more friendly to sperm. So although an egg only lives for up to 24 hours, your fertility window includes both the lifetime of the sperm and the egg about six days. occurs the day before and the day of ovulation.

    Period Tracker Flo App

    How To Count Your Period Cycle

    All women, even those with irregular cycles, can rely on Flo. Log your period days in a handy calendar, schedule menstrual cycle reminders, record moods and pms symptoms, and take full control of your health.

    Wondering when you had your last period? Want to know when your next period is coming? With Flo female menstrual calendar its easy to keep track of your cycle.

    Read Also: How Do You Know If You On Your Period

    Keep A Record Of Your Periods

    Tracking your menstrual cycle simply means keeping a record of when youre menstruating and documenting other information related to your cycle. You used to have to do this with a calendar and pen, but now many great period-tracking apps make the job easy.

    If you prefer to calculate your period the old-fashioned way, youll want to mark on a calendar the first day of bleeding with, for example, a slash or check mark, says , an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

    The length of your cycle is measured from that day to the first day of your next period, Dr. Attaran explains. For most women, the average cycle is 28 days, although anything from 21 to 35 days is considered normal in adult women.

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    Q Can You Speed Up Your Menstrual Cycle

    • Take contraceptives on a regular basis. It can effectively regulate your menstrual cycle.
    • Some doctors recommend hormone injection to stimulate your menstrual cycle.
    • Sexual activity increases the blood flow to the genitals, stimulating the uterus to contract.
    • Eat high levels of vitamin C rich food. Vitamin C rich foods produce estrogen in the body and build the uterine lining, contracting the uterus and causing menstruation.

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    How To Track Your Period Date Using Clovias Period Tracker

    1. Enter your last period date

    The more accurate your last period date is, the more accurately our tool can tell your upcoming period date.

    2. Tell how long your period lasts

    Periods can be as small as 3 days or as long as 6-7 days. Since everyones body is different, you need to tell the approx time your period lasts for.

    3. Enter the duration of your monthly cycle

    Some women can get their periods in every 22 days while some over 35 days. According to the last couple of months, you can tell us in how long does your monthly period cycle comes.

    How To Plan Around Your Menstrual Cycle

    Taking you through a typical chart – Tracking your cycle

    When you start to consistently track your menstrual cycle, something magical will happen: Youll realize youre WAY more in tune with your body.

    For instance, you might start to notice little changes that happen to your body around the same day each cyclesuch as itchy nipples on day 26, a momentary twinge of stomach pain around day 14 , or having trouble waking up to your alarm on days 2 and 3.

    The more detailed you can be with your daily journal entries, the better youll start to understand your bodys natural rhythms: When youre feeling confident and energetic , when your sex drive is at its peak , and when your body most craves extra sleep and a less-hectic schedule .

    Use all that intel to hack your calendarsocial, work, and otherwise:

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    Has Anyone Got Pregnant While On Their Period

    While it’s extremely unlikely, the simple answer is yes. Women are not able to conceive whilst on their period, but sperm survives within the female reproductive system for up to five days. This means that a tiny fraction of women do have a small chance of becoming pregnant from unprotected sex during their period.

    What To Do If You Think Youve Experienced Gaslighting

    If you think you may have experienced or be experiencing gaslighting, dealing with the after-effects may seem a little daunting. However, its so important to remember that youre not alone, and this absolutely isnt your fault.

    If youre in this situation, its worth distancing yourself from this person, Masterson says. Trying to change how they treat you will not work.

    The person who is gaslighting you may be really ingrained in your life. They could be at school or home, for example, and it might feel tricky to work out how to get that distance. But you aren’t isolated, and there are people out there who are able to help. Reach out to someone you trust. This might be a friend, teacher, or parent. Talk to the person who feels safest to you.

    It could be a really great idea to start gathering evidence and building a case for yourself. That way, youre less likely to doubt yourself that theres gaslighting going on. Note down every time they do something that makes you second-guess yourself. Keep messages and pictures as proof. This might make it easier to remember individual incidents later.

    And at any point, you can reach out to nonprofits or support groups for help. In the United States, the number to call is 1-800-799-SAFE , says Masterson. If you feel like youre in danger or need help right away, then call 911 or your emergency services number .

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    View Detailed Information About Your Periods And Menstrual Cycle

    When your healthcare provider asks, âWhen was your last period?â you can simply grab your phone and tap on the calendar icon to show them your last periods in the calendar. You can also see a list of your past cycles, and your cycle averages by going to the Analysis screen .

    On the right side of the screen, you can see a summary of how long your cycles have been. Period days for each cycle are shown in red, the estimated ovulation day is indicated with a star, and if youâve tracked PMS those days are shown in blue.

    This section of the Clue app also shows your typical cycle length , your typical period length , and the typical cycle length variation

    How Tracking Helps You Avoid Pregnancy

    Printable Period Tracker Menstrual Cycle Tracker Period

    For women trying to avoid pregnancy who have very regular cycles, the fertility awareness method is used by some women as a means of birth control. The idea is to avoid sex during the time in your cycle when you are most likely to conceive.

    However, Attaran cautions, this isnt foolproof and will definitely not work for people who have irregular periods. For these reasons, it is not recommended as a way of preventing pregnancy, she says.

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    Signs Your Period Is Coming

    The body works in mysterious ways to alert you that your period is coming. We dive into some of the different signs so youre never caught off guard.

    Even less fun than your actual period is the week or two of symptoms that many of us experience leading up to it. Premenstrual syndrome, which most of us know as PMS, is very common. In fact, nearly half of women experience PMS at some point in their lifetime. And while it looks different in everyone, PMS is thought to be caused by the same thing: fluctuating hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle.

    The signs your period is coming arent the same for every person, and they can even change for an individual from month to month. For some, PMS symptoms are a minor annoyance, but for others, they can be debilitating.

    Lets delve into some of the signs your period may be on its way and what to look out for so you dont get caught short without your menstrual product of choice.

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