What is a Healthy Menstrual Cycle?

Olla beautiful women!

Yes, I’m talking to you, whoever is reading this blog post. You’re beautiful.

Ladies, today we’re talking all things menstrual cycles, menses, periods, your menstrual flow, that time of month… what ever you want to call it, it doesn’t matter – what matters is understanding the difference between a normal, healthy menstrual cycle, and one that might not be. Often times we confuse the words normal and common when it comes to our flow, and I hope that today’s discussions help clear some things up – one of those being: what is often common in women’s cycles is not necessarily normal. 

Common is defined as occurring, found, or done often; prevalent.

For the sake of this blog, let’s define normal as occurring naturally or within a range considered healthy, or optimal – the way it should unfold.  Why does this matter? Because your period can affect your fertility!

Just because you may know many individuals that live with heavy, irregular, painful menstrual cycles, that does not mean that it’s normal, it’s just common. 

A normal cycle should be smooth, should be without excess pain or discomfort and should not be excessively heavy or with major energy or emotional swings. I will break it all down for you below after I give you a little introduction to your menstrual cycle. 

PS. If this is your first time visiting, I should also share with you that I help women navigate fertility, pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period using diet, lifestyle and supplementation. Our goal is always to help nourish the body, to remove obstacles to your healing and  help you feel your best. We work together to address hormone imbalances, digestive imbalances, infertility or overall wellness.

Enough of that, let’s get into it!

What is a Healthy Menstrual Cycle: Talking Points

• Getting to know your Womb and Menses
• Different phases of Menstrual Cycles: Bleed, Follicular, Ovulatory, and luteal
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Length
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Blood Loss
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Clotting
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Colour
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Symptoms
• Normal Menstrual Cycle Cervical Mucus
• Normal Menstrual Cycle & Infertility
• Menstrual Cycle After Stopping The Pill

Getting to know how your womb and the basics of your menstrual cycle is an important topic that all women and men should take the time to learn and discover.

Your menstual cycle tells the story of the state of your hormones and your fertility – how it plays out through the month is a sign of regulation or dysregulation.

Your womb holds the ability to carry and grow new life and includes your reproductive organs.

Whether you are trying to conceive or not, it’s important to understand the role that your hormones (messengers to your body) have. When they are in balance, they can help you feel phenomenal. When hormones are out of balance, they can cause a wide range of undesired symptoms, pains and discomforts. Your ovaries play a large role in how those hormones play out.

If this is a new topic for you, I highly suggest taking the time to get to your know womb and your mentrual cycle on a deeper level. I suggest you take the time to understand the different phased of your cycle, how they may affect your cycle, your fertility, your day-to-day living and so on. I do break things down for you real good in my Cycle Literacy document if you’re interested in taking a peak. In the meantime, below of a snippet of what you can expect. 

A normal menstrual cycle length is anywhere between 21-35 days with a menstrual bleed lasting between 2-7 days. Each person’s normal is different – and that’s ok! 

Your cycle may come around like clockwork, 28 days, every month. Some may have a range of normal which is 30-32 days long. Another variation of a normal menstrual cycle would be 21 days. 

Where the length of your cycle may be a concern, a sign of hormonal imbalance and potentially a sign of fertility complications is when you’re bleeding every 2 weeks, every 40+ days or… it disappears altogether.  

A normal amount of blood loss during a menstrual bleed is approximately 2 ounces. When using a regular tampon, you should not need to change it for at least 4 hours. 

If you’re bleeding during your menstrual cycle more heavily, you need to change your pad or tampon every hour or more, this is a sign that your menstrual cycle is too heavy, and you’ve bleeding more than you should be. 

If your menstrual bleeds are scanty, you are simply spotting and barely need any protection, this is also a sign that hormones are dysregulated and that they need a little tender love and care.  

Your menstrual bleed is composed of blood, vaginal secretions and your shedded uterine wall lining. 

If you do not become pregnant, the unfertilized egg is reabsorbed into the body and the corpus luteum (the organ that is formed after the egg is released), progesterone levels drop and the uterus is triggered to shed.

Realistically, there should be enough enzymes to break down the lining to the point that there are no large chunks that exit your body during your bleed. Should your lining be very thick, and/or those enzymes are lacking, you may notice clotting during your bleed. 

Some minor clotting is perfectly acceptable, however, seeing larger and multiple large clots that are larger than a quarter, are a sign of dysregulation.

The colour of your menstrual bleed should be red for the majority of your bleed. It is normal to see a small amount of darker blood at the end of your cycle (this is old blood that’s been exposed to oxygen and has taken longer to exit). 

Seeing pink or really pale blood or dark blood at the start of your cycle, or even throughout – you may want to assess your current habits to address insufficiencies and other balances. 

Menstrual symptoms should realistically be mild and should cause little discomfort. 

It’s absolutely normal to feel a little tightness around your uterus during your time of bleed. If you experience discomfort, you should be able to carry on with your day without much notice of said discomfort. 

Your bleed should be within the normal range, you may experience a little bloating, or maybe a little fatigue, but nothing more than that.

What is common and often misconstrued as normal are symptoms like: constipation/diarrhea, headaches, tender breasts. Severe abdominal cramps, acne, muscle aches, joint pain, extreme fatigue, extreme mood swings, trouble sleep are also on this list.

It’s my belief that these symptoms have been much too normalized, when in reality, our bodies and mind are congested. Supporting organ systems, managing blood sugar levels and nourishing the body adequately can have a very positive effect on reversing these “not-so-normal” menstrual symptoms.

Your cervix will make mucus to help sperm reach the egg – this is perfectly normal and it’s something to look for through your menstrual cycle. Around ovulation (approximately day 14) of your cycle, you should notice sticky, egg-white mucus in your panties. This is a sign of ovulation! 

If you’re not noticing cervical mucus in your panties, you may notice it when you wipe, or simply internally. If you have never noticed it, it may be time to start paying attention 😉 

… or trying to identify if you’re ovulating at all! Ovulation and cervical mucus come hand-in-hand – and remember, they are the key to fertility!

Some women may have what appears to be a normal menstrual cycle, it comes on a monthly basis and it ins’t causing too many pains or discomforts. Just because a menstrual cycle may look to be good, a person may still experience infertility – often called idiopathic infertility.

What to look for in these cases is the person as a whole – are they eating enough? are they eating the right foods to support fertility? Are they experiencing hormonal imbalances that haven’t been diagnosed? Are they simply not emotionally ready? Is stress overbearing?

While it may seem impossible, there are many areas worth exploring and working through to further support your fertility and health goals.  

I don’t care (I do) what anyone else tells you, but… ** it takes time for your body to adjust after coming off the pill! ** It’s simple, really. You were on synthetic hormones for X amount of years, now your body needs to adjust back to using it’s own hormones.  

After coming off the pill, many women take a couple years to get back to normal, the same goes for coming off the hormonal IUDs. 

you may experience irregular bleeds (every 14-40+ days between bleeds), you may experience heavier bleeding, cramping, pains, headaches… this is all very plausible for you, and it may very well suck. Long-term, your body will thank you. 

If you’re on the pill now or you’ve just come off, you can start to take steps today to change and stick to a healthier diet and make lifestyle changes to better support your naturally produced hormones! Don’t wait – start now.

What is a Health Menstrual cycle: Summarized

So there we have it, a little more knowledge about the difference between a normal menstrual cycle and a common cycle.

If you fall in the common, not-normal realm, it may be worth having a chat. Feel free to book a FREE discovery call, call or email me at any time to see how I may be of service to you and your womb.

In addition to helping your bleed more normal and comfortable, I’m also here for your fertility support, hormone support, and/or bowel support needs.

For more free fertility, pregnancy and digestive support, sign up to my newsletters to get updates on new blog posts and ongoing events!

Wishing you all the best,

Veronique, CNP
Your fertility and nutrition coach.