A Healthy Menstrual Cycle

Despite the fact that most women experience a monthly menses (your period) from puberty until menopause, most of us really don’t understand our menstrual cycle or how it can give us fantastic information about the state of our health. This used to be true for me as well, and now I would like to share with you what I now know, what I believe constitutes a healthy menstrual cycle and why it’s so important to have a greater understanding of your own personal menstrual cycle.

A healthy menstrual cycle should be symptom free. I mean no bloating, breast tenderness, cramping, clotting, mood swings, fatigue, depressed mood etc. Many many women live with these symptoms every cycle believing that they are a normal and necessary occurrence, not realizing that neither are they normal nor are they necessary.

When we experience PMS type symptoms, these are indications that our hormonal balance is out of sync and/or our state of health is not optimal. Our menstrual cycles are affected by our lifestyle factors (including sleep, stress, exercise, diet, water intake and alcohol consumption), the state of our blood health (including any anemias) and the interplay between our hormones (including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, thyroid and DHEA) which are themselves influenced by our lifestyle factors.

Most directly our menstrual cycles are influenced by the hormones estrogen and progesterone and we can glean very useful information about the balance between these two hormones by analyzing our menstrual cycles.

Estrogen predominantly exerts its effects during the first half of the menstrual cycle (the follicular phase) from day 1 to approximately day 14 (the exact day of ovulation can vary quite a bit from this 14 day mark), and is both responsible for growing the endometrium (the inner layer of our uterus that sheds during your period) in preparation for implantation of a fertilized egg and for ripening the ovum (the egg) for ovulation. Upon ovulation, progesterone predominantly exerts its effects during this second half of the cycle known as the luteal phase. About 12-15 days after ovulation, if a fertilized egg has not implanted, progesterone levels drastically drop off, indicating to the body that it is time to shed the endometrial lining (initiating your period) and to begin the cycle again of preparing the endometrium for implantation of a fertilized egg and for a potential pregnancy.

While there are many different combinations that can occur between estrogen, progesterone and their supporting players (testosterone, cortisol, thyroid and DHEA), there are two main patterns that exist in our society. Estrogen dominance generally manifests with long and heavy periods that are clotted and painful, cramping, breast tenderness, irritability and mood swings. Progesterone deficiency (referred to as a luteal phase defect) generally manifests as a luteal phase less than 9 days long and, often, difficulty conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy if you are trying to get pregnant.

The key to rebalancing your menstrual cycle is determining where the imbalance is stemming from, that is, what the root cause is. This is a very individualized process and generally there are multiple factors at play. Luckily, there are wonderful ways of of getting you back on track including acupuncture, herbal medicine, lifestyle modifications, stress reduction such as through exercise or meditation, dietary changes and detoxification to name a few. I believe that every women deserves to experience an easy and enjoyable period. Yes, I really said that and yes, I really believe that.

I hope that you found this information interesting and useful. Have a lovely day!

Dr. Field