Know Your Flow…

We were bought up to believe that a 28 day cycle is the piece de resistance of all cycles. However, as with most cases in western medicine, it mitigates the fact that we are all UNIQUE and we do not all neatly fit into a box of what is societally deemed “normal”.

It’s true that a 28 day cycle is average but until we actually delve in deeper to the specific phases of the cycle and what time frames are needed to have a) healthy ovulation and b) a healthy menstrual flow, then actually you start to realise that this 28 day average is a load of tosh!

We know that we need ideally between a 12 – 16 day luteal phase (second half of your cycle, post ovulation). Ideally, we then have a 3 – 6 day bleed. But actually, it’s less about the time that you are menstruating and more the amount of blood, colour and consistency (more about that later!). Which leaves our follicular phase (post menstruation, pre-ovulation) which is typically around 7 – 10 days. And finally, ovulation, or our fertile window, is usually around 3 – 5 days.

Looking beyond the numbers, I hope you can see that there are many variables and actually everyone’s “normal” is very different.

However, there are some key things to look out for which will help us define when our normal has come out of balance.

In Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), an ideal average cycle length should be between 28-32 days, with 3-5 days of moderate bleeding. Everyone’s cycle should be regular and if yours happens to be 32 each month, then great! Embrace it. This is your norm.

What happens when your cycle is irregular or has gone awol?

It is ABSOLUTELY NORMAL to have blips in your cycle.

Due to our personal stress levels, our lifestyle that month for example drinking more than you should or simply exercising more heavily than usual. These are all factors which can have an impact on the regularity of our cycle.

We would only start becoming concerned when these blips extend beyond 2-3 cycles.

If this “irregular” patterns extend beyond 2-3 cycles then we would consider it to be a hormonal pathology that we need to address. This is why it’s so important to create cyclical rhythms and healthy habits each month so that our body finds its natural, most optimal hormonal flow. Early periods may indicate a luteal phase deficiency whereas extended periods could indicate an- ovulatory cycles.

The quality of a women’s ovulatory cycle can tell you everything you need to know about your hormonal and fertile health. Specifically, it’s important to look at the colour, consistency, volume and regularity of menstruation in additional to your cyclical symptoms to give you insight into hormonal health.

Life + Lemons’ ‘Know Your Flow’ e-book is designed to help you become a mini- expert on your own flow and developing awareness around your cyclical rhythms.

It is by no means as a diagnostic tool but rather it offers you insight into your monthly health card, your period, to reflect on the things in life that are serving you and help you to let go of the things that aren’t.

We draw on Chinese medicine to help us dive deeper into this state of cycle awareness as its philosophy perfectly and poetically reflects the cycles/rhythms of nature within each of us.

To learn more about you and your period from everything such as the colour to cyclical symptoms, to natural remedies and ultimately to discovering what your period is telling you, then click the link below, fill out your details and we will send you Life + Lemons’ ‘Know Your Flow’ E-Book directly to your inbox. Equally, if you have any questions or concerns and would like to speak to me directly then I would love for you to either call us on 0114 4910885 or emailing us at [email protected]