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What is the use of keeping track of the menstrual cycle and how it helps to perform more
Health
Recording the cycle, with an app or a diary, is an essential way of self-knowledge to perform and feel better on a day-to-day basis.
Although it is something that occurs constantly every month, many women of childbearing age are unaware of how their menstrual cycle works. Thus, they feel disconnected from their menstruation, something that can be painful and uncomfortable, much more if it is unknown how it works in general and how it affects our body in particular.
Paloma Alma, expert in menstruation and founder of CYCLO Menstruation Sostenible, explains that it is essential to know the menstrual cycle to be able to live in accordance with it. «Knowing it is not just knowing how many days it lasts, or when the menstruation will come again; is to detect what type of patterns are repeated throughout your cycle, to know, depending on the energy you have, in what phase you are … “, says the expert, who gives as an example that there are many women who take the pill and do not know that they lack of menstrual cycle, very important information.
What is a menstrual diary
One way, not to know the menstrual cycle, but to know one’s own, and how our body reacts to each phase, is to have a ‘menstrual diary’. “It is a wonderful tool to get to know each other better,” says Paloma Alma, who adds that knowing ourselves better “means understanding our cycle, knowing how to take advantage of each of our phases and making it an ally instead of an enemy.” To do this, Paloma Alma’s recommendation is to write a little every day. A good way to start can be to fix three important aspects that we want to find out about ourselves and reflect and write down something characteristic each day. “For example, if I want to know when I am more productive, more creative or when I have the most desire to play sports, every day I can rate these aspects from 1 to 10”, says the expert.
If we carry out this control for at least three months, we may find patterns that help us understand each other better. Thus, we can know which days have more energy, better mood or if the mood varies or not. Although we do a monthly check-up, Paloma Alma remembers that «our cycle is alive and reacts to what happens to us; it’s changing”. Thus, the months in which there is more stress than others, the change of seasons … everything can cause variations.
What are the phases of the menstrual cycle?
As Paloma Alma explains in ‘CYCLO: Your sustainable and positive menstruation’ (Montera), the menstrual cycle, which we can describe as “a dance of hormones that act together for a whole month”, has four different bases, marked by changes in our hormones:
1. Menstruation: the first day of bleeding indicates the first day of the cycle. “In this phase, the endometrium is shed and expelled to the outside in what we know as menstrual bleeding,” explains Alma.
2. Preovulación: in this phase the new ovum begins to develop in our ovaries. «This phase is like spring; we are beginning to be reborn, our energy rises and we want to do many things “, says the expert.
3. Ovulation: About the middle of the cycle, the mature egg is released and goes into the fallopian tubes. “At this stage we have a lot of energy and surely we have more desire to socialize,” says Alma.
4. Premenstrual: in this phase the levels of the hormone progesterone rise. “The drop in estrogen can cause some menstrual symptoms such as headaches and even migraines,” warns the professional.
On how to start recording our cycle, the expert’s recommendation is opt for a paper diary or a diagram. «The diagram is an easy, fun and above all, very visual tool. It helps us see the cycle at a glance and thus be able to make decisions, “he says. In addition, a good way to start can be by marking the days and sensations in an app; there are several that fulfill the function.
How to keep a ‘menstrual diary’
About what to write or what not to write in the registry, Paloma Alma’s advice is clear: «Let yourself flow. If you choose a journal to keep track of, forget about how; only write”. Ensures that dWe must express everything we feel, taking it out and thinking that no one is going to read us or judge what is written there. “If you find it difficult to write on a particular day, write ‘today it is difficult for me’, because that is also information about our cycle,” he points out. Remember that, when it comes to recording the cycle, “it is not the form but the substance that interests us on this journey.”
“Getting to know each other is the basis for achieving our goals in life, on a personal level, at work and in all aspects,” says Paloma Alma. The expert comments that the cycle is an encyclopedia that we have inside and that it contains a lot of information about ourselves. “We just have to learn to decipher and understand it. Knowing our cycle is knowing ourselves and being able to face our life with awareness, information and power, ”he concludes.