Many cultural traditions honor the link between the female cycle and the moon. Menstruation actually derives from the Greek word for moon, mene. As far back as Ancient Greece, doctors believed that a woman’s cycle and the lunar cycle were intricately linked. While not fully scientifically backed, cultures ranging from many indigenous ones to the Hindu and Buddhist all honor this connection between the female cycle and the moon.
Many cultural traditions honor the link between the female cycle and the moon. Menstruation actually derives from the Greek word for moon, mene. As far back as Ancient Greece, doctors believed that a woman’s cycle and the lunar cycle were intricately linked. While not fully scientifically backed, cultures ranging from many indigenous ones to the Hindu and Buddhist all honor this connection between the female cycle and the moon.
The period of menstruation is thought to be a time when women are at their most powerful spiritually and mentally. So how can we harness this power of our moon time? Read on to understand how our monthly hormones work and how we can work with our cycles instead of against them to fully step into our goddess power.
A woman’s menstrual cycle is her fifth vital sign after body temperature, blood pressure, pulse and breathing rate, but has anyone ever explained it to you like this before? When you remove the confounding factors of oral contraceptives and IUDs, your monthly flow serves as a barometer of health, one that is intricately linked with not only your hormones but also with your emotional state and your connection with nature.
A ”normal” cycle is considered to be anywhere between 26-34 days long. There is a lot of individuality here, and it is important to establish early on what your baseline is to have a benchmark, month after month. That being said, monthly cycles tend to change with each phase of a woman’s life. The teenage years can show a lot of variation ranging anywhere from 23-90 days apart. The reproductive years can shift more toward a more stable 24-38 cycle. Peri-menopausal years can begin showing irregularity with what was once a 29-day cycle suddenly shortening to 24 days or disappearing for several months altogether! All this to say, that it is normal for there to be variability and for there to be a difference of plus or minus six days at any given month.
Within the menstrual cycle, there is your monthly bleed. The first day of bleeding is considered Day 1 of your cycle. Bleeding can last anywhere between three to seven days and be considered “normal” with the second day being heavier in terms of blood loss.
Healthy blood loss can be subjectively defined as using no more than six tampons or sanitary pads per day. This comes to an average of 30-80ml of blood loss per day, which of course is difficult to quantify!
It is also considered normal to expel clots during your bleed week. These are simply a mix of uterine tissue and coagulated blood. As long as these clots are no bigger than a quarter, all is well.
Mild cramping, a sense of heaviness in the pelvis, and/or minor breast tenderness/fullness are all considered normal. If, however, you are reaching for a pain medication or experiencing headaches, this is not normal. The days just prior to bleeding and the initial days of bleeding should leave us perhaps wanting less socialization, needing more sleep, noticing a minor shift in energy and cravings, but nothing more disruptive than that to make us feel out of control or in pain. As my mentor, incredible herbalist and MD, Dr Aviva Romm, says, “remember common is not the same as normal!”
While most of us know the basics of our cycle, many women are unaware of exactly what is happening to their body throughout the month. This is where education needs to happen. Women are not in any way similar to men, yet society and science keep trying to treat us the same, with blanket statements and suggestions that are meant to serve both the male and female population. The problem is that these suggestions fall short for women, not taking into consideration the intricacies of a cycling female and all the nuances that come with the subtle but powerful shift of hormones. Hormones determine our mood, physiology, food cravings, energy, cognitive capacity, strength, sex drive and much more.
Stay tuned for more about learning to work with your cycle from week to week.
