Tracking your Menstrual Cycle

One benefit of period tracking is that it helps you get to know what is normal – and what isn’t – for your body. As a result of having a better understanding of the typical cyclical symptoms you experience, you should be able to identify any changes and/or abnormalities in your cycle which may require you to seek the advice of a professional. The tracking log can also serve to assist your doctor in getting a more comprehensive idea of your menstrual cycle, helping them to better understand your individual circumstances.

We recommend you seek the advice of your medical team or consult a doctor if you experience any of the following during your cycle:

• Severe pain (inability to continue daily activities or requiring significant pain relief)
• Heavy bleeding (i.e., flooding of pads, changing pad/tampon every hour)
• Vomiting and nausea
• Pain with bowel/bladder opening
• Blood in urine or bowel motion
• Urinary incontinence

To learn more about menstrual abnormalities and what they mean, visit our menstrual disorders page.

Tracking your menstrual cycle also gives you the ability to optimise your training and prepare yourself for any competitive goals. It does so by providing you with an understanding of where you are in your cycle as well as any symptoms you may be experiencing allowing you to adjust your training, recovery, nutrition and hydration appropriately.

This is an area of increasing research interest. Currently, there is significant research heterogeneity however there is some evidence you may perform better, recover easier and be more susceptible to injury at different times of your cycle. As a result, understanding your cycle will allow you to consider implementing changes with your training to optimise performance.

To learn more about how athletic performance is influenced by the menstrual cycle, check out our menstrual cycle and athletic performance blog post.

Period tracking also gives you better control over your reproductive goals by helping you estimate your fertile window. This is important as the most fertile days in your menstrual cycle are the days leading up to ovulation, the phase of your menstrual cycle when the egg is released from the ovary.

However, it should be noted that if your cycles are irregular or your cycle length varies from month to month, the timing of your fertile window may fluctuate and be difficult to calculate. In this case, you may wish to consider seeking further advice from your general practitioner or a fertility specialist.

If you are trying to conceive, having unprotected intercourse every two days during your fertile window will give you the best chance of conception. This ensures that sperm are present to fertilise the egg when ovulation occurs. To learn more about the menstrual cycle, read our understanding the menstrual cycle page.

Alternatively, if you are trying to avoid pregnancy you can also use this information to reduce your chances of falling pregnant by avoiding intercourse or implementing an additional layer of contraception during the most fertile days of your cycle. This is however not a consistently effective method of contraception.

To learn more about contraceptive options that may be suited to your individual needs please see our contraception page.