Paying attention to your period regularity is one of the best ways to determine if your hormones are balanced. Our hormones are vital for maintaining many of our daily functions. If hormones are imbalanced over an extended time, this can lead to many complications like PCOS, osteoporosis, nutrient deficiencies, hair loss, fatigue, depression, and low energy. Your cycle length is extremely important because women go through 4 phases throughout each cycle, and all of them need to occur in the correct window of time for a regular period. As a rule of thumb, if your menstrual cycle length is shorter than 21 days, then your period is early and it’s time to look into what is causing your hormonal imbalances. It is important to take into consideration your own body patterns because you can still have an early period, though your cycle length may be more than 21 days. An example of this is if you regularly have a cycle length of about 34 days and then suddenly it is dropping to 23 days, then you could also have a period early. Watch your period patterns, and if your cycle length drops significantly for 3 months then you should dive deeper into asking ‘why is my period early?’

If you have a missing period for any amount of time, that is a signal your body is trying to send you that something is imbalanced. Your hormones are driving the bus that leads you to your menstruation every month. If your hormones are too low or too high, the bus will take a turn in the opposite away from menstruation. Hormone levels can be greatly impacted by your lifestyle and nutrition, so it is important to figure out what the root causes are for your missing period.

A period happens on average every 28 days for females when an unfertilized egg passes through the body and the uterine lining sheds as blood. The period is the end of the menstrual cycle, and a new egg will be released soon after the bleeding stops. Notice that the cycle is an average of 28 days. For some women this could be more or less, and in some cases you could have both. Your period should fluctuate on its punctuation during puberty and menopause, but in between these time periods it should be predictable, and occur once a month. Deviations from this rule of thumb can be an indicator of a health concern.

Your period existence is a result of hormones, so when these become over or underactive, you can develop health problems. Amenorrhea is defined as the absence of a period for at least three consecutive months. Though, the absence of a period is not the only menstrual cycle-related problem you can have. You should always keep track of your cycle and watch to make sure you are getting it once every 21 to 35 days. A period outside of this window of time is considered abnormal and should be identified.

Your menstrual cycle in simple terms is basically the outcome of a failure to conceive. Every month your body prepares for pregnancy by releasing an egg in hopes of fertilization to occur to start the pregnancy process. If this does not occur then the egg will be excreted along with the endometrium lining which is made up of tissue and blood. Typically the length of time you bleed is called the period and it usually lasts 3-7 days. The menstrual cycle is usually 21-35 days where day 1 is the day you start to bleed and the last day is the day before your next period.

Your menstrual cycle has four phases: menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal. It’s easy to think about your phases as 1 per week if following an average 28-day cycle. This is helpful for syncing food, exercise, and even mindset to your cycle, however, each phase varies a bit from being a perfect 7 days (see below). Also, a 28-day cycle is AVERAGE - it’s perfectly normal to have a cycle from 21-35 days as long as it’s consistent for you.