Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional. I share my own experiences and well-researched opinions on this site, and I always link sources at the end of each article. Consult with a medical professional for diagnosis and treatment.
I started tracking my period the day I quit hormonal birth control (HBC) at the age of 26.
After a long 10-year journey on the pill, the ring, and then the patch, I was ready to finally feel what my natural body was like again - for the first time as an adult woman. But, my doctor didn't make it easy on me. In fact, going hormone free came with a much bigger verbal warning label [BEWARE PREGNANCY] than any of my prior birth control choices. At the behest of my care provider, I downloaded a period tracker as a second "back-up" birth control post HBC.
To find my match, I simply clicked on my iPhone's App store icon, searched "period tracker" and downloaded the highest rated option that came up - Flo.
Clicking through the settings on Flo was initially interesting to me, as I was surprised at how many details they wanted. Every time I'd gone to the doctor to discuss birth control, they'd asked about the "first date of my last menstrual cycle," so I figured that's all Flo was going to give me. Why was it asking about other symptoms, like mood, headache and energy?
What I didn't know then - and truly didn't grasp for the next two+ years using this app, was that these symptoms have everything to do with the menstrual cycle. Tracking your entire menstrual cycle, and not just the days you bleed, offers immensely valuable insights into your overall health. As author and podcaster, Lisa Hendrickson-Jacks calls it, your period is The Fifth Vital Sign, after all*.
So, without further ado, I thought I'd share some BIG "whys" behind cycle-tracking, whether you're using an app on your smartphone, a pen and paper, or a Google Sheet (my preferred method today). Here's a list of the 8 things cycle tracking can help you do:
1. Provide Data to Diagnose PCOS and Other Disorders
The first 6-months post-patch for me were marked by sporadic, irregular menstrual bleeds. This is extremely common in people coming off of any HBC, as synthetic estrogens and progestins release from your body and are replaced by natural estradiol and progesterone to regulate your menstrual cycle*. Flo helped me do the basic math to understand and report these irregularities to my doctor, which I did after about three months post-HBC. Thankfully, this conversation shed some light on why a regular period matters, and how often you should bleed to feel confident nothing major is wrong.
In my own instance, my care provider was clear that as long as I had at least 9 periods per year, or one period every 60 days, my endometrial lining would likely not get concerningly thick.
Those who have less frequent bleeds and overly thick endometrial linings are at a significantly greater risk for developing endometrial cancer*.
Still, in my own case, the irregular bleeds continued, and I decided to advocate for my further testing. Ruling out a thyroid disorder, or any excess androgenic hormones, my doctor did find follicles on my ovaries. Although I didn't have excess androgens, the presence of follicles combined with the absence of my period was enough to diagnose me with poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS. (Read about PCOS here)
2. Find Your Healthiest Weight and Activity Level
After my PCOS diagnosis, my period went away entirely for over 18 months. During that time I also happened to lose a significant amount of weight, quit my job, and move to Michigan for grad school - a lot had changed.
By the time I finally got around to visiting the university health clinic, I brought my iPhone with me to flash my period tracker at the new doctor and get an updated understanding of my PCOS. Flo told me it had been over 500 days since I bled. During this conversation, I was diagnosed not with PCOS, but rather with hypothalamic amenorrhea. (Read about hypothalamic amenorrhea here). I had vaguely heard about olympic athletes or anorexic women losing their menstrual cycles, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I was too skinny or too fit to have a regular bleed. Turns out, I was wrong.
Thankfully, my period tracker, combined with weight-logging on MyFitnessPal, gave me an indication of exactly how heavy I'd been when I lost my period. Knowing that number, I ate more and exercised less and waited for a period. Cycle tracking became much more about the little signs and symptoms that maybe I was finally ovulating - or even in my luteal phase. Perhaps it's no surprise that my period came back when I finally hit that exact number on the scale that I'd been at when I lost it. While I had enjoyed being ultra-skinny (argh diet culture), cycle tracking has shown me that I need to weigh more to be healthy.
3. Achieve Pregnancy
Contrary to what a lot of us may think, you cannot get pregnant any day of your cycle. In fact, there are approximately six days during your cycle in which sex can lead to fertilization - the five days leading up to ovulation and ovulation day itself. Why this window? Sperm can live up to five days in fertile quality cervical mucus. As you get older, your cervical mucus (CM) tends to change, becoming less fertile as your cervical crypts (where CM comes from) change*.
So, although your fertile window may be significantly shorter than 6-days, especially if you're on the older side of trying to conceive, finding your point of change, at which CM goes from dry and infertile to more, sticky and white, or clear, egg-white-like and most fertile is critical to increasing your odds of conception.
Tracking your cycle using the sympto-thermal Fertility Awareness Method helps you identify this point of change, while also introducing you to the cyclicality of several secondary fertility signs, like mood, energy, sleep quality and more.
4. Avoid Pregnancy
So, a lot of what I mentioned in the section above applies here too, just in reverse. If you want to avoid pregnancy, you'll want to avoid the 6-day fertility window like the plague (or COVID...too soon?) Indeed, at the first sign of fertile-quality cervical mucus, those who are trying to avoid conception should be extra cautious by either abstaining from sex until at least 24-hours after ovulation, or by using an additional barrier method of contraception. Tracking your primary and secondary fertility signs is key to making the Fertility Awareness Method as effective at pregnancy prevention as possible. (Read more about FAM charting for birth control here.)
5. Understand and Overcome Insomnia
Okay, so this one may be a bit personal, but, if you're anything like me, you'll appreciate knowing that insomnia is linked to the second half of your menstrual cycle: the luteal phase. Knowing when I ovulate, and therefore when my luteal phase is around the corner has helped me be more proactive about winding down, giving myself a luxurious bedtime routine and doing all the right things to prepare for a good night's rest during the latter half of my cycle. Before cycle tracking, my insomnia seemed totally random and unpreventable. Now, I feel more in control, even if the hormonal cause of my poor night's sleep can still be frustrating at times.
6. Reshape Your Exercise and Diet
In the same vein as the above, cycle tracking opened my eyes to the impact that the hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle have on my overall energy, mood, and hunger levels. I've made two more comprehensive guides to what's happening during the follicular phase and the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle to explain which hormones are at the helm during the first and second halves of the month, but TL;DR, tracking my cycle has enabled me to lean into these fluctuations. I now "go hard" on diet and exercise during the first half of my cycle, while prioritizing more rest and higher caloric intake during my luteal phase.
7. Give Yourself Compassion and Love
This heading might feel a little 'woo woo' to you, but if it does, you might need this lesson the very most! Again, in line with the very same hormonal fluctuations I've been referencing throughout, your sex hormones have a massive impact on your daily outlook and attitude. When I first used Flo, I remember being really shocked at the section of the app where I could log my daily mood along several dimensions, including "obsessive or ruminating thoughts" (I think? Don't quote me). Tracking these mental shifts in my FAM Google sheet has really helped me better my mental health in two ways:
First, I realize it's okay to have different mental states on different days. Personally, I have often put pressure on myself to be happy or upbeat all the time - and charting my cycle has taught me this is chemically unlikely.
Second, I know when to expect a naturally lower energy and mood (surprise, surprise, it's during the luteal phase) and I can plan to give myself little treats and a bit more self-compassion during this time*.
8. Feel Connected to Your Body
Saving the best for last - at least IMO - I want to reiterate and elevate a common theme that runs throughout each of the above 7 reasons to love cycle tracking: by the very nature of logging various signs and symptoms each day, we're required to look inward. When we consider the endocrine system's true impact on our overall health and not just a monthly bleed, we gain appreciation for the chemical, physical, mental and spiritual interconnectedness of our bodies. Hormones are known as the messengers of the body - they connect the signals our brains send to the organs that need to operate accordingly*. In this context, it's no surprise that the massive hormonal swings of your menstrual cycle fundamentally alter every aspect of your life. By listening to these changes and documenting them each day, I can practically promise you will feel more empowered to own your health when something feels 'off' and you'll gain a deeper appreciation for maintaining a healthy menstrual cycle as a true "vital sign" of your health.
*Resources
Lisa Hendrickson-Jack hosts the Fertility Friday podcast and authored The Fifth Vital Sign
Post-pill amenorrhea is diagnosed when one's period doesn't return at all after more than 6-months off of hormonal birth control and is often attributed to hypothalamic imbalance. (Source: Diagnosis and management of post-pill amenorrhea)
Source: Endometrial Cancer Risk Factors
Source: The Discovery of Different Types of Cervical Mucus and the Billings Ovulation Method
Sources: Elements of Self-Compassion ; The Transformative Effects of Mindful Self-Compassion
Source: Hormone Health Network