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Tracking your menstrual cycle can tell you more than when your next period will arrive. It allows you to learn about your body to manage menstrual pain, cyclic symptoms, or mood. It’s also helpful for birth control and natural family planning.

Although it may seem complicated or time-consuming, a period tracking app or a calendar and a journal can make it easy. Here’s what you should know about why and how to track your menstrual cycle.

Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle

Menarche is a young woman’s first menstrual cycle. It usually happens between ages 12 and 15 but can occur earlier or later. Periods may start out as irregular but develop into regular cycles after a while.

A typical menstrual cycle lasts between 21 and 35 days. The average is 28 days, meaning you get your period about every 28 days.

But your menstrual cycle involves more than just your period. Most cycles include four distinct phases. Changes in hormone levels drive each cycle, and those hormones cause different symptoms throughout the month.

Before you start tracking your menstrual cycles, it’s helpful to understand what happens during each phase and how you might feel. Every woman’s cycle is unique, but most include:

• Menstrual phase — Starts the day you get your period and lasts an average of five days. During this phase, your body sheds your uterine lining through your vagina if you’re not pregnant. Period symptoms can include heavier bleeding on the first day or two, along with cramps, low back pain, headaches, and low energy.
• Follicular phase — Also starts the day you get your period, but it lasts for about 14 days or until you ovulate. During this time, hormones cause the uterine lining to grow and thicken, and one follicle from your ovaries matures into an egg. You may notice more energy and a better mood starting around the midpoint of the follicular phase.
• Ovulation phase — Happens around day 14 of your cycle and only lasts about 24 hours. During this phase, your ovary releases an egg, which is ready for fertilization. A telltale sign that you’re in the ovulation phase is thin, slippery, stretchy cervical mucus.
• Luteal phase — Starts right after you ovulate and typically runs from days 15 to 28, until your period begins again. If pregnancy doesn’t occur, estrogen and progesterone levels drop quickly, causing your uterine lining to shed again. Toward the end of the luteal phase, you may have premenstrual symptoms like breast tenderness, bloating, mood changes, and food cravings.

Reasons to Track Your Cycle

Hormonal changes throughout your menstrual cycle prepare your body for pregnancy each month and also impact how you feel physically and emotionally. Tracking these changes can help you know what you might expect, and when:

• Appetite and cravings — You may have more intense cravings for sweets or salty foods the week before your menstrual phase. You may feel less hungry during your follicular phase.
• Energy levels — You may feel more energized during your late follicular phase and ovulation. It’s normal to feel more tired during your menstrual phase.
• Mood — You may feel happier and more social during your late follicular phase and ovulation. You may feel sadder or more anxious during your luteal phase.
• Physical symptoms — Bloating, cramps, headaches, and other symptoms are most common just before your period, as well as the first day or two you’re menstruating.
• Skin health — Glands in your skin produce more oil before your period, which can cause acne breakouts at this time of your cycle.
• Sleep — After ovulation, you may sleep for shorter periods or have a harder time falling asleep.

Tracking your period symptoms can also alert you to changes like heavier bleeding or severe, longer-lasting cramps. These may signal health conditions like fibroids or endometriosis, which might need medical treatment.

Managing period pain

Cycle tracking can help you identify patterns, so you can plan, prepare, and practice self-care when necessary. It is important to remember that menstrual or pelvic pain that causes debilitating pain or prevents you from participating in work, school, or your daily activities is never normal and you should consult a specialist in Gynecology if you experience this. You may find tracking especially helpful for managing period pain with natural remedies. Although tracking won’t prevent pain, knowing where you are in your cycle and when your period will arrive can help you prepare by:

• Having a heating pad or hot water bottle ready. Applying heat to your abdomen can relax muscles and improve blood flow, reducing cramps and pain.
• Having over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication ready if you need it.
• Making changes to your diet. Avoiding alcohol and fatty foods and eating more fatty fish like salmon or sardines can reduce inflammation that causes cramps.
• Staying hydrated. Drinking more water, herbal tea, or ginger tea may reduce cramps, bloating, and headaches.
• Switching up your exercise routine. Getting regular aerobic exercise — like swimming, jogging, or brisk walking — may improve blood flow and reduce inflammation.

Tracking Tools and Tips

You can use a period tracking app or a calendar and notebook to track your menstrual cycles. Both work well and can provide the information you need.

Tracking apps ask questions about your period’s start and stop dates and symptoms throughout the month. When you log your data, the app uses an algorithm to make predictions about your cycle. These apps are fairly accurate at predicting the different phases of your cycle and when your period will arrive.

If you prefer to use a paper method, mark the start and stop dates of your period on a calendar or in a notebook. Write down how you feel before, during, and after your period. Pay close attention to your body and symptoms.

After tracking for a few months, you’ll start to see patterns that can help you determine your current menstrual cycle phase.

Menstrual Cycle Tracking for Birth Control

Menstrual cycle tracking also helps determine when you’re most fertile, which is helpful if you want to increase your chances of conceiving.

You can also use cycle tracking as a birth control option. Avoiding sex around the time you ovulate reduces your chances of getting pregnant.

Cycle tracking is helpful if you need birth control and want to avoid hormonal birth control side effects. But it’s not entirely foolproof. It’s more effective when used along with barrier methods of birth control, like condoms, diaphragms, or cervical caps.

Menstrual cycle tracking helps you understand your body and take charge of your reproductive health. Talk to your doctor if you have questions, especially if you want to use a tracking app for birth control. They can recommend the best tools and birth control methods.