JUST A THOUGHT….
Just think for a minute that as you read this, over 300 million women across the planet are menstruating right now. Every single one of them will have a subtly different experience but all go through the same process, and this brief blog helps to chart the science behind that experience. At Script Wellness, our team of women range across all the decades and while we develop new and natural products our belief is that all girls and women should know about their bodies and their cycles. Our interest in getting the knowledge out there and reducing the stigma around periods plus getting natural products that work.
“We have been taught more about shame than about anatomy”
A great quote from a great book Vagina – A Re-Education by Lynne Enright
THE BASIC FACTS.
Menstruation happens for between 3 -7 days on average once every 28 days, so from the onset of puberty, a women may go through this cycle 450 times in her life, so it’s important to understand the physical and psychological changes that may occur and effect your day-to-day mood, and general well bring. Behind the scenes are a series of hormonal controls that finetune the bodies internal working. This inner machinery includes 2 ovaries stocked with thousands of tiny sacks called follicles each containing an unfertilised egg cell or Oocyte.
At puberty your ovaries hold over 400,000 egg cells but release only one of those each month that will result in either a pregnancy or a period.
HOW DOES YOUR CYCLE UNFOLD?
At puberty, your hormone producing Pituitary gland releases 2 substances into the blood – one called FSH (the Follicle Stimulating Hormone) and the other called the Luteinizing Hormone (LH). When they reach the ovaries, they stimulate the internal egg cells to grow and mature, the follicles that contain them respond to this by pumping out Oestrogen. The egg cells continue to
grow and the Oestrogen levels peak, which in turn inhibits the production of FSH and tells the pituitary gland to pump out more of the LH. Magic then happens – at exactly the right time, only the most mature egg cell from one of the ovaries bursts out of the follicle and through the ovary wall. This part of the cycle is called Ovulation.
This happens around 10-16 days before the start of a period.
THE PRE-MENSTRUAL CYCLE.
The tiny Oocyte as it’s called then moves along the fallopian tube, but pregnancy can only occur if the egg is fertilised by a sperm cell within the next 24 hours, otherwise the egg’s adventure ends! The window for pregnancy closes for this month to start all over again as we shall see. At the same time as the egg is moving along the Fallopian, the empty follicle begins to release Progesterone – another hormone, that tells the wombs lining to pump up with blood and other nutrients in preparation for a fertilised egg that may embed and grow there.
This is called the Pre-menstruation cycle, and it is then you may feel more emotional, be prone to mood swings, and suffer cramps, bloating, skin break outs and just feel generally uncomfortable. Script has developed some rituals, which have helped many women in this stage of the cycle with calming oils, and pillow sprays to help you. These products are completely natural, with no synthetics or pharmaceutical base so completely in tune with your body.
YOUR PERIOD
If the egg doesn’t embed, then a few days later the body’s Progesterone and Oestrogen levels plummet making the womb stop padding out and then the lining starts to degenerate, and eventually falls away. Blood and tissue leave the body forming the period. During this time the womb may take up to a week to clear out its unused contents, but it could take less (average between 3-7 days) after which the cycle starts all over again. Technically this is the menstruation part of the cycle,
Soon after the ovaries begin to secrete Oestrogen again and the womb begins thickening getting ready to accommodate a fertilised egg or be shed. This is the pre-ovulation stage. Hormones continually control these activities by circulating ideal amounts delivered at just the right time. The cycle keeps on turning transforming each day and each week into a milestone along its course towards pregnancy or a period.
REMEMBER – EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT!
Although the cycle seems to move like clockwork, there is ample room for variation women and their bodies are unique after all – menstrual cycles occur at different time of the month, ovulation comes at different points along the cycle, and some periods last longer than others. Menstruation even begins and ends at different points in life for different women too.
In other words, variations between periods is completely normal – appreciating these differences and learning about the monthly process can empower women giving them the tools to understand and take charge of their own bodies – fitting this small cycle into the much larger cycle of life.