'It's that time of the month again!'

To most ladies, this statement is not said with excitement, but it is accompanied with a lot of stress and depression.

Period cramps and the menstruation process have remained to be one trouble- some experience in the feminine world .... but before we go to the menstruation process, let's understand the cycle and how we eventually reach there ...

The menstrual cycle is a natural process that prepares the body for pregnancy.

However, it is not a guarantee that you must get pregnant, because if the latter happens, your hormones send a signal to your uterus to shed its lining and disintegrate the egg awaiting fertilisation, and this is accompanied by bleeding. This is what we call menstruation. It occurs in monthly cycles throughout a woman's reproductive life, except during pregnancy.

This process usually starts at puberty (menarche) and it stops permanently at menopause (one year after your last menstrual cycle).

The menstrual cycle covers all the processes including menstruation, ovulation, upto the onset of your next period.

Basically, the cycle is measured from the first day of your period to the first day of your next period. Even though the average length of a menstrual cycle is 28 days, every woman's cycle is different .... some cycles can go up to 38days.

The menstrual cycle is majorly regulated by hormones, and it has four main phases;

1.) Menstruation(period)

📍This involves the shedding of your uterus lining in form of blood that flows out of your vagina.

Generally a period contains blood, mucus and some cells from the lining of the uterus.The bleeding usually lasts from 3-8 days, depending on someone's cycle and other external influences. During this time, a sanitary pad, menstrual cups or a tampon can be uses to hold and absorb the blood coming out. The use of the two depends also on whether the flow is light or heavy.

2.) Follicular phase

📍This is the phase before the release of the egg, and it begins on the first day of your menstrual bleeding day and lasts for 13 to 14 days , ending in ovulation.

At the beginning of this phase, the endometrium is thick with fluids and nutrients that are designed to nourish an embryo. If no egg is fertilized, the levels of estrogen and progesterone become very low. As a result, the shedding occurs as bleeding. Thereafter, the development of follicles in the ovaries is experienced. This happens when the pituitary gland of the brain releases a hormone called follicle stimulating hormone(FSH), that stimulates the production of these follicles in the ovary. The follicles range from approximately 4 to 30, and each follicle contains an egg.

Once the FSH later decreases, only one dominant follicle continues to grow and later produces the hormone estrogen. As the other follicles break down, estrogen begins to prepare the uterus and stimulates the production of luteinizing hormone, which stimulates the release of the egg, and marks the beginning of the next phase.

3.) Ovulation

📍This phase begins with the rise in luteinizing hormone which stimulates the dominant follicle to pop up on the surface of the ovary and rapture, hence releasing the egg.The egg moves along the fallopian tube towards the uterus.

Ovulation usually happens about 2 weeks before your next period and lasts for 16- 32 hrs. It is in this phase that we gauge the fertility window- the period where a lady is considered most fertile and can get pregnant. The fertility window usually begins 5 days before ovulation and ends 1 day after ovulation.

💡Funfact: A sperm can live for 3- 5 days in the female reproductive tract and be very viable!

4.) Luteal phase

📍This phase begins after ovulation and lasts 14 days if fertilisation has not occurred. It ends just before the menstrual period.

In this phase, the raptured follicle closes after releasing the egg and forms a structure called corpus luteum that stimulates production of progesterone hormone. This hormone, together with the high level of estrogen, stimulates endometrium to thicken, prepares the uterus incase an embryo is implanted and causes cervical mucus to thicken so that sperms can't penetrate.

Incase pregnancy does not occur, the corpus luteum disintegrates and dies, the levels of progesterone and estrogen hormone drops, the uterus lining sheds, and the period begins again.

🍒 And that is how the cycle continues every other month in the life of a woman till menopause.

Let's check out some fun facts

💡Unlike the blood resulting from an injury, menstrual blood does not clot..unless the bleeding is very heavy.

💡Egg release from the two ovaries does not alternate every month, but occurs very randomly.

Any comments? Leave them below👇