Are you a teen who has just got her first period? Do you know what menstruation periods are? Do you have doubts and questions about the menstruation periods? Getting information about how your body changes over the years and what to expect during the menstrual periods is a wise thing to do.
But What Are Menstrual Periods?
Menstrual periods are also known as menarche. Every woman has menstrual periods starting from puberty until menopause. First menstrual periods show up between the age of 12 and 13, while the last menstrual periods show up around the age of 50. However, some women do enter their puberty earlier, or their first menstrual periods show up a little bit later. This is also for the menopause. Menstrual periods are regular monthly episodes of bleeding.
A normal menstrual cycle varies from 21 to 35 days, with an average of 28 days. A cycle is counted from the first day of your last menstrual periods until the first day of your current period. The woman’s menstrual cycle is a woman’s reproductive cycle, during which her uterus gets prepared to support the pregnancy and ovulation with fertilization occurs. If fertilization occurs and the woman becomes preganant, menstruation periods will stop. This is one of the first signs of pregnancy. If the fertilization does not occur, the menstrual bleeding will show up resulting from the shedding of the inner line of the uterine wall.
The first half of the menstrual cycle is known as the follicular phase. During the follicular phase the woman’s body gets prepared for the pregnancy by thickening the uterine wall and maturing the egg for fertilization.
Ovulation is the process of releasing the egg from the ovary in order to get fertilized by an spermatozoid. Ovulation usually occurs around the 14th day of the menstrual period, while the fertile time begins about five days before ovulation. The egg will be viable 12 to 24 hours after ovulation.
The luteal phase is the last one of the menstrual cycle. It starts after the ovulation time. If the fertilization occurs it will prepare the uterus for implantation, and if not then it will prepare the uterus for another menstrual bleeding.
Because every woman is different, the length of the menstrual cycle, but also the menstrual bleeding varies. There are also differences from one menstrual cycle to another. If one month the menstrual bleeding lasted 4 days, the other month it could be 6 days.
Signs and Symptoms of Menstrual Bleeding
The signs and symptoms of menstrual bleeding include:
- Pelvic pressure
- Discomfort and pain on the back and pelvic area
- Water retention
- Cramping, bloating, tender and sore breasts
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Irritability
- Food cravings, etc.
Some women have mild to moderate signs and symptoms during the menstrual periods, while others have severe signs and symptoms during the menstrual period that interferes with their daily life. Uterine cramping in the form of spasmodic cramping or congestive cramping is the most common but also the most annoying and uncomfortable symptom that women experience during their menstruation.