*This article is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. If you have questions or concerns about your health, please seek out professional medical help.
Reproductive health has become its own category of TikTok video over the past couple of years. Lots of information is being put out there specifically on hormonal health, the menstrual cycle, and birth control (AJOG, 2024).
This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing – we are finally having conversations we’ve been needing to have around women’s reproductive health. This is a huge step in the right direction in terms of women’s body literacy and autonomy. However, with this spike in conversation online, we have seen lots of anecdotes being taken as scientific facts, causing more confusion and a false sense of being informed.
Everyone deserves to understand how their bodies work. A shocking number of women do not fully understand the menstrual cycle or female anatomy and often are not given an opportunity for informed consent on the variety of birth control options available to them (Clue, 2025).
Part of my college experience was living with 14 other girls in a house. Naturally, women’s health was brought up a lot. I began to realize that between my housemates, classmates, and coworkers, issues with irregular periods, severe pain, or other symptoms were not just an experience some young women have but were almost the norm. I watched friend after friend be prescribed hormonal medication, and no one seemed to have been educated on other options. I was put on a hormone-prohibiting acne medication, which affected my cycle. My dermatologist did not explain these side effects and was surprised when I told her my cycle had become irregular. I was left with a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.
In a culture where more and more Gen–Z women are turning down the pill and questioning the pill’s representation as a silver-bullet cure-all for any women’s health issue, it’s time women were given the full, unbiased picture (NIH, 2025).
I am not a medical professional, but I work at a nonprofit women’s health clinic whose mission is to provide compassionate, holistic, evidence-based health services and education to make informed healthcare decisions. After being around our providers and working in a clinic that values informed consent, I have gleaned the following facts that I think every woman should know about their body.
- Your period is part of a four-stage cycle
I think it’s safe to say every girl is either told by friends or family what a period is, or she is left to figure it out on her own. However, education beyond monthly bleeding is few and far between. Young girls starting their periods deserve to know they operate on a monthly hormonal cycle that has four stages, each affecting her mood and requiring different things from her body. Fluctuations in mood, appetite, energy levels, and even acne can all be explained by the cyclical rhythm the female body is on. With this knowledge, young girls and women can begin to track their cycle and symptoms. Nothing beats being in sync with your body!
So, without further ado, here are the four stages:
- Menstrual – This phase consists of the shedding of the uterine lining after no fertilization of an egg and lasts around 3-7 days (Cleveland Clinic, 2025).
- Follicular – This phase consists of the egg maturing and the uterine lining thickening, preparing for possible fertilization. This phase begins on the first day of the period and ends at ovulation (Cleveland Clinic,2025).
- Ovulatory – This phase consists of the egg being released. It only lives for 24 hours (Cleveland Clinic,2025).
- Luteal – This phase consists of the body preparing the uterine lining for implantation of a fertilized egg. This stage is roughly around 13 days long and is the length between ovulation and the first day of your next period (Cleveland Clinic,2025).
- Your period should be treated as a vital sign
Your period is truly a sign of health. A missed period means something is off – maybe you’re too stressed or have a hormonal imbalance (ACOG, 2015). Being body literate- or aware of the biomarkers your body gives you is important. For far too long, education around menstruation has been “you’ll bleed once a month” and rarely dives into the four stages mentioned above or the fact that reproductive health, and specifically menstruation, is not an isolated function in the body but rather is dependent on overall health and therefore is an indicator of overall well-being. For instance, while ovulation is the shortest event of the cycle, it is the ultimate sign of a healthy cycle (NIH, 2017).
- Cycle tracking is worth it!
Tracking your period isn’t a foreign concept to a lot of women. According to the NIH, 59% of women either use a period tracking app or digital calendar (NIH, 2017). However, just tracking your monthly flow only captures part of the cycle. There are ways to track certain biomarkers, like temperature or cervical mucus, to detect where you are in your cycle (NIH). Noting these changes is a great way to be more in tune with your body and its needs. They can also help you understand why you might be feeling extra tired, irritable, or like you can conquer the world by indicating what phase you are in. It is also a great way to know when you are fertile, which can be super helpful in informing your decision-making process about when you want to have sex and what protection you may end up wanting to use.
Knowledge is power, and we all have heard stories of women feeling dismissed by their doctors on issues around menstruation and birth control – or you’ve had those experiences yourself (NIH, 2022). Cycle tracking is data you can use in any doctor’s appointment to communicate exactly what is going on with your cycle. This data can then be used by your doctor to help pinpoint more specific issues and identify root causes (Harvard School of Public Health, 2020).
- Birth Control isn’t just the pill
There is a weird phenomenon in the post-modern Western world where we have infinite information available at our fingertips, and yet when it comes to women’s health and reproductive health across the board, we are uninformed. It’s true that hormonal birth control in the form of the pill is the second most widely used form, however, there are dozens, yes dozens, of other options, including ones that are non-hormonal (CDC, 2024). You owe it to your overall health and well-being to be informed about all types before making any decision. The pill works for some women but comes with a laundry list of side effects that are worth weighing the pros and cons (Kaiser Permanente, 2025). While it takes more time and energy to pursue education on this topic, the oversimplification of how birth control is presented is robbing you of bodily autonomy and informed consent. You deserve better.
*Here is a brief yet informative list of the different types of birth control according to the CDC.
- So, what does hormonal birth control actually do to your cycle?
So many women are on the pill for a plethora of reasons. Women can be put on it for family planning purposes, but also for non-contraceptive motives, including pain management for periods, acne control, heavy bleeding, and even ovarian cysts (NIH, 2006; NIH, 2014). Some women experience zero side effects, while others run the gamut (Guttmacher, 2011).
So, what is happening physiologically?
Combination pills (releasing both synthetic estrogen and progesterone) as well as the mini pill (which only releases progesterone) prevent ovulation from occurring, thicken the cervical mucus to make it inhospitable to sperm, and thin the uterine lining to decrease the likelihood of implantation (Cleveland Clinic, 2023).
This is my opinion, but if women are on birth control for years at a time (the average length on birth control in the U.S. is five years), that feels like a really long time to be disrupting a cycle that can inform you on your overall health (NIH, 1999). Specifically for women on the pill because of period pain or acne, the pill is simply muting the problem but not addressing the root cause. Severe pain and irregularity are often signs of bigger issues. Putting a band-aid over a bullet hole is not going to preserve your health or offer you the highest quality of life (THCOBGYN, 2019). Women aren’t currently being served by healthcare the way they deserve.
Now I know that it makes no sense to be surprised when the menstrual cycle is interrupted by a hormonal medication – no thanks to my dermatologist or any health class I had growing up. I will never forget learning that there are cycle monitoring and medical management programs out there whose sole mission is to empower women with body literacy. I took a FEMM class (fertility education and medical management) through the clinic I now work for, and would describe it as the health class I never had. I was educated on how my acne medication was affecting my cycle and was given enough information to make an informed choice on whether I wanted to continue to take it. So why are these resources so unheard of and not the norm in women’s health?
I hope these five facts inspire you to learn more about body literacy. Everyone deserves to be presented with unbiased information so that they can make the most informed decision for their situation.
To anyone interested, I am happy to supply more resources about women’s health. I serve as both Advancement Assistant and Medical Assistant at Women’s Accessible Medical Services/3W Medical for Women, a non-profit women’s health clinic in Seattle’s University District. Contact me at haleyb@wamsps.org.