When I first started my period, it felt like a dirty thing. I was convinced that everyone in my classes would know I was on my period, constantly feared that I would bleed through, and, whenever I had to use the bathroom, I’d hide in a stall until I was sure no one else was inside. My period felt like something I needed to hide, and any mention of it made me cringe inwardly. It’s silly because periods are an experience that unifies many girls and women, and, beyond that, they’re just another part of life, like eating or sleeping.
Yet, I felt embarrassed by mine throughout middle school and part of high school. We’re socially conditioned to hide our periods and, in school, women’s health isn’t taught in depth enough. I didn’t learn that periods could be divided into various stages until the end of high school or that, depending on which stage of their cycle someone is in, they may experience different hormonal fluctuations that affect their mind and body.Â
According to The Better Health Channel, the menstrual cycle can be divided into four stages: menstruation (also known as the menses stage, or “periods”), the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. The follicular phase begins at the same time as menstruation, but continues after menstruation ends. As the body sheds the uterine lining from the previous month, a new uterine lining is being formed and it will host a new egg. This “new egg” is released by one of the ovaries during ovulation, which occurs around two weeks before the start of someone’s next period. After being released, an egg will travel down the fallopian tubes towards the uterus, which marks the beginning of the luteal phase. Periods, the menstruation stage, can only occur if each of the preceding steps takes place.Â
I first heard of these terms (follicular phase, ovulation, and luteal phase) on social media. I saw reels where people would joke about feeling unmotivated during their luteal phase, but productive and carefree during their follicular phase. Others claimed that women could synchronize their lives to different stages of their cycle, maximizing productivity and wellness by timing their schedules to be the busiest during the follicular and ovulation phases, but calmest during the luteal and menstruation stages.Â
I never considered how periods could have an overarching impact on me that spans throughout the entire month, or that they could have a psychological impact beyond making me “crankier” during my period. Intuitively, it made sense to me that women feel their best during the follicular and ovulation stages, and “the worst” during the luteal and menstruation stages, because the week leading up to my period and the week of my period are always when I feel my worst.Â
According to Kaiser Permanente, this is because estrogen levels are lowest during the luteal and menstrual stages. Hormone levels drop during the luteal stage and hit their lowest point during menstruation, and they begin to rise again during the follicular stage and reach a peak during ovulation. Specifically, estrogen levels hit their peak during ovulation and drop during the luteal phase. During the luteal phase, progesterone levels will rise, but they will also fall if, by the end of the luteal phase, a woman isn’t pregnant. As hormone levels fall, serotonin levels in the brain also decrease. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of happiness, which explains why, as the menstrual cycle progresses, feelings of irritation or sadness are more common.Â
I wish I could go back in time and tell the twelve-year-old version of me all of this, to help her understand that periods and everything associated with them are not something to be ashamed of, but a natural process that should be understood and accepted. I used to feel frustrated at myself for feeling angrier or more emotional during what I now understand as the luteal and menstrual stages of my cycle, but these emotions were caused by biological factors that I couldn’t see. While I’m always responsible for my actions, regardless of whether I’m in the middle of “the best” or “the worst” stages of my cycle, learning more about the science behind my and other women’s experiences is important to give myself grace moving forward.