Maisie Hill

Time off can feel impossible and is a luxury that many cannot afford. But can you find ten minutes to give yourself and start from there? Can you gift yourself thirty minutes of quiet time, to turn away from the world and tune into yourself to see what happens, without scrolling on your phone?

If your period takes a while to get going, you might be confused as to what counts as day 1. The first day of your cycle is one where you experience your period in full flow. Spotting a light amount of blood before your period starts is the tail end of a cycle, even if it continues for several days before your blood flow increases and your period actually begins.

We don’t sync up with each other. Research conducted by the menstrual app Clue found that rather than menstrual synchronicity occurring among menstruators who live together, their periods were more likely to diverge over time. If there are periods of time when you menstruate at the same time as someone you live with, it’s likely because cycles vary in length for some individuals as well as varying between different individuals, so it makes sense that there will be periods of overlap when you’re bleeding together.

I am a huge believer in the health benefits of having a menstrual cycle as well as how it can benefit your life

But anything that you choose to do for your mental or physical health, or situation in life, is up to you. It’s your body, and your life, and I encourage you to tune in to your own wisdom.

Yes, we are hormonal, and that’s a very good thing

Eat organic where possible, especially meat and dairy products,

my take on a lot of the physical, emotional, and behavioural variations that we experience throughout the menstrual cycle, is that they are healthy, normal, and even beneficial.

I suspect that our hormones are simply revealing something that’s going on all the time but which oestrogen glosses over in the first half of the cycle.

When you see your GP about period pain they will carry out a pelvic examination to assess if any abnormalities can be felt, but that’s usually about it and in most cases, they’ll conclude that there’s nothing to suggest an abnormality, and suggest stronger painkillers and/or hormonal birth control.