Is it helpful to know what phase of your menstrual cycle you’re in, from follicular to luteal?
Do you know your follicular from your luteal?
They’re both menstrual cycle phases.
You don’t have to scroll too far online to come across videos playfully recommending deferring dates until the follicular phase, or someone explaining the distinct characteristics of each stage.
But, is this all this hormonal commentary based in fact?
Performer and the author of the book Period Queen, Lucy Peach, lives on Whadjuk Noongar Land/Perth, and says you should ultimately just “listen to your body”.
“[That] is a skill, because we often don’t grow up seeing our mothers rest or listen to their body,” she says.
What are the menstrual cycle phases?
The phases of the menstrual cycle are generally understood as the follicular, ovulation and luteal phases, with your period marking the beginning of the follicular phase.
The average cycle length is 28 days but is variable between individuals and can change.
Sonia Davison, an endocrinologist with not-for-profit organisation Jane Hailes for Women’s Health in Naarm/Melbourne, says, “[women’s] hormones are never static if we’re reproductive age and if we’re healthy”.
She says the “follicular phase begins with the period … when follicles start to develop.”
A follicle will develop into an egg, and then more of the hormone oestrogen is secreted.
Ovulation is about halfway through a cycle, when a mature egg is released from an ovary.
Dr Davison says during ovulation, there’s a “huge drop in oestrogen which goes down quite precipitously as the egg is released”.
“Then there’s another little bump in the other half of the cycle called the luteal phase.”
This phase comes after ovulation, when an egg begins to move to the uterus.
“After the egg is released, there’s a great big increase in [progesterone],” Dr Davison says.
“If we’re healthy and well, and there’s no pregnancy, those progesterone levels fall down and then it all starts again.”
This is the common cycle for women who aren’t on the pill, hormone treatment, pregnant or breast feeding, Dr Davison says.
“It’s like a pregnancy. Some women say they glow. Some women just barf all pregnancy and hate it.”
Dr Davison says, “70 per cent [of women] are thought to have some form of [premenstrual syndrome (PMS)]”.
Physical and mental symptoms of PMS often fall in what’s known as the luteal phase, “the two to six days before a period and maybe in the first couple of days of the period.”
“PMDD [premenstrual dysphoric disorder] is an amplification or a more severe form of that,” Dr Davison says.
Dr Tay, says PMS symptoms commonly include “breast tenderness, bloating, fluid retention, acne or skin changes and then it’s the mood swings that some people get.”
“Some people feel irritation, some people feel depression and low.”
She says it’s common for moods to fluctuate, but if it becomes a prolonged challenge involving concentration problems, low motivation, mood swings, irritability, or depression that impacts everyday life “you need to speak to someone to get additional help”.
Dr Davison says, “some [women] will also get symptoms around mid-cycle … when oestrogen goes really down”.
“We don’t actually know if it’s due to levels of hormones, changes in hormones, there’s a lot of research in this area looking at serotonin and other things, but that’s typically when women, if they do get mood symptoms and physical symptoms, get them..”
Is it worth tracking your cycle?
Dr Davison says there are benefits to being aware of your cycle.
“If you are irritable, cranky, low mood, have dark thoughts, then self-awareness around that is useful in terms of protecting yourself.”
“It’s hard for a 14-year-old to know what’s happening with her body, but you’d hope that in time [as we get older] we could be aware,” Dr Davison says.
She also acknowledges that can be “very hard when you’re meant to be studying, getting a job, working, looking after a family, looking after elderly relatives.”
But finding what works for you might involve making space for alone time, exercising and maintaining a healthy diet. And taking into consideration things like food cravings (chocolate anyone?).
For Ms Peach, tracking her cycle helped her become “more intentional about how I spoke to myself, how I used my energy, how I supported myself, and about how I had conversations in my home”.
She suggests others have a go to see if it is useful for them.
It could be as simple as asking “what’s the [internal] weather for me like right now?”
Endocrinologist with Monash Health in Naarm/Melbourne, Jillian Tay, says women on combined contraceptive pills who take the sugar pills will also “have a regular menstrual cycle”.
Dr Tay says those who use intrauterine devices (IUD) — small contraceptive devices placed inside the uterus (womb) — may still have their menstrual cycle ” and there may be “some natural fluctuation [in hormones]”.
Impacts of the cycle
Ms Peach says her cycle has changed over time, but learning about it has helped her discover how much she “punished [herself] when [she] was premenstrual”.
“My self-talk really compounded what was already difficult.”
But she can “feel that energy rising” when she’s in the follicular phase, what she calls the ‘do’ phase.
When it comes to how each of these cycles manifest, Dr Davison says “It depends on the woman.”