If you’ve ever seen a Chinese Medicine practitioner we will ask you extensively about your menstrual cycle. At Angea, it is one of the most important questions we ask a woman!
Our menstrual cycle is absolutely everything when it comes to women’s health. We spend just over a 1/3 (34.7 years) of our life bleeding each month. Our menstrual cycle is our 5th vital sign, our monthly report card. It is the gateway to our fertility and overall health.
Our menstrual cycle offers us so many insights as women. It is our monthly biomarker. In Chinese Medicine your period should arrive each month with ease, no pain, a healthy volume of colour, flow and texture. I know for many of you this is not normally the case!
We are here today to break it down so you can start to build a trusted relationship with your menstrual cycle and flow so you can truly understand your MENSTRUAL PATTERN.
Young ladies will start their first menarche between 12 -14 years. A normal menstrual cycle will range between 26 -35 days.
There are 4 distinct BIO-MARKERS to help you understand your period. When menstruating, you can take note of the following.
1️⃣ Regularity of menstrual cycle (total length of cycle 26-35 days)
2️⃣ Duration of Menstrual flow (2 -5 days)
3️⃣ Volume of Menstrual flow ( light – heavy)
4️⃣ Colour, texture, odour of menstrual flow.
In Chinese Medicine the volume, colour and texture of menstrual blood is SO important. A normal menstrual flow volume ranges between 50-80ml, while the colour should be a fresh red, without blood clots and without any odour.
You can read more on insta post ‘FLOW GOALS’. Each month your period shares so many clues as to what is going internally. We encourage our patients to pay close attention to their monthly bleed so they can start to build a healthy relationship with their body, menstrual cycle and fertility. If you’ve never really paid attention to your bleed before, I encourage to take note of what you see and the changes you feel and notice throughout your cycle. You might just be surprised to what you find. Do you track your cycle and note down the quality of your monthly bleed?
Amanda is the founder of Angea and has over 12 years of experience working with women to support their health journey. In addition to being a registered doctor of Chinese medicine, Amanda is a yoga teacher and founder of Mindful Pregnancy Yoga Training. Amanda offers acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and womb healing treatments at Angea.