How does menstruation occur

This is because a girl's hormones might already be active. The hormones may have led to ovulation and the building of the uterine wall. If a girl has sex, she can get pregnant, even though she has never had a period.

Periods usually happen about once every 4—5 weeks. But some girls get their periods a little less or more often. You have many choices about how to deal with period blood. You may need to experiment a bit to find which works best for you. Some girls use only one method and others switch between different methods. It may look like a lot of blood, but a girl usually only loses a few tablespoons of blood during the whole period. Women also won't have a period while they are pregnant.

PMS premenstrual syndrome is when a girl has emotional and physical symptoms that happen before or during her period. These symptoms can include moodiness, sadness, anxiety, bloating, and acne. The symptoms go away after the first few days of a period. Many girls have cramps with their period, especially in the first few days. If cramps bother you, you can try:. Periods are a natural, healthy part of a girl's life.

They shouldn't get in the way of exercising, having fun, and enjoying life. If you have questions about periods, ask your doctor, a parent, health teacher, school nurse, or older sister. Every month, your body prepares for pregnancy. If no pregnancy occurs, the uterus, or womb, sheds its lining. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus. It passes out of the body through the vagina.

Periods usually start between age 11 and 14 and continue until menopause at about age They usually last from three to five days. Besides bleeding from the vagina, you may have. Day 1 is the first day of bright red bleeding, and the end of this phase is marked by ovulation.

While menstrual bleeding does happen in the early part of this phase, the ovaries are simultaneously preparing to ovulate again. The pituitary gland located at the base of the brain releases a hormone called FSH — follicle stimulating hormone.

Eventually, one of these follicle becomes dominant and within it develops a single mature egg; the other follicles shrink back. If more than one follicle reaches maturity, this can lead to twins or more. The maturing follicle produces the hormone estrogen, which increases over the follicular phase and peaks in the day or two prior to ovulation. The lining of the uterus endometrium becomes thicker and more enriched with blood in the second part of this phase after menstruation is over , in response to increasing levels of estrogen.

High levels of estrogen stimulate the production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone GnRH , which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete luteinizing hormone LH. The surge in LH also causes a brief surge in testosterone, which increases sex drive, right at the most fertile time of the cycle. The release of the mature egg happens on about day 14 as a result of a surge in LH and FSH over the previous day.

After release, the egg enters the fallopian tube where fertilization may take place, if sperm are present. If the egg is not fertilized, it disintegrates after about 24 hours. Once the egg is released, the follicle seals over and this is called the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces progesterone. If fertilization has occurred, the corpus luteum continues to produce progesterone which prevents the endometrial lining from being shed.

If fertilization has not occurred, the corpus luteum disintegrates, which causes progesterone levels to drop and signals the endometrial lining to begin shedding. There is a range of normal bleeding — some women have short, light periods and others have longer, heavy periods.

Your period may also change over time. Simply tracking your cycle on a calendar, along with some details of your bleeding and symptoms can help you understand your cycle. Record when your period starts and ends, what the flow was like, and describe any pain or other symptoms bloating, breast pain etc. Over several cycles you will be able to see patterns in your cycle, or identify irregularities that are occurring.

There are also numerous apps available to help you track your period. If your periods come regularly every days, chances are excellent that you are ovulating.

Beyond simple calendar tracking, there are a few ways to figure out the timing of your own personal menstrual cycle.

But is there scientific proof that this can happen…. The process of your uterus shedding its lining every month is called menstruation. Some discomfort during your period is common, but intense or…. A menstrual period is vaginal bleeding that occurs at the end of the monthly menstrual cycle.

This is when the female body prepares itself for…. Having a headache during your period is pretty common, and is due to the hormonal fluctuations that occur at that time of your cycle. It may trigger a…. Like women, men have hormonal shifts and changes. But do cis men have periods? How late is too late for a period to come? We'll break down how to know if it's late or just not coming this month and some common reasons why.