Track Your Period

You know how when you go to the doctor, they inevitably say “When did you start your last period?” Nothing will make you feel more organized and in touch with your body than being able to rattle off the answer!

But in addition to making you look cool in front of your doctor, tracking your menstrual cycle has some other major benefits

• It can help establish what your regular cycle is, so you will know to talk to your doctor if it changes.

• A period planner can help you plan…for your period. If you know when it’s coming, you’ll know when you need to buy more tampons. Think of the awkward emergencies you could avoid when THAT doesn’t happen.

• It can help you prep for your symptoms. You can use a period tracker as a related wellness tracker or period journal. Just track whatever symptoms you tend to get as well as when your actual period will occur—so you can see if there’s a pattern to the arrival of that headache, those cramps, your higher stress levels, your powers of invisibility, or whatever else you get.

• It can help you get pregnant. Add an ovulation tracker notation to your key and track ovulation too. If you can predict when it will happen, you will know when to have sex to have the best chance of getting pregnant.

• It can sort of help you not get pregnant. In theory, being able to tell when to have sex to get pregnant should work in reverse too. However, it’s far from the most effective method of birth control, so make sure to use a secondary method of birth control too.

• With the below paper version of the cycle tracker, your life will be one step closer to looking like a game of Tetris. GOALS.

So how do you get started with your cycle/symptom tracker? There are a number of menstrual tracker apps you can use. But if you’d like the security and ease of a piece of paper, we have a downloadable period tracker option for you here.

Print out the PDF, make yourself a key, and hang it somewhere convenient (inside your bathroom cabinet door?) or put it in your health planner, fitness tracker, or general planner. One page can be used for a whole year.

Happy tracking!