Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle:

Why Cycle Tracking Matters for Hormones, Fertility, and Overall Health

Whether you’re using natural family planning, thinking about conception in the future, or actively trying to conceive, understanding your unique menstrual cycle is incredibly valuable. Your cycle does far more than tell you when your period is coming—it provides real insight into ovulation, hormone balance, and potential reproductive dysfunction.

Even if pregnancy is not your current goal, tracking your cycle can be empowering. Menstrual irregularities often reflect deeper imbalances that affect the gut, endocrine system, brain, mood, metabolism, and cardiovascular health. Heavy bleeding, spotting, painful periods, anxiety, depression, low libido, or PMS that disrupts your life are not things to just “power through.”

In functional medicine, we use the menstrual cycle as a vital sign—one that helps us identify root causes and create targeted, individualized support.

The Three Phases of the Menstrual Cycle

The menstrual cycle is divided into three main phases:

• Follicular Phase

• Ovulation

• Luteal Phase

Across these phases, hormones rise and fall in a coordinated rhythm, communicating between the brain, ovaries, and reproductive tissues. When this rhythm is disrupted, symptoms often follow.

The Follicular Phase

When It Starts

Day 1 of your period through ovulation

What’s Happening Hormone-Wise

• Estradiol rises following menstruation

  • Secreted by the ovaries

  • Helps rebuild the uterine lining (endometrium) so it’s thick, healthy, and receptive

• FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone) increases

  • Released by the pituitary gland in the brain

  • Stimulates egg development in the ovaries

• LH (Luteinizing Hormone) begins to rise

  • Works alongside FSH

  • Prepares the body for ovulation

During this phase, your body is essentially prepping an egg and rebuilding the uterus—laying the groundwork for ovulation.

Ovulation

When It Happens

Typically around day 14, give or take 4 days (this varies person to person)

What’s Happening Hormone-Wise

• Estrogen peaks, triggering a surge in LH

• This LH surge causes ovulation—the release of a mature egg from the ovary

• After ovulation:

  • Estradiol, FSH, and LH decrease

  • Progesterone begins to rise to support a potential pregnancy

Ovulation is the centerpiece of a healthy cycle. No ovulation = no progesterone = symptoms galore.

How to Track Ovulation

Basal Body Temperature (BBT)

• Take your temperature every morning, at the same time, before getting out of bed

• Pre-ovulation temperatures: ~97.0–97.5°F

• Post-ovulation temperatures: ~97.6–98.6°F

• Look for a biphasic pattern (lower temps before ovulation, higher after)

A sustained temperature rise confirms that ovulation has already occurred.

Cervical Mucus Changes

Around ovulation, cervical mucus becomes:

• Clear

• Slippery

• Stretchy (similar to raw egg whites)

This mucus supports sperm survival and movement—your body’s built-in fertility signal.

Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs)

• Detect a surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine

• A positive test means ovulation will likely occur within ~36 hours

• Test daily starting around cycle days 10–18

• Over time, you can narrow your personal ovulation window

The Luteal Phase

When It Starts

After ovulation until the start of your next period
Typically 10–14 days

What’s Happening Hormone-Wise

• Progesterone rises and peaks ~5 days post-ovulation

  • Secreted by the ovaries

  • Stabilizes and thickens the uterine lining

  • Essential for implantation and maintaining pregnancy

• Estrogen remains relatively lower compared to progesterone

• FSH and LH are at their lowest levels during the cycle

When Problems Show Up

This phase is where progesterone deficiency and estrogen dominance often become obvious.

Signs may include:

• PMS

• Anxiety or mood changes

• Breast tenderness

• Short luteal phase

• Spotting before periods

• Known estrogen-dominant conditions (PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids)

Why Cycle Awareness Matters (Even If You’re Not Trying to Conceive)

A healthy menstrual cycle reflects healthy communication between your brain, hormones, gut, and metabolism. Disruptions in your cycle can signal:

• Chronic stress

• Nutrient deficiencies

• Blood sugar dysregulation

• Thyroid dysfunction

• Inflammatory or estrogen-dominant patterns

Understanding your cycle gives us direction—not guesswork.

When to Seek Support

If you’re tracking your cycles and notice:

• No ovulation

• Short luteal phases

• Missing periods

• Significant PMS

• Heavy or painful bleeding

• Estrogen-dominant conditions

…it’s time to look deeper.

Functional medicine focuses on identifying the root cause of menstrual dysfunction so we can support hormone balance in a targeted, sustainable way.

Want to Learn More?

Have more question? What you need to know about preconception health

Athena Newell, MSN, FNP-C
STAT Wellness Charleston