What Are the Stages of Your Period?

Getting your period is a monthly affair that lasts 3 to 7 days and that’s it, right? Well, only kind of.

While getting your period is sort of the highlight of your menstrual cycle, there are a bunch of stages of your period that lead up to menstruation. In fact, there’s a lot that happens in your body during these stages of your period that you don’t see. In fact, your menstrual cycle – aka the number of days between the beginning of one period and the beginning of your next one – is controlled by a pretty impressive hormone cycle that takes place in four main stages. Learning about these stages of your period will help you get to know your cycle better and give you confidence that you know what’s what with your body. Without further ado, here are the stages of your period:

The first day of your period counts as day 1 of your menstrual cycle. This is the menstrual phase most girls are familiar with because you can see it. During this period phase known as menstruation, your uterus contracts in order to shed its lining - aka your period fluid - through your vagina. This is what you know as getting your period. On days 3 to 7 of your cycle, your ovaries start producing oestrogen, which makes your period taper and stop at this stage of menstruation.

During this menstrual phase, the hormone oestrogen signals to your ovaries that it’s time to start preparing a follicle – a small liquid-filled sac on your ovaries that contains an egg that will later be released. This is why this stage of your period is known as the follicular phase of your menstrual cycle.

During this menstrual phase, the follicle grown over the past few days releases a mature egg, a process known as ovulation. If this egg is fertilized by a sperm – the male reproductive cell – as a result of having unprotected sex, you will become pregnant.

During the luteal stage of menstruation, the lining of your uterus thickens, so that the egg you released during ovulation can successfully attach and grow inside your uterus if it was fertilized. If your egg wasn’t fertilized, progesterone levels start to drop around Day 24 of your cycle, signalling your body to start breaking down the lining of your uterus. This is when girls and women start to experience the moodiness, hunger, and cramps of PMS – or premenstrual syndrome.

Then your body starts all over again with Day 1 of your menstrual cycle. This is when the broken down uterine lining leaves your body and shows up on your knickers as period blood. That’s when you’ll want to stock up on some TAMPAX. With their patented LeakGuard protection, they give you the freedom to do all the things you love for a worry-free, confident period.