Maisie Hill

Time off can feel impossible and is a luxury that many cannot afford. But can you find ten minutes to give yourself and start from there? Can you gift yourself thirty minutes of quiet time, to turn away from the world and tune into yourself to see what happens, without scrolling on your phone?

If your period takes a while to get going, you might be confused as to what counts as day 1. The first day of your cycle is one where you experience your period in full flow. Spotting a light amount of blood before your period starts is the tail end of a cycle, even if it continues for several days before your blood flow increases and your period actually begins.

We don’t sync up with each other. Research conducted by the menstrual app Clue found that rather than menstrual synchronicity occurring among menstruators who live together, their periods were more likely to diverge over time. If there are periods of time when you menstruate at the same time as someone you live with, it’s likely because cycles vary in length for some individuals as well as varying between different individuals, so it makes sense that there will be periods of overlap when you’re bleeding together.

I am a huge believer in the health benefits of having a menstrual cycle as well as how it can benefit your life

But anything that you choose to do for your mental or physical health, or situation in life, is up to you. It’s your body, and your life, and I encourage you to tune in to your own wisdom.

Yes, we are hormonal, and that’s a very good thing

The answer to all those questions is – it’s your hormones. Apart, that is, from the rage you feel; that rage is because women do the bulk of unpaid work and emotional labour in society, and that shit is exhausting,

Hormones rule the lives of all humans – not just women. They are the chemical messengers, secreted by the glands in your body, which travel through your bloodstream to their target organs and tissues, giving instruction on processes that need to be carried out in order to regulate your health and behaviour

Not everyone who is a woman has a menstrual cycle or womb, and not everyone who has a menstrual cycle and a womb is a woman

The idea that your period can act as a report card of your overall health has been expressed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists