Menstrual Cycle And Menstrual Period

What is Menstrual Cycle And Menstrual Period?

The menstrual cycle begins on the first day of your period. In other words, day one of the cycle is the day one of your period, cycle day two is the second day of your period and so on. In general, bleeding is there for 3-5 days and differs from one woman to another.

An important point to note is that the cycle begins from the day of your regular bleeding but not spotting. For instance, you started spotting on January 2, but the actual bleeding began a day later. So the first day of your menstrual cycle is January 3. Let's say you bleed for 6 days, so, the duration of your menstrual period is 6 days for the month of January.

Now, if your next period started on February 1, then your menstrual cycle length is the number of days from January 3 to January 31 (a day before your next period), which is 29 days. You should not count the first day of your next period because that day will fall under the next menstrual cycle.

In general, menstrual period is the number of days you bleed regularly and menstrual cycle is the number of days from first day of your last period (LMP) to a day before your next period starts. The average length of the menstrual cycle is 28 days but varies from person to person.