What Should A Normal Period Look Like?
2015 was the year period awareness hit the headlines, with the UK “Tampon Tax” featuring in the news. This was a truly amazing transformation, taking periods from the taboo, only to be whispered about, to women talking about their bodies and seeking help when something isn’t right.
But one lingering question, frequently asked is “so what does a normal, healthy period look like?” Here’s a brief overview.
Length
Your full flow should be 3-7 days in length, although you may get spotting either side. If your bleeds are longer or shorter than this, it is worth getting your hormone levels checked out.
Colour
Your bleed should be a vibrant raspberry or cranberry red colour. If you have dark, thicker blood at the beginning or end of your bleed, this could indicate that your womb isn’t in the optimal position for good flow.
This is often caused by sitting too long, wearing high heels, poor posture or adhesions. This can be prevented with exercise, better posture or changing your shoes. It can often be helped with castor oil packs applied to the abdomen, womb steams or abdominal massage such as Fertility Massage Therapy or Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage.
Different coloured bleeds are usually caused by hormonal imbalance, illness, medications or stress. There are many things that could be the root cause of these so it is always worth getting your hormones checked out by a doctor.
Flow Rate
The National Health Service in the UK defines a regular amount of period blood to be 30-40 ml in total and 60-80 ml to be heavy. I’m guessing like most people, you don’t measure your period flow so here are a few clues that your might be heavy:
- You feel you need to change your sanitary protection more than you should be
- You experience “flooding”
- You have to wear two forms of sanitary protection such as a tampon and a towel.
If you period is too light, this the is time to investigate your hormone levels and things that could be affecting them. Some of the more common issues that I see in women with light periods are stress, lack of fat intake or over exercise.
Texture
Your flow should be mostly liquid with very few small clots. If you find clots in your period, it is worth getting checked for hormonal imbalances but most of the time it can be helped with nutritional changes such as eating more fibre and reducing red meat consumption.
Clots and thicker, sludgier blood can also be a sign or the womb not in the optimal position when bleeding. Again posture checking, castor oil packs, steams and abdominal massage are helpful therapies.
Pain
Despite what a lot of people think, it is not normal to experience period pain, although it is very common. Most underlying causes include: hormonal imbalance, womb position, inflammation and pelvic congestion.
However, it can be a sign of endometriosis, fibroids and some other conditions too, so rather than dismissing period pain as normal and just taking a medication to reduce it, please do speak to your doctor about possible root causes. Especially, if you feel something isn’t right.
As someone who used to experience extreme pain at this time of month, I understand what the pain is like and trying to get through it with medication and pure will power. But I now understand that pain is actually my body telling me that something isn’t right so I always pay attention to pain now.
PMS
Again, this is so common it is frequently joked about, but PMS is again a sign of either hormonal imbalance or nutrient deficiencies. If you experience PMS, it is worth speaking to a nutritional therapist and getting your hormone levels checked.
Smell
Your period shouldn’t have a noticeable smell unless you get up close and personal, then you may notice the metallic smell of blood. If you do notice an “off” smell, then it is usually down to the sanitary protection you are wearing or possibly an infection.
If you wear pads with a plastic backing, you will find you sweat more which causes an odour. Also pads and tampons that are scented often smell pretty bad when mixed with blood. Try switching to cotton re-usable cloth pads, menstrual cups or even just unscented products with a breathable backing to see if you notice a difference.
If you suspect the smell may be due to an infection, you do need to get this checked out by your doctor.
If you feel that your periods aren’t “normal” please don’t feel that you are broken or your body is letting you down. It is always a sign of something not quite right, it is just working out what that something is in your case.
Many of these symptoms can be addressed with nutrition, massage or medical treatment, they key is finding out what works for you.