
Progesterone is a hormone that helps regulate monthly periods in women or support a pregnancy. It collaborates with estrogen during a monthly cycle to build up the lining of the uterus and release an egg from the ovary. During the second half of a...
The menstrual cycle or period is a process the female body goes through in order to prepare for pregnancy. Approximately every 28 days the uterus develops a new lining in preparation for a fertilized egg. If pregnancy does not occur this lining is...
Ovaries are the female reproductive gland responsible for production of ova, or eggs. Due to the dynamic nature of the reproductive cycle, there is constant activity among the cells associated with the ovary. Benign cysts commonly develop on the...
Stinging nettle is an herbal supplement prepared from the root of a leafy plant called Urtica dioica. This root extract may be beneficial in the treatment of hay fever and benign prostatic hyperplasia, a male health condition characterized by an...

According to the National Institutes of Health, any variation to a normal menstrual cycle is considered an irregular period, or oligomenorrhea. NIH defines a normal period as lasting four days in a 24 to 34 day cycle; however, the length of the...
The normal hair growth cycle consists of a growth period lasting for two to three years, followed by a resting period of several months. Normal shedding takes place during this resting period and may affect up to 10 percent of your hair at one...
Because of their ease of use and effectiveness, many women rely on oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, to prevent pregnancy. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that in 2002, 11.6 million women in the United States used oral...

Even though pregnancy signals an increase--and menopause results from a decrease--in hormones, they result in a few similar symptoms. Most women of child-bearing age will not stop to think that their symptoms might mean menopause. However, many...

The menstrual cycle is your body's way of preparing for the possibility of pregnancy every month. Menstruation generally follows a predictable pattern. The typical menstrual cycle is 28 days long. However it can be as short as 21 days or as long...
Trying to become pregnant can be a difficult process for women who have fertility problems. Though there are several different levels of fertility issues and many ways you can handle them, one of the best ways of doing so is by knowing when you...

Few women have completely regular periods. Most menstrual cycles are between 21 and 35 days long, with 28 days the norm, but only 10 to 15 percent of women have regular 28 day cycles, according to the Merck Manual. Many conditions can delay a...

Women menstruate once monthly, but there are many ways this pattern can be thrown off course. When it is, the menstrual period can become longer, shorter, absent or heavier. This occurrence is normally temporary, but in some women it may be...

Vitamin C helps your body function in multiple ways, but it has no influence or relationship with your menstrual cycle. A number of factors could delay your period, but vitamin C is not one of them. If you're concerned about your vitamin C levels,...
The earliest signs of pregnancy may be easy to recognize for some but for others they may be mistakenly attributed to some other ailment. AmericanPregnancy.org suggests that during the first week or few weeks of pregnancy some women may not...
Progesterone, a hormone produced by the corpus luteum, the remnant of the follicle that remains after ovulation of an egg, helps an embryo implant in the uterus. Women with infertility take progesterone suppositories for several reasons. They may...

Up to 40 percent of female athletes have late or absent periods, which is considerably higher than women in the general population in which 2 to 3 percent have absent periods and 10 to 12 percent have abnormal periods, reports Jack H. Wilmore and...

When you participate in vigorous forms of exercise, menstruation can stop or become irregular. High-intensity forms of exercise can reduce your hormone levels and stop your period. If you are concerned about not getting your period on a normal...

For a teenager, finding out that your girlfriend is pregnant is a scary experience. Many teen dads have questions about the pregnancy that they may be too ashamed to ask. It is, however, important for the teen dad to understand what his girlfriend...

A woman's menstrual cycle is mostly regulated by her hormones and other involuntary internal processes. Stress, however, can take a toll on a woman's monthly cycle. To maintain a regular cycle, it can help to understand how your emotions impact...

Spotting can occur in any woman of any age and can stem from vaginal, uterine or ovarian causes. Women who are pregnant may experience spotting in early pregnancy and may experience this spotting during the normal time a period would occur.

Each woman may experience different symptoms during pregnancy. Some women seem to have all the classic symptoms and others worry that something may be wrong because she may feel no common symptoms. Early in a pregnancy, the baby is tiny and...

Delaying your period with birth control is a process also known as menstrual manipulation. During a normal cycle on birth control pills, a woman will have a period every 28 days. Her period begins when she takes an inactive variant of the pill for...
A period occurs when the vagina discharges blood and uterine tissue. This is called menstruation, and it normally happens every month. Hormones effect a woman's menstrual cycle. According to the National Women's Health Information Center, a young...

The website, Healthy Women states that heavy menstrual bleeding (also called menorrhagia) is defined as soaking a pad and/or tampon every hour during each menstrual cycle. According to Dr. Marina Johnson, endocrinologist, a normal menstrual period...

The average length of your menstrual cycle, defined as the first day of menstrual bleeding to the first day of the next menstrual period, is 28 days. But the University of Michigan Health System says that the length of a cycle can vary from 21 to...
Ovulation is when a mature egg is released from the ovaries. This is the only period of time that a woman can get pregnant, since it takes the combining of the woman's egg and the male's sperm to create a new life. The average time during each...

When a woman is actively trying to conceive, a simple change to the normal function of her body can provide a glimmer of hope to the possibility of being pregnant. Pregnancy can affect the female body in different ways, and as has been said...
Charting your menstrual cycle can help you predict when you are most likely to ovulate. Your cycle starts on the first day you get your period and lasts until you get it again. A normal menstrual cycle is 28 days. If that's how long your cycle is,...