Online Resources to Feel Your Best During Each Stage of Your Menstrual Cycle

Your menstrual cycle is more than just your period—it includes the activities that occur in your ovaries, uterus, and brain throughout your cycle. A full menstrual cycle can last between 24 and 38 days (on average) and can fluctuate in length each month.

There are four phases of a menstrual cycle—menstruation, follicular, ovulation and luteal—with each stage bringing its own set of symptoms, hormone combinations, and bodily sensations. To help you manage these fluctuations, we’ve identified the best online resources and apps to help you optimize your well-being during each stage of your menstrual cycle.

1. Menstruation Phase: Your Period

Day one of your menstrual cycle is marked by the first day of your period. The menstruation phase lasts between five and seven days on average (i.e. the length of your period).

Menstruation Phase Symptoms

Aside from the obvious, you’ll likely have low energy thanks to the loss of iron through your period. Painful cramps and uncomfortable bloating may be present, and you may feel like wallowing in your cave (read: bedroom) for the rest of eternity.

What Activities Should I Focus On?

• Try a Yoga app. Practicing yoga can help soothe your period cramps by encouraging oxygen circulation through your muscles, according to HOLOGIC. Try The Underbelly yoga app for easy yoga flows for a compassionate and inclusive experience. Alternatively, the Yoga With Adriene YouTube channel offers free yoga sequences for all moods and ailments.
• Up your iron intake. As you’re losing valuable iron through your period, you want to ensure you keep your energy levels up by including iron-rich foods in your diet. Find information about dietary sources of iron on The Nutrition Source—an informative website that breaks down the core components of a healthy diet into easy-to-understand articles.
• Prioritize bedtime. Rest is crucial during your period. Encourage uninterrupted nights of sleep using Sleep Cycle—a sleep tracker app that is designed to wake you in the lightest phase of your sleep. Don’t forget to enable the Do Not Disturb function on all your devices to ensure a smooth night’s sleep.

Read our 3 Simple Tips for Creating an Effective Nighttime Routine to ensure that you have restorative nights of sleep during this first week of your menstrual cycle.

Other Apps for the Menstruation Phase

If you don’t already, now is an excellent time to start tracking your period. For a fun way to track your period without the worry of data privacy issues, try the Stardust app.

Download: Stardust Period Tracker for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Follicular Phase: Estrogen Rises

The follicular phase overlaps the menstruation phase, spanning (on average) days 1–13 of your menstrual cycle. During this phase, your hormones are preparing for ovulation.

Follicular Phase Symptoms

You may feel energetic and benefit from a surge of creativity. Feeling optimistic is also common during this phase of the menstrual cycle.

What Activities Should I Focus On?

It’s a good time to hone your creative skills and put your energy to good use.

Other Apps for the Follicular Phase

It’s prime time to be sociable during your follicular phase as your confidence soars, so why not find a new club or group to join on Meetup? Simply sign up, enter your location, and browse your favorite activities to find like-minded people to hang out with. You could even use Meetup to find interval training or stretch classes—two of the recommended activities for the follicular phase.

Download: Meetup for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

3. Ovulation Phase: Estrogen Peaks

Ovulation tends to happen around the middle of your menstrual cycle, falling on average between days 13 and 15. During this time, an egg leaves your ovary and enters the fallopian tube.

Ovulation Phase Symptoms

During this short phase, your energy might be soaring, and your sleep quality high. You may also experience increased body temperature, ovulation cramps, and bloating.

What Activities Should I Focus On?

• Get your blood pumping with online HIIT workouts. Hone in on your excess energy with a HIIT session. Fitness creator Chloe Ting offers a range of free HIIT workout programs on her YouTube channel which are ideal to harness your energy with.
• Stay hydrated with your phone’s help. To help ease potential cramps, counter a higher body temperature, and support, use the Water Reminder – Daily Tracker app to ensure that you’re staying hydrated.

Other Apps for the Ovulation Phase

If you are trying to conceive, using a digital fertility monitor can help you and your partner with your pregnancy journey. Alternatively, using a period tracker that offers basal temperature tracking and discharge monitoring, such as Clue, can help.

Download: Clue for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

4. Luteal Phase: Progesterone Rises

The luteal phase occupies days 15 to 28 (the days between ovulation and your next period). Estrogen drops while levels of progesterone rise.

Luteal Phase Symptoms

Your shifting hormone levels can put you into hibernation mode, with both your appetite and metabolism increasing. You might start feeling crabby, headachey, puffy, or crampy on the days leading up to your period. Hormonal changes might disrupt your sleep during this phase.

What Activities Should I Focus On?

• Boost your endorphins with fun cardio. If you enjoy exercise, now’s the time to drop the intensity and increase the fun. Create your own dance party with Just Dance Now—the mobile app of the popular console game. Not only will you raise your happy hormones, but you’ll take the pressure off your workout schedule.
• Satiate your hunger with hearty recipes. With an increased metabolism and undeniable hunger, you want to fill up on hearty nutritional recipes. Allrecipes provides simple recipes for tasty home-cooked meals on both its website and mobile app that are sure to satiate your hungry luteal phase appetite.
• Soothe yourself to sleep. As insomnia can hit during your luteal phase, try winding down with a soothing audio app. Soundscape apps are designed to help you relax and prepare for sleep. Alternatively, downloading calming playlists on Spotify can help you drift off.

Other Apps for the Luteal Phase

With your period nearing, it’s worth clearing your calendar of any heavy-duty social or work events. Google Calendar is one of the most accessible free calendars around, and it is compatible with all devices.

Download: Google Calendar for Android | iOS (Free)

Track Your Symptoms to Learn About Your Menstrual Cycle Experience

If you’re unsure of your menstrual cycle patterns or which phase you are currently in, it’s worth using a period tracker to learn about your personal menstrual cycle. Once you’re in sync with your symptoms, you can begin to optimize your well-being.

The key to managing your menstrual cycle is to primarily listen to what your body needs. Don’t push to work out if you’re exhausted, and don’t deny yourself snacks or bigger portions at mealtimes if your body asks for it. Using the above apps and your own intuition will help you optimize your well-being throughout your menstrual cycle.