READER QUESTION: “When does my Day 1 start?”

Sarah, a Facebook follower and Hormone Horoscope App users, asks: “When I’m using my Hormone Horoscope period tracker, do I start the calendar over on the day I get the first wisp of blood or do I start when it actually starts flowing? It can be as much as a day or day and a half in-between.”

My answer: Your Day 1 (which indicates the start of a new cycle) is when you notice your first wisp of blood. Like you, many women don’t experience a strong flow for a day or so because it can take that long for uterine contractions to push out the fluid. However, that first trickle indicates that your estrogen has dropped low enough to trigger shedding of the uterine lining. And that’s key since it also means that this hormone has reached the lowest point it will hit all cycle long and now its level will slowly increase day by day.