Tracking your period is the simplest, most useful health habit you can build. It reveals your personal pattern, sharpens predictions, and gives you and any clinician real data instead of guesswork. Here’s how to do it well.
Step 1: Mark day 1 every cycle
Day 1 is the first day of full bleeding (not spotting). Logging it each month is the single most important data point — it’s what every prediction is built on. Learn more in our menstrual cycle guide.
Step 2: Log flow and symptoms
- Flow: light, medium, heavy — helps spot changes over time
- Symptoms: cramps, mood, energy, skin, sleep
- Ovulation signs: cervical mucus and, if trying to conceive, ovulation tests
Step 3: Let predictions learn
Prediction accuracy improves the more cycles you log, because the app learns your average length and variability. Regular cycles predict well quickly; if yours are irregular, tracking is even more valuable for spotting patterns.
Step 4: Watch for changes worth discussing
Sudden changes in length, flow, or pain are worth raising with a clinician. A few months of tracked data makes that conversation far more productive.
For readers in United Kingdom
In the UK, much of this care is available through the NHS as well as privately, and UK GDPR gives you rights over your health data, including access and erasure.