Irregular periods are believed to be a result of ovulation dysfunction – either anovulation (no ovulation) or oligovulation (infrequent ovulation). When ovulation is disrupted, your body is not producing sufficient amounts of progesterone, the hormone that plays an important role in regulating your menstrual cycles.

Questions concerning irregular periods often come up in our community forum. Menstrual irregularity makes it hard to predict when you’re going to ovulate, an important piece of information – whether you want to get pregnant or avoid a pregnancy.

To so many women, PMS seems like an incurable illness. But because it’s not a life or death condition, most simply learn to tolerate it, suffering through it month after month. Don’t you just wish there was a magic pill that could take all the suffering away?

According to our recent poll, 99% of women menstruated on the new moon in their last menstrual cycle. That’s 412 women out of the 423 women who participated in the poll. Looks like many of us are synchronizing our menstrual cycle with the moon cycle after all.

Growing up I was told that it was a bad idea to have sex during your period. The reason my mom offered was that during menstruation, women’s reproductive systems are quite sensitive and vulnerable, and hence more susceptible to infections.

“The uterus is related, energetically, to a woman’s innermost sense of self and her inner world. It is symbolic of her dreams and the selves to which she would like to give birth. Its state of health reflects her inner most reality and her belief in herself at the deepest level.” ~ Christiane Northrup

Poor diet, stress, and lack of exercise and rest may or may not be the direct causes of PMS. But they are contributing factors for sure. And these are factors we can do something about. By cultivating a healthier lifestyle, you’ll be able to reduce the severity of PMS or even eliminate it all together.

For thousands of years throughout China and Asia, angelica root, or dong quai, has been used to maintain women’s health. In fact, it’s gained a nickname as the “female ginseng,” thanks to its many amazing benefits for women’s health, especially the reproductive health.

In my travels to China, I came across of a couple of great tea recipes that are known to nourish blood, boost energy, and calm mood and spirit. These simple and delightful teas are my favorite companions for a healthy menstrual cycle and balanced moods all month long. I hope you’ll enjoy them as well.

You’ve probably heard that the average menstrual cycle is 28 days (from day 1 of bleeding to day 1 of the next time of bleeding). But do you need to have a perfect 28-day cycle to be considered normal? What are the signs of an irregular period?