WORDS: alyce cimino | Lead naturopath
We often hear and talk about heavy flows as being a sign of period dysregulation – probably because flooding your fave jeans while at work is a HUGE inconvenience, however, a light bleed can be just as big of a sign that something isn’t quite right.
For a healthy bleed, we should lose approximately 50-60ml of blood and fluid over the course of 4-5 days (approximately).
When we have a light flow, less than 25ml or a bleed that is only there for a day, it can be a sign that our hormones aren’t quite working as they should be.
From a fertility perspective, a lighter bleed can be a sign that the uterine lining isn’t as thick as it could be, and from there it can be a limitation on implantation as an embryo needs a nice cozy place to call home.
An easy way to measure the blood loss is to look at the output! Pay attention to how the tampon, pad or cup/disc fill up. Are they full? Can you go all day and not change a tampon and it still not be full? Is your bleed over in a day?
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT?
The first step it so speak to your health professional, it can be temping to ignore; we get that one day of period is way more convenient than 6 days of bleed BUT you want to find out a little bit more information. If you are trying to conceive it means that you should be getting a few more tests done, including an ultrasound to check the thickness of your uterine lining.
From there, you want to investigate your nutritional intake, your hormones, your stress and your lifestyle. There may be a few changes that need to happen to restore the balance again.
*** obviously you should not leave a tampon in all day without changing.