Is my cycle normal?
This is educational, not diagnostic. These questions help you notice a pattern in your own routine. They cannot tell you what is causing it, and they are not a substitute for care from a doctor or clinician.
Your answers are scored on your device. Nothing you enter here is sent to us or saved.
Which of these describes you best at the moment?
How many days were your last three cycles? Count from the first day of one period to the day before the next one started.
If you are not sure, your best estimate is fine, and if you only know one or two, enter those. Three gives you a spread as well as an average.
That looks like it might be a typo. Cycle lengths between 15 and 90 days are what we can compare.
In the past year, what is the longest you have gone between periods?
How many days does your bleeding usually last?
Do any of these describe your heaviest days?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Have you had bleeding or spotting between your periods?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Since your periods stopped, have you had any bleeding at all?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Have you had bleeding after sex?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Have you noticed any of these?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
How bad is period pain for you, at its worst?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Which age band are you in?
Is there any chance you could be pregnant?
Answer only what you are comfortable answering. You can skip this and still get a result.
Please speak to a doctor today
Please act on this today.
You told us your periods stopped 12 months or more ago and that you have had some bleeding since. However small the amount, that is a pattern clinicians want to see promptly, so we have not compared your cycle dates and we are not going to hand you a habit plan instead.
Please speak to a doctor today: contact your GP practice and say what you have told us here, or in the UK call 111 if you cannot get through. It is a short appointment to arrange and it is the right first step.
Please speak to a doctor today
Please act on this today.
You told us there is a chance you could be pregnant, and that you have had bleeding or pain of the kind we asked about. That combination is one to have looked at the same day rather than watched, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Please speak to a doctor today: contact your GP practice, or in the UK call 111. If the pain is severe, or you feel faint, go to your nearest urgent care service or call 999.
Please speak to a doctor today
Please act on this today.
You described bleeding heavy enough to be worth assessing, and alongside it being breathless, dizzy or aware of your heartbeat. Those two together are worth being seen about today rather than at some point, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Please speak to a doctor today: contact your GP practice and describe exactly what you told us here, or in the UK call 111. If you feel faint or your breathlessness is getting worse, go to your nearest urgent care service.
Please book an appointment soon
Please arrange this soon.
You described bleeding that is heavy or long: soaking through protection every hour or two, flooding, clots bigger than a 50p coin, or bleeding lasting eight days or more. That is worth an appointment rather than a habit tip, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Bleeding like this is common and under-reported. In one survey of 2,356 women, 18.2% had subjectively heavy bleeding and fewer than one in five of them had sought care. It is treatable, and it is not something to manage around. Please book an appointment soon and take your dates with you.
Please book an appointment soon
Please arrange this soon.
You told us you have had bleeding or spotting between your periods. That is worth having looked at rather than tracked, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Please book an appointment soon and say exactly what you told us here: when it happens, how much, and how long it has been going on. Those are the details that make the appointment useful.
Please book an appointment soon
Please arrange this soon.
You told us you have had bleeding after sex. That is worth having looked at rather than waiting to see whether it settles, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Please book an appointment soon. It is a short conversation, and it is a routine thing to bring up.
Please book an appointment soon
Please arrange this soon.
You ticked two or more of being breathless on mild exertion, dizzy or light-headed, aware of your heartbeat, or craving ice or something that is not food. Together those are worth a proper check rather than a habit tip, so we have not compared your cycle dates.
Please book an appointment soon and mention your bleeding in the same conversation. It is a short appointment and a routine set of checks.
Please book an appointment soon
Please arrange this soon.
You told us period pain either stops you doing normal things or is not touched by painkillers. Period pain is extremely common, with a pooled worldwide prevalence of 71.3%, and pain at that level still deserves assessing rather than enduring. Both of those are true at once, and being common is not a reason to leave it. We have not compared your cycle dates.
Please book an appointment soon. It helps to say how bad it gets, what you have already tried, and how much of your day it takes.
Your result: Steady
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
The cycles you entered average days and vary by days between your longest and shortest. Both sit comfortably inside the ranges reported in large studies: 87% of women in one dataset of nearly 76,000 cycles had lengths between 23 and 35 days, and just under half varied by less than five days.
Worth saying since it is the thing most women want to know: 28 is not the number to measure yourself against. Only 16.3% of 1.58 million tracked users had a 28-day median.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Keep logging. A steady pattern is most useful as a baseline: it is what makes a future change visible, and changes are much easier to describe to a clinician when you have dates.
- If your energy dips predictably within the month, that is worth tracking alongside. A predictable dip can be planned around.
- Nothing here needs fixing. Use the programme for whichever lever is actually short for you.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
Your result: Slightly variable
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
Your cycles average days, all within the 23 to 35 day range that most women fall in, with a spread of days between longest and shortest.
Here is the sentence we most want you to read: a five-day spread is not unusual. In one study of nearly 76,000 cycles, 52% of women varied by five days or more. A majority. If you have been treating a few days of variation as a sign something is wrong, the data do not support that reading.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Log a few more cycles before drawing conclusions. Variability is its own thing and it takes more than three cycles to see clearly.
- Note what moves, whether it is the whole cycle shifting or one phase. The app daily check-in is designed for exactly this.
- If the spread widens noticeably over the next several months, that is worth mentioning at your next appointment. A change in your own pattern is more informative than any population figure.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
Your result: Variable
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
Your cycles average days with a spread of days between longest and shortest. That spread is wider than most of the women in the studies we are comparing with, though the lengths themselves are largely inside the usual range.
Two things worth knowing. Variability behaves as its own process rather than as a by-product of cycle length: statistical modelling of women's own calendars finds separate change points for average length and for how much it varies. And three cycles is genuinely not many, so the figures sharpen considerably with more.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Log three more cycles. This is the single most useful thing you can do, and it is the difference between a hunch and a pattern you can show someone.
- Write down what else moves with it: sleep, energy, mood, bleeding heaviness. Those are the details a clinician will ask for and the ones hardest to reconstruct later.
- If the pattern has changed from what was usual for you, mention it at your next appointment. Change in your own baseline is the informative signal.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality, with the logging habit selected first
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
Your result: Outside the usual range
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
The cycles you entered average days, with a spread of days between longest and shortest, and they sit outside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in the published studies fall within.
That is a description of your dates, and it is worth a conversation. Not because it means something is wrong: there are several different things that can produce this pattern, they are usually manageable, and working out which one is behind it needs a clinician rather than a web page. We are deliberately not going to speculate about which.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Book an appointment and take your dates with you. Write down the lengths of your last few cycles, the longest gap you have had in the past year, and anything that has changed. That is exactly the information that makes the appointment useful.
- Keep logging in the meantime. More cycles make the picture clearer and cost you nothing.
- The habit content is still worth doing, since sleep, food and movement are useful whatever is behind the pattern, but it should not be your only step here.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality, shown below the clinician prompt rather than above it
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
Where your one cycle sits
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
You entered one cycle of days. Here is where that sits: in a study of 612,613 ovulatory cycles the mean was 29.3 days, and 87% of women in another dataset had cycles between 23 and 35 days.
We have not given you a band, and that is deliberate. The more informative of the two figures is the spread between your longest and shortest cycle, and one cycle cannot produce a spread. A single cycle also tells you very little on its own: plenty of women have one unusual cycle in an otherwise steady year.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Come back after two more cycles, or log them in the app and it will do the arithmetic for you.
- If you have the dates written down anywhere, that is enough. You do not need to have been tracking properly.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality, with the logging habit first
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
What we can and cannot read from this
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
Hormonal contraception sets your bleeding pattern, so there is no natural cycle length here to compare, and a withdrawal bleed is not the same thing as a period. That is not a problem. It just means this particular arithmetic has nothing to work on.
The bleeding questions still matter, and so does anything that has changed. Those are the things worth raising, rather than any comparison against cycle-length figures that were measured in women not using hormonal contraception.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- If your bleeding pattern has changed from what it has been on this method, that is the thing to mention at your next appointment.
- Use the programme for whichever lever is actually short for you. Sleep, food and movement do not depend on having a cycle to track.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
What we can and cannot read from this
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
You told us it has been 12 months or more since your last period, so there is no recent cycle length to compare and we have not tried to invent one. This page is arithmetic on dates, and there are no dates to work with here.
What is worth saying instead: any bleeding at all at this point is something clinicians want to see, whatever the amount, which is why we asked about it separately. Beyond that, the useful ground now is strength, bone and heart health over the long run, and that is where the programme puts its effort.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Keep resistance work in the week. It is the lever with the most evidence behind it at this stage and the one most often skipped.
- If anything about bleeding changes, however small, book an appointment rather than watch it.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality, with the strength habit first
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
What we can and cannot read from this
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
Periods stopping is described by clinicians in terms of how long it has been, and twelve months is the mark they use. You are inside that, so this is a description of where you are rather than a conclusion.
We have not banded anything, because a band needs recent cycle lengths and you do not have a run of them right now. The gap between periods is the figure clinicians ask about at this point, and it is a reasonable thing to raise.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Write down the date of your last period and keep the note. Dates are the thing that makes an appointment useful and the thing hardest to reconstruct later.
- If bleeding returns and anything about it is unusual for you, mention it rather than wait for the next visit.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
What we can and cannot read from this
Across the cycles you entered: an average of days, with a spread of days.
You told us you are pregnant or gave birth in the last 12 months, so there is no run of cycle lengths for this page to compare, and comparing anything from this period against ordinary cycle figures would be a measurement error dressed up as a result.
Your midwife, health visitor or GP is the right person for what is expected at this stage and what is not. We have left out anything from this result that would not suit you right now, including supplements, eating windows and high-intensity movement.
Where that one length sits: it is shorter than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One short cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.it is inside the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in, and close enough to the published average of 29.3 days to be unremarkable.it is longer than the 23 to 35 day range that most women in these studies fall in. One long cycle on its own is a common thing to have, and it is the run of cycles rather than any single one that carries the information.
Age is context here, and it never changes the band. Cycles in the youngest tracked groups tend to run slightly longer than in women over 40, and a 29-day median was more common in 18 to 24 year olds than a 27-day one.Across 612,613 cycles, average length fell by roughly 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45. A real trend, and a small one.Average cycle length drifts slightly shorter through the thirties, by around 0.18 days per year between 25 and 45.Women aged 40 and over were more likely than 18 to 24 year olds to have a 27-day median cycle, 18.5% against 9.6%, and less likely to have a 29-day one. Where cycles do lengthen at this stage, the change shows up mostly in the long cycles rather than in the middle of the distribution, so a widening spread is often the first thing to notice, before any change in the average.At this stage a widening spread usually shows up before any change in the average, because the change happens in the long cycles rather than the typical ones. Clinicians describe these changes in terms of the gaps between periods, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about. This page describes the dates and does not assign a stage.
- Take anything that is worrying you to your midwife, health visitor or GP rather than to a web page. They have your notes and this page does not.
- Come back to the cycle arithmetic when you have a few cycles again. It will still be here.
Where this goes in Femy: Cycle Vitality, once cycles have returned
Start with: Stage 02 Understanding, 'Reading Your Body's Signals'
This is a description of the dates you entered, set against figures from published studies. It is not a verdict on whether your cycle is normal. That is a clinical judgement, and sitting outside a typical range is a reason to ask a question rather than a finding about you.
Pain that came on suddenly and is severe, especially with a fever or vomiting, needs assessing today rather than working on with habits. Contact your GP for an urgent appointment, call 111, or go to your nearest urgent care service.
This is an educational description of the pattern in your answers. It is a description of the dates and symptoms you entered. It is not a diagnosis, a fertility assessment, or a form of contraception. If something here is new, getting worse, or worrying you, speak to a clinician rather than wait.
Almost everything written about this starts from 28 days, and almost nobody has one. In 1.58 million app users with at least three logged cycles, only 16.3% had a median cycle length of 28 days. In another dataset, a quarter of women believed they had a 28-day cycle and 12.4% actually did. So if your cycle is not 28 days, you are in the majority, and the number you have been comparing yourself to was never the average.
This check does two pieces of arithmetic on dates you supply, your average length and the spread between your longest and shortest recent cycle, and shows you where each sits against figures from studies of millions of real cycles. That second number is the one nobody talks about, and it is usually the more informative of the two.
It cannot tell you whether your cycle is normal, in the sense of whether anything is wrong. That is a clinical judgement and this is arithmetic. What it can do is tell you how common your pattern is, and be clear about which specific things are worth an appointment rather than a habit.
How this self-check is put together
Two pieces of arithmetic on dates you supply. The average of your recent cycle lengths, and the spread between your longest and shortest. A cycle length is counted from the first day of one period to the day before the next one starts. Nothing is estimated or inferred: if you enter three numbers, the result is those three numbers described.
Where the reference figures come from. Three large datasets, and it is worth knowing what each one contributes. In 75,981 cycles from 32,595 women using connected ovulation tests, 87% had cycle lengths between 23 and 35 days, 52% had cycles varying by five days or more, and, the figure that reframes the whole topic, 25.3% believed they had a 28-day cycle while only 12.4% actually did (Soumpasis 2020). Across 612,613 ovulatory cycles from 124,648 women, mean cycle length was 29.3 days, and length fell by about 0.18 days per year of age between 25 and 45 (Bull 2019). Among 1,579,819 app users with at least three logged cycles, only 16.3% had a 28-day median, and women over 40 were more likely to have a 27-day median than 18 to 24 year olds (Grieger 2020).
Why the five-day boundary is not described as abnormal. Because a majority of women exceed it. That is the most important sentence on this page, and it is the reason our second band exists at all: Slightly variable is not a warning, it is a description of the commonest pattern.
Why the seven and eight day boundary is where it is. Because it is a published operational criterion rather than one we chose. A persistent difference of seven days or more between consecutive cycle lengths is the threshold researchers use to mark the beginning of the menopausal transition, alongside a gap of sixty days or more for the later stage (Harlow 2012), and both thresholds were tested empirically against prospective menstrual calendars from four separate cohorts before being adopted (Harlow 2007). We use those numbers to decide where the description of your dates changes. We do not use them to assign you a stage, and we will not: no digital implementation of those criteria has yet been validated, and the researchers who work on this have said so explicitly (Huibregtse 2026).
Why variability gets its own treatment. Because it is not just a side effect of cycles getting longer. Hierarchical change-point modelling of women's own menstrual calendars identifies separate change points for the average cycle length and for how much it varies, showing that variability increases as its own process (Huang 2014). And when cycles do lengthen with age, the change appears mostly in the long cycles: in 963 women tracked with daily calendars, increases happened largely in the right tail while the median barely moved (Paramsothy 2015). That is why a widening spread is often the first thing a woman in her forties notices.
Why we ask you to log more cycles. Because it genuinely works rather than because it is what an app would say. In 4.9 million natural cycles from over 378,000 users, cycle and period length statistics were stationary across the usage timeline: the picture sharpens with more data rather than drifting (Li 2020).
Terminology. We describe bleeding in plain descriptive terms, how long, how heavy, how far apart, following the international consensus that abandoned older terms like menorrhagia in favour of describing the pattern (Fraser 2011). And when a pattern is worth a conversation, we say so without guessing at the reason: the standard classification of causes exists precisely because several can be present in the same person (Munro 2011), which is a good reason for a web page not to speculate.
One long-run finding, for completeness rather than alarm. In 79,505 women followed for 24 years, cycles that were always irregular at ages 29 to 46 carried an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.39 for death before age 70, as did a usual cycle length of 40 days or more (Wang 2020), with a comparable association for cardiovascular disease in the same cohort (Wang 2022). This is a population-level association across decades, not a prediction about anyone, and it is here because it is the honest reason a persistently unusual pattern is worth raising rather than shrugging off.
Limits of this estimate. The reference datasets come from women using period-tracking or fertility apps, who chose to track. That is a self-selected group and not a random sample of women, so treat the percentages as well-measured descriptions of large groups rather than as national statistics. Two of the three were also produced by companies with a commercial interest in cycle tracking. Three cycles is a small number, and variability in particular needs more. Recalled dates are approximate. Hormonal contraception sets the bleeding pattern, so these comparisons do not apply. Cycle length says very little about ovulation timing: in the source dataset, even a nominal 28-day cycle showed a ten-day spread in the day of ovulation, so this page makes no fertility statement and the ovulation calculator is the right tool for that question, with its own limits. We compare your answers to published general guidance for adults. We have not tested this quiz against any clinical measure.
Persistent problems deserve support. Some things are worth an appointment regardless of what the arithmetic above says: periods heavy enough to soak through protection every hour or two, bleeding that lasts more than seven days, clots bigger than a 50p coin, bleeding between periods or after sex, or any bleeding at all if your periods stopped a year or more ago. Heavy bleeding in particular is both common and under-reported. In one survey of 2,356 women, 18.2% experienced subjectively heavy bleeding and only 18.9% of them had sought care (Ding 2019), and it is treatable, so it is not something to manage around. Heavy bleeding is also associated with more than three-fold odds of anaemia in premenopausal women (Ekroos 2024), which is worth mentioning in the same appointment if you have been unusually breathless or light-headed.
Common questions
How should I use this estimate?
As a description of your dates and a prompt to keep logging. If you take one thing from it, take the spread rather than the average: it is the more informative number and the one almost nobody calculates.
Is this medical advice?
No. Femy is educational content about wellness habits. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace care from a doctor or clinician.
So is my cycle normal or not?
We cannot answer that, and we would rather say so than pretend. 'Normal' is a clinical judgement that depends on things a quiz cannot see. What we can tell you is how common your pattern is in large published datasets, and which specific things are worth raising with a clinician. If your figures sit outside a typical range, that is a reason to ask a question, not a finding about you.
Is a 24-day cycle normal?
It is inside the range that 87% of women in one large dataset fell within, which was 23 to 35 days. The 28-day figure is not the benchmark it is treated as: only 16.3% of 1.58 million tracked users had a 28-day median cycle.
Can this tell me if I am in perimenopause?
No. That is a clinical judgement and it is one worth asking about. What this can do is describe your bleeding pattern using the same numbers researchers use, the difference between consecutive cycles and the longest gap, and tell you plainly that no digital implementation of those criteria has yet been validated.
Does this tell me when I am ovulating or whether I can conceive?
No, and cycle length is a poor guide to it. In the dataset behind our figures, even a nominal 28-day cycle showed a ten-day spread in the day of ovulation. This is not a fertility assessment and it is not a form of contraception.
What happens to what I enter?
The arithmetic runs on your device. Your dates are not sent to us, not saved, and never put in the page address. We count how many people finish and which result they get, as totals only: no dates, no answers, nothing tied to you.
Sources checked
Built from published research, with every source listed below. We checked these sources for the figures we quote: the typical ranges, the guideline targets, and the doses used in the trials we describe. We compare your answers to published general guidance for adults. We have not tested this quiz against any clinical measure.
- Soumpasis (2020). Real-life insights on menstrual cycles and ovulation using big data. Human Reproduction Open. doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoaa011
- Bull (2019). Real-world menstrual cycle characteristics of more than 600,000 menstrual cycles. npj Digital Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41746-019-0152-7
- Grieger (2020). Menstrual Cycle Length and Patterns in a Global Cohort of Women Using a Mobile Phone App: Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. doi.org/10.2196/17109
- Li (2020). Characterizing physiological and symptomatic variation in menstrual cycles using self-tracked mobile-health data. npj Digital Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0269-8
- Huang (2014). Modelling Menstrual Cycle Length and Variability at the Approach of Menopause by Using Hierarchical Change Point Models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics. doi.org/10.1111/rssc.12044
- Fraser (2011). The FIGO Recommendations on Terminologies and Definitions for Normal and Abnormal Uterine Bleeding. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine. doi.org/10.1055/s-0031-1287662
- Munro (2011). FIGO classification system (PALM‐COEIN) for causes of abnormal uterine bleeding in nongravid women of reproductive age. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.11.011
- Harlow (2012). Executive Summary of the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop + 10: Addressing the Unfinished Agenda of Staging Reproductive Aging. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. doi.org/10.1210/jc.2011-3362
- Harlow (2007). Recommendations from a multi-study evaluation of proposed criteria for Staging Reproductive Aging. Climacteric. doi.org/10.1080/13697130701258838
- Paramsothy (2015). Influence of race/ethnicity, body mass index, and proximity of menopause on menstrual cycle patterns in the menopausal transition. Menopause. doi.org/10.1097/GME.0000000000000293
- Huibregtse (2026). Considerations and practical recommendations for identifying perimenopause in longitudinal research. Psychoneuroendocrinology. doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2026.107748
- Wang (2020). Menstrual cycle regularity and length across the reproductive lifespan and risk of premature mortality: prospective cohort study. BMJ. doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3464
- Wang (2022). Menstrual Cycle Regularity and Length Across the Reproductive Lifespan and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. JAMA Network Open. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.38513
- Ding (2019). Heavy menstrual bleeding among women aged 18–50 years living in Beijing, China: prevalence, risk factors, and impact on daily life. BMC Women's Health. doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0726-1
- Schoep (2019). The impact of menstrual symptoms on everyday life: a survey among 42,879 women. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.02.048
- de Arruda (2026). Worldwide prevalence of dysmenorrhea: a systematic review and meta-analysis across 70 countries. Pain. doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003768
- Ekroos (2024). Menstrual blood loss is an independent determinant of hemoglobin and ferritin levels in premenopausal blood donors. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica. doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14890
- Magnay (2020). Pictorial methods to assess heavy menstrual bleeding in research and clinical practice: a systematic literature review. BMC Women's Health. doi.org/10.1186/s12905-020-0887-y
- Paramsothy (2014). Bleeding patterns during the menopausal transition in the multi‐ethnic Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (<scp>SWAN</scp>): a prospective cohort study. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.12768