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Menstruation (periods)

A picture of a woman with a period pad

Your period is a natural part of life and you shouldn’t feel any shame or embarrassment in that. 

A period is the part of the menstrual cycle when a woman bleeds from her vagina for a few days. For most women this happens around every 28 days, but it's common for periods to be more or less frequent than this, ranging from every 21 days to every 35 days.

Your period can last between 2 and 7 days, but it will usually last for about 5 days. The bleeding tends to be heaviest in the first 2 days.

When your period is at its heaviest, the blood will be red. On lighter days, it may be pink or brown.

You'll lose about 20 to 90ml (about 1 to 5 tablespoons) of blood during your period, although some women bleed more heavily than this.

Go here to the NHS website to find out more about periods. Read more about heavy periods, period pain, irregular periods and stopped or missed periods.

Bloody Brilliant

We want to empower girls and young people that have periods as well all those around them to be period proud, so join the movement and let's normalise periods together.

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau ffôn yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg. Atebir gohebiaeth Gymraeg yn y Gymraeg, ac ni fydd hyn yn arwain at oedi. Mae’r dudalen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg drwy bwyso’r botwm ar y dde ar frig y dudalen.

We welcome correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Welsh language correspondence will be replied to in Welsh, and this will not lead to a delay. This page is available in Welsh by clicking ‘Cymraeg’ at the top right of this page.