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Welcome to our "What You Should Know about the Menstrual Cycle" site!   Menstrual Cycles: What Really Happens in those 28 Days? Basic Biology: the Cycle Begins Did you know that when a baby girl is born, she has all the eggs her body will ever use, and many more, perhaps as many as 450,000? They are stored in her ovaries, each inside its own sac called a follicle. As she matures into puberty, her body begins producing various hormones that cause the eggs to mature. This is the beginning of her first cycle; it's a cycle that will repeat throughout her life until the end of menopause. Let's start with the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a gland in the brain responsible for regulating the body's thirst, hunger, sleep patterns, libido and endocrine functions. It releases the chemical messenger Follicle Stimulating Hormone Releasing Factor (FSH-RF) to tell the pituitary, another gland in the brain, to do its job. The pituitary then secretes Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and a little Leutenizing Hormone (LH) into the bloodstream which cause the follicles to begin to mature. The menstrual cycle The maturing follicles then release another hormone, estrogen. As the follicles ripen over a period of about seven days, they secrete more and more estrogen into the bloodstream. Estrogen causes the lining of the uterus to thicken. It causes the cervical mucous to change. When the estrogen level reaches a certain point it causes the hypothalmus to release Leutenizing Hormone Releasing Factor (LH-RF) causing the pituitary to release a large amount of Leutenizing Hormone (LH). This surge of LH triggers the one most mature follicle to burst open and release an egg. This is called ovulation. [Many birth control pills work by blocking this LH surge, thus inhibiting the release of an egg.]   ovulation calendar | how to get pregnant | ovulation test | ovulation | ovulation predictor |conception | menstrual cycle | signs of pregnancy |