Q: Many women dread the arrival of their period and think of it as something they have to suffer through. During your menstrual cycle, the actual hormones in your brain change and can affect your mood, but you can also consciously change the way you think about your period. It can be empowering to think of your period as a symbol of your womanhood and as natural part of your life. Your first period, called menarche, is often celebrated as a young girl’s entrance into womanhood. When you realize that your period can be something that is celebrated, you might stop dreading its arrival and cope with it. Tracking your menstrual cycle will not only give you a heads-up when your period is due, but it can also help you know when you are fertile and can get pregnant. Getting your period unexpectedly can leave you feeling unprepared and stressed.  You can keep track of the day your period starts and end with a calendar, in a journal, or with an app for your mobile devices.  There are several apps, such as Strawberry Pal or Clue, that can help you track your period and set reminders for when your next cycle is about to start. Remember that during your first year, periods are often unpredictable and come at random. They can also skip. This is completely normal. However, after the first year, your period should begin to follow a more regular pattern and be easier to track. Menstrual cycles vary between women. They can last anywhere from 21 to 35 days, and your period may last two to seven days. Your period may be regular and occur at the same time each month, or it may be irregular.  Keeping track of your period is very important when you are sexually active. It helps you to determine when you are the most fertile, which is important to know whether you want to avoid pregnancy or when you want to become pregnant. Keep an extra tampon, panty liner, or pad in your purse, backpack, and car. This way, if you get your period and you do not have access to other feminine products you are still protected. This is especially important if your periods are irregular and you are not able to accurately predict when your next period will begin. You should also keep a dollar in quarters with you, just in case you are caught off guard and need to purchase a pad/tampon. It’s a good idea to keep a few extra feminine hygiene products with you so you can offer one to another woman if she needs one. During ovulation, which happens 12 to 16 days before your period begins, your body is preparing for a potential pregnancy. Your body releases two different hormones, progesterone and estrogen, which tell your body that it should prepare for pregnancy.  Your metabolism speeds up during this time so you’ll need to eat more calories than you usually do. Eat plenty of iron-rich foods to help offset the iron that you’ll lose right before and during your period.  Meat, beans, lentils, eggs, and dark leafy greens are all good sources of iron. You should continue to eat iron-rich foods during your period. This can help to relieve some period symptoms, like fatigue and cramping.  Vitamin C can improve your body's absorption of iron. Try to eat foods rich in Vitamin C, such as oranges, peppers, and kale, as well.
A: Reframe your mindset about your period. Keep track of your period. Keep feminine hygiene products with you at all times. Eat iron-rich foods.

Q: The thesis statement is the main idea of your paper. You want to cover your basic argument to let your readers know what you plan to argue. For a literary analysis, you should connect the main idea or theme of the work to a specific way the author shows it. For example, you might write, "In 1984, Orwell's use of imagery to establish a bleak and dreary world is key to bringing home his theme that totalitarianism is something to be avoided at all costs." How you organize your essay is up to you. One typical method is to go through the book in order, providing your evidence starting at the beginning of the book and moving towards the end.  Alternatively, it may make sense to you to begin with a historical introduction to the work to provide context. Another method is to present your most important part of the argument first and work down from there. Write down a Roman numeral for each main idea you want to cover in your essay, as well as your introduction and conclusion. Next to the Roman numeral, jot down that main idea in a shortened form. For instance, you might write:  I. Introduction II. Provide background information and historical context for 1984  III. Introduce the author's main theme IV. Establish how imagery helps create the theme V. Conclusion Under each Roman numeral, use letters and then Arabic numerals to go into more detail about what you want to cover in each section. You can be very specific or just cover the basics. However, the more specific you are, the easier it will be to write your essay. Your detailed outline might look something like this:  I. Introduction  A. Introduce work, including author, title, and date B. Thesis: In 1984, Orwell's use of imagery to establish a bleak and dreary world is key to bringing home his theme that totalitarianism is something to be avoided at all costs.   II. Provide background information and historical context for 1984  A. Discuss World War II B. Bring up Orwell's experiences in Spain  1. Experiences of fascism influenced work 2. Feared totalitarianism on the right and left   C. Coined phrase "cold war"   III. Introduce the author's main theme A. Warning against totalitarianism  1. Party in complete control 2. No privacy, even for thoughts 3. Orwell thought this was the logical conclusion of a complete totalitarianism    IV. Establish how imagery helps create the theme  A. Book begins with bleak, colorless imagery, sets up tone B. Description of urban decay creates a feeling of the world falling apart B. Contrasting imagery when Winston has experiences with Julia, re-establishes purpose of main imagery   V. Conclusion
A:
Write a thesis statement. Organize your argument from start to finish. Set up your main ideas or paragraphs. Add the main points you want to cover in each paragraph.