What should I track for perimenopause?

Five fields a day is enough: the date and your cycle day, hours of sleep and whether you woke hot, your worst symptom that day with a severity score out of five, a rough count of hot flashes, and one note about anything unusual such as alcohol, stress, illness, travel, or a new medication.

How long should I track menopause symptoms for?

Eight to twelve weeks covers two or three cycles and shows a pattern clearly. Two to four weeks is still far better than relying on memory if you have an appointment sooner. Once you have a stable pattern and a treatment plan, a weekly note is usually enough.

Is this symptom tracker free and private?

It is free and there is no email required. It is designed to be printed and filled in on paper, so nothing about your health is typed into a website or stored anywhere. Menova never receives your entries.

Do hormone blood tests replace symptom tracking?

Generally not for women over 45. Hormone levels swing widely from day to day in perimenopause, so guidance is usually against relying on blood tests to diagnose it — the diagnosis is based on your symptoms and cycle pattern over time, which is exactly what a tracker records.

Free · printable · no email required

The 30-day menopause symptom tracker

Perimenopause is diagnosed on pattern, and pattern is exactly what memory is worst at. Five fields a day, about two minutes — enough to turn a confusing few months into one page a clinician can act on.

Get the visit prep sheet too

Designed to be printed and filled in on paper — nothing about your health gets typed into a website. Print two copies if you want to cover a full cycle plus a bit.

30-day symptom tracker

One row a day. Fill in what you can — a partly completed tracker still beats memory.

Name Month / year Age

Day	Date	Cycle day / bleeding	Sleep (hrs / woke hot?)	Worst symptom today	Severity 1–5	Flashes	Note (alcohol, stress, illness, meds)

Cycle day / bleeding: day 1 = first day of full flow. Mark L / M / H for light, medium, heavy, and note any clots or spotting between periods.
Severity: 1 = barely noticed, 3 = interfered with the day, 5 = stopped me doing something.
Flashes: rough count, day and night separately if you can (e.g. "4 / 2").

Menova · menova.life — independent, we sell no hormones. This tracker is general education, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. Bring it to a licensed clinician.

Why five fields and not fifteen

Elaborate trackers get abandoned in week two. These five are the ones that answer the questions a clinician will actually ask: what changed, when, how often, how badly, and what else was going on. Everything else is optional detail you can add in the note column when it matters.

How long to track for

Eight to twelve weeks is the sweet spot — long enough to cover two or three cycles and reveal a pattern, short enough that you will finish. Two to four weeks is still worth doing if your appointment is sooner. Once you have a stable pattern and a plan, drop to a weekly note; the daily version is a tool for a specific job, not a permanent habit. Our guide to tracking symptoms usefully covers when to stop.

What you are looking for

Not a score — a shape. Do symptoms cluster in the second half of your cycle? Did they start when your cycle length changed? Do they persist on your calmest days? Is there a night-sweat pattern you had not consciously registered? Does alcohol show up the evening before your worst nights? Those answers are what change an appointment from a vague account into a decision. Our articles on perimenopause versus stress and what is normal for perimenopausal periods explain how to read what you find.

Why not just get a blood test?

For women over 45, hormone tests are generally not recommended for diagnosing perimenopause, because levels swing so widely from day to day that a single measurement means little. Your record is the diagnostic information. Under 40 the guidance differs and testing is appropriate — see perimenopause at 35.

Paper, deliberately

This is a printable rather than an app for two reasons. Paper never asks you to log in, which is why people finish it. And health data is sensitive — many free tracking apps are funded by something, and the safest place for a record of your symptoms is your own kitchen drawer. It is the same reason the Menova self-check keeps your answers on your device.

What to do with it afterward

Condense it before the appointment. Your top three symptoms ranked by daily impact, when each started, how often, what changed about your periods, and what you have tried. The free visit prep sheet is laid out for exactly that, and our guide to what to bring to a menopause appointment covers the rest.