Can You Have a Period Without Ovulating?

Ovulation and periods go together. You cannot have one without the other. Although it’s a common misconception that you can ovulate without having a period, this isn’t true – unless you are pregnant.

And unless you’re pregnant, you also cannot have a true period without ovulating earlier that month. Technically speaking, you can still experience monthly bleeding without ovulating, but this bleeding is a result of an anovulatory cycle (which means you didn’t ovulate that month) and it’s not considered an actual menstrual period. Let me explain.

To answer this question, you have to understand how ovulation and menstrual periods work together. For the healthy woman who is not using hormonal birth control, she will ovulate on day 14 of her menstrual cycle. (This is assuming that she has the classic 28-day cycle.) During ovulation, her ovaries will release one mature egg, ready for fertilization.