Changing by the Clock Instead of by Failure: An Absorbency-Based Interval for Menstrual Pads

This study examines a practical question in everyday hygiene by explicit arithmetic from stated assumptions. Computed waking intervals were 2.0 hours on day 1, 1.5 hours on day 2, 3.5 hours on day 3, 7.5 hours on day 4 and 8 hours on day 5, giving 19 pads across the waking hours of the five days against 20 for a flat four-hourly habit, which nevertheless modelled a leak on day 2 when peak flow filled the pad in 1.3 hours. The night requirement was a nominal capacity of at least 60 mL, above the 15 mL of the standard pad, predicting night leakage for standard products on the two heaviest nights in the model. The proposed arrangement is as follows. The deliverable is a day-indexed interval table for the stated flow profile, plus the method, capacity derating and flow division, by which an individual with a different profile can construct her own table from one period of counted pads. The schedule aims to change just before the usable capacity is reached, with a stated safety margin for peak hours. All results are derived from the accompanying simulation script, in which every assumption appears as a named, replaceable value. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.