Aligning with your monthly rhythm

Over the past two years, I’ve been recovering from injuries and trying to balance my hormones in the hopes of getting pregnant. There have been some difficult periods for sure, but I feel really grateful for some of the discoveries I’ve made. My body’s challenges prompted me to explore how my body works and what could be triggering certain symptoms. I discovered a lot of great resources along the way, including In the Flo by Alissa Vitti, which shifted my perspective to one of self-compassion and understanding.

Vitti, highlights that the entire world operates around our circadian rhythm – which is your 24 hour biological clock that resets everyday. She notes that women have a second clock, an infradian rhythm. This is the clock that (when functioning in a healthy way) restarts every four weeks or 30 days.

Women are taught to hide, ignore and dread their periods and view their menstrual cycles as an inconvenience and a weakness. By ignoring our cycles, we are in fact ignoring a part of ourselves. We are losing out on an opportunity to truly understand ourselves, take care of and meet our own needs and live our best lives.

Before reading this, I never took stock of how I was feeling at different times of the month. The best I could do for myself was saying something like, “ah here comes my period; I can expect to feel moody and eat a lot of trash food”. Or worse, I’d get my period and all of a sudden, the three days from hell I just lived through would make sense.

The understanding I’m about to share with you has removed some of the mystery I felt about my own body.  I am now more aware of when my body needs down time and don’t feel bad saying no to others or running out of steam.

Our hormones (e.g. estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, luteinizing hormone) play a symphony in our body to move us through our monthly cycle. One goes up, one goes down, one helps one go up and another drops. When the symphony of hormones is functioning well, you can be more productive, energized, cramp free, pain free and in tune with your sexuality.

How this applies to you

Do you wake up somedays feeling like your “best self”, energized and ready to take on anything? Do you wake up other days feeling low and tired, like you just want to stay in your pyjamas? On these days, do you feel annoyed with yourself for not getting to the gym, meeting your deadline, cleaning your house, etc.?

We are by nature inconsistent and it’s actually very normal to not be inclined towards doing the same thing everyday. Our mental model needs to shift.

By expecting our bodies to feel and perform the same everyday, we are swimming against the tide instead of going with the flow of the waves.

Guess what?

Swimming against the tide is EXHAUSTING!

It’s time to stop working against yourself and instead empower yourself with the knowledge you need to take control of your life and well being.

Understanding what happens in each of your cycle’s four stages arms you with the tools to understand your cycle and take advantage of it.

The 101:

Here are your four cycles and what they mean:

1. Follicular – this is the time after your period has ended and a dominant follicle begins to mature and be prepared for the ovulatory phase.
2. Ovulatory – this is the time when a mature egg is released into the fallopian tube and it’s the one time during the month when you can get pregnant.
3. Luteal – this is the time during the month after you’ve ovulated.
4. Menstrual – this is the time when you are bleeding, menstruating or having your period.

Source: https://coconutsandkettlebells.com/cycle-syncing-how-to-adapt-your-food-and-exercise-to-your-menstrual-cycle/

Here’s how you track your cycle:

• Use a period tracking app to track your period and deduce your cycle phases from there. I use the Flo app but there are so many.
• Measure your body basal temperature (exampled here)
• Use an old fashioned calendar to record your period date. Generally speaking, regardless of how long your cycle is (e.g. 30 days), you can assume you’ve ovulated 12-14 days before your period. The Ovulatory period is about three days. You can guestimate between the phases. There is bound to be overlap.

Here are the benefits of aligning with our monthly rhythm:

• Balance your hormones (PCOS, endometriosis)
• Exercise more efficiently to achieve our fitness goals (e.g. weight loss, increasing muscle strength, endurance, etc.)
• Have more energy
• Reduce PMS symptoms (including cramps, moodiness, fatigue, etc.)
• Stop us from burning ourselves out
• Connect more with our creativity
• Connect more efficiently and openly with others
• Reduce stress and feelings of burn out
• Enjoy sex more
• Increase happiness

What woman doesn’t want all of these things?

Did you know?

• The way you eat (especially seeds!) can contribute to greater hormone balance.
• There are exercises you should do at different times of the month?
• That you have superpowers during each phase of your cycle? There is a time of the month when your body is supporting to you to have your best interview of all time (i.e., ovulatory phase).

I’ve put together a table summarizing all the best tips I learned from the book:

There are 330 pages of goodness in this book so if you want more detail, check it out. But, if you’re looking at this table and thinking, “that’s too many rules”. I get it! No one can do all of this perfectly well all the time. Aim for the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time align with this advice and 10%, don’t.

The take away

Your body is not meant to be the same everyday or even every week. It is primed to have different abilities at different times of the month. This doesn’t mean that you’re weak or less than {insert whoever you’re comparing yourself to}.

By getting curious about your monthly cycle can you build compassion for yourself and set yourself up for success. Now, in the days leading up to my period, I plan some down time and understand that that’s not the time where I’d want to or necessary perform well doing a 5 km run or a HIT class. I work in what makes sense for me. This allows you to rest properly and gather the energy I need.

Your body is intelligent and it is your home. Listen to it and it will take care of you.