You might be one of the many women that have recently started tracking your cycle.
But what do you do with the information that you gather.
In this episode, I share with you 6 things that you can change, based on your cycle and how you can use your cycle as your superpower to gain health and wellness, improve your relationships and supercharge your career.
Episodes shared:
Episode 11: 10 Reasons Why You May Be Experiencing Irregular Periods
Episode 16: Four Phases Of The Menstrual Cycle
Useful links:
Register for the Hormone Health Academy or FREE masterclass here:
Transcript:
Hello and welcome back to episode 25 of beauty in balance
Maybe I can just take a moment to talk about why I’ve called my podcast beauty in balance. Well it’s when I realised how important balance is for healing, that a lot of things started to make sense to me.
A few months, maybe just over a year ago, I started paying attention to my hormones and how well balanced or unbalanced at the time they were, and then started working on really creating an environment of balance in my body.
And this is when a lot of beauty came to life for me and that’s also when I realised that this is what we need. We need balance within our hormones, our mental health, how much we work, the kind of exercise that we do, the foods that we eat, the activities we take part in, everything in life needs to be in balance.
And once we bring everything into balance, this is when beauty starts to happen. This is when my body went from a place of being really broken to a place where it is predictable and healthy. I feel in control of it and I feel like I’m the best version of me that I’ve ever been.
So that is what I’m trying to achieve through this podcast, is to help you to find that balance. So that you too can discover that beauty.
So today I want to talk about why it is important to pay attention to your menstrual cycle. It is a really new and modern concept. It’s not something that women have paid attention to much in the past. I would say this has started to change in the last 2 to 5 years that I’m aware of, and I think there is a lot of this coming in the future. Because research is starting to catch up to the fact that women’s bodies are very unique. We are not small men. Our needs are very unique, what we need to be healthy is very unique and we can’t do the same things that men do to keep ourselves healthy and well.
Our menstrual cycle is not only our fifth vital sign, literally telling us the state of our health. It is also the indicator of what our bodies need during a certain phase of that cycle. And trust me, it’s vastly different during each of the 4 phases.
During the last 3-5 years, period trackers or tracking apps have become a real thing and many many women track their cycles
But unfortunately, they have no idea what to do with the information.
They merely use these trackers to know when their period is coming
Now if you’re using your tracker for more than just that, that’s awesome and I’m so excited that you’ve learned more about what you can do with the information.
But if you're just using your tracker to know when your period is due, today's episode is for you!
If you haven’t listened to episode 16 yet, I highly recommend that you do.
In that episode I talk you through the 4 different phases of the menstrual cycle and I think it's important for each woman to understand the 4 phases and how it translates to your own cycle.
But today i just want to share why i think it is important to track your cycle and what amazing benefits there are in it for you
I also wanted you to know that, if you haven’t had a period for a long time, chances are 99% that you still have a cycle. And although it might be a little harder to track it, it certainly is not impossible! I haven’t had a period in about 10years, but I track my cycle fairly accurately and it has without a doubt changed not only MY life but also that of my family and also my business.
So let’s get into the reasons why i think taking your cycle can be life changing:
Firstly, you can adjust your nutrition to meet the nutritional requirements of each phase
For instance, those unbeatable cravings that you get right before your period starts are due to a drop in estrogen levels that naturally happen as your endometrial lining starts to prepare for elimination.
And there are very specific foods that can help support you through that phase and prevent these unbearable cravings.
So adjusting your food to support the phase that you are in can help you to not be ruled by your cycle, but rather, you can learn to understand your needs during each phase and proactively address those before the symptoms rear their heads.
Secondly, if you know your cycle, you can adjust your exercise routines to support where you are in your cycle
If you know a little bit about my story, you’ll know that doing CrossFit 4-6 times a week for 10 years led to hormonal imbalances for me that had many many yucky symptoms as a result.
When I started adjusting my exercise to support the needs of my body during each of the 4 phases, significant healing took place.
Health issues that I’ve been struggling with for years at the time, resolved within weeks.
An example here is that the menstrual phase of your cycle is naturally an inflammatory process.
High intensity exercise also causes high levels of inflammation, so CrossFit is not what your body will need during this phase.
In fact, it will lead to heightened symptoms during your menstrual phase and will also have an affect on your next cycle. .
And so a very negative spiral will start if you are not intentional about breaking it and healing your body.
If you’re not aware of where you are in your menstrual cycle, you are very likely working against your body and causing inflammation and hormonal imbalance.
Understanding your cycle and your individual needs for each phase is where healing will start for you.
The third reason is that it will help you to plan your social calendar.
Maybe this has never occurred to you before but have you ever wondered why sometimes, you can be the life of the party and other times, big social events are stressful.
Or sometimes you love being the empathetic ear and other times you feel annoyed by the stories that your friends need to get off their chest?
This, my friend, is because you might be in different phases of your cycle.
I love to see women’s eyes light up when they realise there’s a reason for the way that they feel.
When we understand this, there is way less self judgement and negative self talk.
So when you know where you are in your cycle, you can avoid those big social events, or even preframe your catch-ups with friends.
Let them in on where you are at and set the trend so they too can start respecting their cycle.
The fourth reason why you should be tracking your cycle, is that it is literally your fifth vital sign
The American Academy of Paediatrics now advises health practitioners to consider periods as the fifth vital sign, alongside body temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure.
Your period and menstrual cycle contains a wealth of information about your overall health, such as how well your body is coping with stress, how well your hormones are balanced, if your nutrition is supporting your body, if you are exercising too much or too little and even tells us about your thyroid health.
You can listen to episode 11 to find 10 of the most common reasons why you may be experiencing irregular periods. I’ll post a link to this episode in the show notes.
So knowing your cycle, means you’ll notice when things change. And if you’re able to monitor those changes, you’ll be able to provide your doctor with very helpful information that can lead to early diagnosis of various concerns. Before those things turn into chronic disease.
Number 5, and this one has been incredibly helpful for me
Knowing your menstrual cycle will help you to manage your emotions and emotional expectations.
I can often feel my pre-menstrual phase coming. Every morning, as part of my journaling, I record the day of my cycle and which phase I’m in.
So this helps me to be on the lookout during the day for when those emotions creep up on me
And a word of encouragement here, because I track my cycle and adjust everything accordingly and respect each phase of my cycle, those out of control emotions are very few and far between. Unlike the days when I had no idea what was going on in my body and my hormones.
But sometimes life happens and it affects my next cycle, then I’m expectant and ready for it
I can talk it through with my amazing husband and he knows to provide extra support, care and understanding.
I found that it also helps me to not get discouraged with myself. There’s nothing wrong with me, or I haven’t lost my self-control. It’s a temporary phase that my body is going through and that is ok.
And if I know this, I deal with it in a totally different way to when I used to think that there was something wrong with me.
And then lastly, number 6, understanding your cycle will have a huge impact on your business or job
It certainly has for me
During different phases, our creative energy is different, our organisational and planning skills change. Our patience changes, productivity will be vastly different from one phase to another.
And knowing this will help you to side step those ever present feelings of failure and wanting to give up.
This is significant for me in my business.
I don’t do big marketing events when i know I’m on my pre-menstrual phase, because I’m not creative or productive during this phase, but it IS a really good time to do planning
I also plan my deadlines according to my menstrual cycle. No crazy crunch time deadlines during certain phases but I also know I can get heaps more done during my follicular and ovulatory phases. And I plan accordingly.
Our menstrual cycle is foundational to who we are as women. Ignoring it is literally setting yourself up for failure
And my life’s mission is to help as many women as possible to learn this skill.
Not only is it the key to healing hormonal imbalance, but it’s also the foundation to creating a sustainable life of health and wellness
But here’s the only caveat:
You can not live in harmony with your cycle if your hormones are not in harmony yet.
The menstrual cycle in its essence is your natural hormonal cycles.
But when there are major hormonal imbalances, you won’t have normal or healthy cycles.
And it will be incredibly frustrating, because you’ll feel like you have no idea what the heck is going on with your body.
You will feel like your hormones and your body is ruling you and your life and it will feel totally unpredictable and out of control.
So you need a clear framework to heal those hormones, so you can re-establish healthy hormonal cycles.
And only then can you start living in harmony with your hormones and your cycle.
And I wanna invite you to join the waitlist to join the hormone health academy, where i'll take you step by step, over a period of 9 weeks through my proven framework for healing hormones and then helping you to live in harmony with your cycle.
You can join the waitlist at vandghie.com/hha
I’ll also be running a masterclass in a few Weeks to show you this framework, so even if you are just interested in the masterclass, join the waitlist and you’ll be the first to know when registrations for the free masterclass go live. I would love to have you there.
You can head over to vandghie.com/hha or find the link in the show notes.
So hopefully I’ve encouraged you today to start tracking your cycle if you haven’t already, and if you are, you’ll have a better idea of what to do with the information.
One last thing before I go.
If you’ve found today’s episode helpful, why don’t you share it with a friend.
It’s impossible for me to reach all the women that need to hear this information on my own.
But with your help, I can make a bigger impact.
So please share this episode with a friend
And also, if you’ve learned something new during this episode that may help you to better understand, heal and enjoy your body, please subscribe to my podcast and give me a quick review, I would so appreciate that.
Thanks for joining me again today my friend.
Until next week