Cycle Syncing has been a recent buzz world which is trending on all social media platforms. But what does it actually mean?
Woman have been increasingly aware of their wellbeing, fitness and especially their hormonal health. Taking good care of ones health has created a new form of luxury which is especially important for the Gen Z community.
However, a recent study has found out that 60 % of all woman still experience symptoms like PMS, PCOS or numerous complains like heavy, painful or irregular periods.
Unlike the contraceptive pill, which many woman get prescribed for symptoms like this, cycle syncing is a natural way to aid hormones back into a happy homeostasis.
Have you ever noticed that during one week you feel on top of your game, your skin is beautiful, you feel sexy and super confident in yourself and your body. However, on certain other weeks you just want to watch some Netflix on your couch with some Ben & Cherries in your PJs. You feel irritated, bloated and simply not in the mood. Well this is not a coincidence. Unlike men who run on a 24 hours hormonal cycle, woman usually experience a cycle between 21 to 35 days.
When we think about menstrual cycle, we usually think of the period which comes once every month, but the truth is there’s so much more to each week of our cycle beyond the week we bleed.
Our current culture functions on a 24-hour day and oftentimes neglects the natural shifts of a woman’s 28 day cycle. As a result we keep pushing, working and keep going like our male counter parts, not realising that our bodies are giving out and our health suffers.
As a consequence we start to experience heavy, painful, irregular periods, infertility, low libido or more severe symptoms like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), fibroids or endometriosis? Do you struggle with any of these symptoms? Then keep reading, Cycle Syncing might be for you.
Cycle Syncing is a form of living where almost every aspect of our daily lives is synced to our natural cycles. Let’s learn how to blend our nutrition, workouts, and productivity into perfect synchronicity, in order to improve every sector of our lives.
What are the benefits of cycle syncing?
Some of the benefits are improved energy levels, regular periods, feeling more in tune with ones body and understanding their needs. Weight loss, improved mood, lower stress levels and feeling more confident are further benefits of syncing your life to your cycle.
You want to learn how? Let’s get started!
Before we dive into the details of how to align our nutrition, movement, and productivity to our cycles, we first need to understand how our cycles work.
There are four major phases of our cycle which are also named after the four seasons: The menstrual phase resembles our inner winter, the follicular phase is our inner spring, our ovulatory phase is the inner summer, and the luteal phase our inner autumn.
There are two main hormones that fluctuate throughout your cycle: estrogen and progesterone. These hormones affect your appetite, energy levels, sex drive, productivity, and more. When you intentionally support your four phases of your cycle, life becomes easier and more understandable.
Your menstrual phase starts with your first day of bleeding and lasts usually 1-6 days. The follicular phase starts with the end of your period and lasts until the day of ovulation, which is ideally from day 7 to 12. Your inner summer goes from day 13 to 20 and after that you enter into your lethal phase which marks your last week of your cycle from day 21 to 28.
Menstrual
The first phase of your cycle is menstruation. The first day you bleed is day 1. Both your primary sex hormones estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest levels. Your body is shedding its uterine lining. The first few days your energy is typically low as your body is focused on releasing, but towards the end of menstruation, you may feel your energy start to increase.
Follicular
As your period comes to an end, you enter your follicular phase. The pituitary gland produces a hormone called follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), telling your ovaries to prepare an egg. One of your follicles, a fluid sac containing eggs, becomes dominant and largest in preparation for ovulation. That dominant follicle produces estrogen, which increases as it grows. Your uterus responds to that rise in estrogen by thickening or rebuilding the uterine lining in preparation for a potential pregnancy. With the rise in estrogen, you may feel creative and inspired to take action after the low energy felt during your period.
Ovulatory
Ovulation is the whole goal of your menstrual cycle, if you don’t ovulate you will never experience any of the three other phases. During the ovulatory phase, your estrogen is at its peak, and once levels are high enough, your brain gets the signal to release a dramatic increase in luteinizing hormone (LH), which causes the release of the egg into the fallopian tube. The egg implants to your uterus and can be fertilized for the next 24 hours. With estrogen at its peak along with a spike in testosterone, you may feel like a superwoman, energized, motivated, and ready to get it on.
Luteal
After ovulation comes the luteal phase. Your estrogen drop, signalling for the follicle containing the egg to transform into a hormone gland called the corpus luteum. This gland is what produces progesterone. Progesterone signals your uterine lining to stop thickening and start preparing for potential pregnancy. When this hormone is supported, it can make us feel calm, wanting to retreat from the world and focus on personal creativity and paying extra attention to details in life. This phase usually gets a bad rap if you experience mood swings, headaches, acne, bloating, breast tenderness, or any other effects of post menstrual syndrome (PMS). If the egg does not become fertilized, the corpus luteum breaks down, resulting in a drop in estrogen and progesterone leading to menstruation.
The phases of your cycle also mirror the seasons of the year. Using the season as a reference can make understanding your own cycle much easier. Menstruation is the winter phase of your cycle. Your hormones are at their lowest levels as you shed your uterine lining. Similar to how you feel on a cloudy snowy day, you may feel like you want to stay home, rest, and sip hot tea. Then you move into your follicular phase which is the spring phase of your cycle. As your estrogen rises you begin to blossom like a spring flower ready to start creating and planning for the new cycle ahead. As you head to ovulation you enter the summer phase of your cycle. When you ovulate and release an egg from one of your ovaries, you may feel like you want to socialize and fertilize that egg if you know what i mean. As you move into your luteal phase you enter the fall phase of your cycle. Progesterone is the hormone on the rise and you may feel like you want to start spending more time alone, organizing your life, and finishing off any task before reentering the winter phase of your cycle. Comparing how our four phases relate to the four seasons can make understanding and analyzing our own cycle easier to interpret.
Now that you have a better understanding of what happens hormonally and physically in each phase of our cycles, let’s dive into the details of how to support each phase with nutrition, movement, and productivity.
Foods, Nutrients, and Cooking Methods
Developing synchronicity with your cycle begins with nutritious food. Certain foods and cooking methods blend nicely with your menstrual cycle and helps support proper hormone balance. Remember these foods are not an absolute necessity and are only used as a guide. Aim to include any of these foods in the respected phase to assist with hormone support and balance. We can also change up our cooking methods throughout the phases, as we naturally may crave more raw fresh foods in the spring phase of our cycle or warm cooked foods during the fall phase of our cycle. Lastly, the amount and timing of food you eat likely varies throughout the phases, eating less during the first half and more during the second half. These guides below are based on traditional Chinese medicine as well as just eating with the seasons.
Exercises
Women are largely underrepresented in sports nutrition and research. More research certainly needs to be done, but some studies show women typically have more endurance in the follicular phase and naturally burn more calories in the luteal phase. This indicates we should focus on cardio during the first half and strength training during the second. During our menstrual phase, our body already releases so much energy through bleeding that we should focus on rest and restorative movements. Here are some ideas on how you could structure your workouts throughout your cycle.
Work and Productivity
The work and productivity aspect of living in alignment with your cycle can feel deeply gratifying and valuable. In our productivity-driven society of constantly working, we must give ourselves permission to rest when menstruating and embrace the abundant creative energy in the follicular phase. Managing our energy levels instead of managing our time, will make us more productive and find more joy in our work and life. Pushing too hard for too long hinders productivity and sets us up for burnout, something very common in today’s society. Of course, many of us cannot always control what life throws at us during our luteal phase, but what we can do is plan ahead and ask for help when we know we may need it. Below are some strengths and vulnerabilities we might want to keep in mind during our menstrual cycles.
