Your Period is Your Body's Report Card
Hey lovely! I'm writing to you from my favorite local coffee shop and just finished the most delicious Raspberry-Oat bar! Paired with a cup of creamy coffee...mmmmmm mmmmm! It's funny, I remember being in college and thinking, "why would people go to coffee shops? You can make coffee at home and it's so much cheaper!". Now I'm hooked. I love having somewhere to go to enjoy a cup of plain coffee or, if I'm feeling, fancy a cappuccino.
So it's been a while since I've done a hormone post. But, if you didn't know, I just love geeking out over all things healthy hormones! As women, I've found we have such a cool ability to be intuitive with living, and hormones play such an amazing role in this ability! Compared to men, we are cyclical over the course of approximately 21-35 days. And throughout the course of this cycle, our hormones fluctuate on the day to day (and even over the course of a day) leading us to feel certain ways and be drawn to certain things. It's pretty incredible! Tuning into your cycle can help you tune into your life and intuition!
I wanted to talk about this concept of your period being your body's report card. I heard this phrase a while back and just loved the picture it gives. You see, as women, we have a menstrual cycle every month, or rather...we are made to have a menstrual cycle every month. Some women struggle with regular cycles due to conditions like PCOS or endometriosis. Others struggle to have a regular period or any period at all because of stress on the body due to too low a body weight, environmental stress, mental stress, or stress from exercise.
So, your period is like a report card for your body. It tells you how well you do at keeping stress low and taking care of your body's needs. A regular period, in a healthy female, occurs when the body feels safe. Stress gives the signal of something not being right and therefore, can put a hold on you having a period. That's why, if you've ever paid attention to your cycle, if you have a crazy month at work and you've been under a bunch of stress, you likely will have a period later than usual. Knowing this can help put you at ease and you can maybe try to be intentional the next month with doing things to decrease stress.
Stress is inevitable. I'm not trying to say it isn't. But it's an amazing thing that you can pay attention to your cycle, through tracking your actual day of menstruation, noticing symptoms and how you're feeling each day, and these can all be clues to how your body is doing and how you're doing. This can be helpful when you're recovering from hypothalamic amenorrhea due to an eating disorder as well as if you're trying to regulate your period in preparation for conception.
If you've noticed that your period is irregular or if you have absent menstruation, I'd encourage you to ask yourself a few questions. I love encouraging my clients to be their own expert on their body and a great way to do this is by asking good questions of yourself... think of it as being your own health coach!
Ask yourself, what in my life has been potentially stressful on my body?
Am I exercising too much? Too hard? Am I more fatigued by exercise than rejuvenated and energized?
Am I eating enough? Enough calories in general? Enough fat? Enough carbohydrates?
Am I listening to my cravings? Honoring my hunger?
Do I have a practice for dealing with stress in my job and/or my home (like yoga, meditation, daily quiet time)?
How is my relationship with food? Am I living out a "peace with food" approach? Is there a part of me that is anxious around food?
What answers do you have for these questions? What other questions can you ask yourself to help get a better picture of your cycle?These questions are never to make you feel bad or guilty but are meant to be EMPOWERING and EDUCATING. We are all life long learners of our bodies. And paying attention to your cycle and stress's effect on your body is a wonderful way of living with intuition.
So, what action can you take today with this new perspective of your period being your body's report card? What do you think of this analogy? Comment below and let me know your thoughts!One last thing, if you want support in getting your period back on track something that can be helpful is working with an expert. I'd love to come alongside you and help you add in some healthy practices to have a healthy period! Let's talk if this is something you'd be interested in...you can email me HERE for more info.