The biggest problem with the wellness world these days, in my humble opinion, is the lack of understanding of ‘nuanced’ pieces of information. We like to categorise food into good or bad, for instance: people hear that fructose is bad therefore all fruits must be bad… Sigh.
I am glad that we are starting to talk more about the female reproductive health but with this comes the other side of the coin, the quick fixes, the simplifications, the black & whites.
So let’s look at the difference between ‘Cycle Syncing’ versus tracking your cycle and managing your body appropriately.
Let's imagine two women with same textbook cycle of 28 days (research shows that only 12.4% of women have a cycle of that length).
So on the surface these two women might look similar but one might be ovulating and the other might be not. One might have lower progesterone levels and the other might have progesterone intolerance. And for these reasons they might experience their menstrual cycle completely different.
The beautiful diagrams that show that you must do a certain type of exercise or a yoga pose during a certain phase of your cycle are not worth the paper they’ve been printed on.
Why? Because they are too specific for the use of the general population.
For example in TikTok’s wellness world, this means four different (and complicated) diet and exercise routines throughout the month to “help” regulation of certain hormones.
Influencers often supply detailed lists of what to eat during each phase. Some tout root veggies, buckwheat, and dark-coloured berries for menstruation and brown rice, chickpeas, and walnuts for the luteal phase.[1] This is nuts. Pun intended.
If we look at the exercise guidelines, high intensity cardio workouts should be confined to the ovulation phase. Hmm let’s have a closer look at ovulation and why it’s an impossible idea to follow for most of us. (Nevermind if it has any research background or not. It doesn't.)
First of all, not everyone will ovulate each month. Two. Not everyone will catch that phase as ovulation lasts between 12-24 hours. Three. If we somehow decide to follow this cycle syncing idea, we drop everything and on that very specific day of ovulation we buy a new pass to a new gym just to get the spin class done, right? (Don’t think so…)
If you are an amateur athlete (exercising on purpose 2-3 times a week) then you probably have a programme in place therefore chopping and changing exercises on a whim is completely ridiculous. I don’t mean that you shouldn’t go for a spin class if catching up with friends as a form of socialising, but just because you might be ovulating…?
Understanding your female physiology is one thing and then applying it to yourself is another. It is an individual thing. Yes, we go through the same hormone fluctuations (but again, not always, for example: no ovulation => no progesterone => no luteal phase!) but the way how we’re going to experience each phase differs from person to person.
Even if we take into consideration the supposed down-turn of physical ability during the luteal phase, which may or may not manifest in many different forms, just thinking about the fact that we are in the luteal phase might psychologically make us feel weaker (strength-wise in training for example) because we told ourselves that we are in that phase therefore creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Also, there is that thing called life. If I have a competition scheduled that is going to coincide with my period, I’m not going to call the organisers and ask them to reschedule...!
No, it does not mean that you should stop tracking your cycle. It means that you should get to know your rhythms (it is a long-term project), and then act accordingly.
Yes, there are some general guidelines but often they might not apply to you. For example, there is no need to cancel your training session because you are in your luteal phase if you are feeling full of beans. And vice versa: you probably shouldn’t do an extra three HIIT sessions whilst your estrogen is high, just because the diagram said so, especially if you’re exhausted from an extra project at work.
I do get it.
These diagrams and simplifications exist because we’ve become so busy, we just want a template to follow.
But there is no template. Life is not a template. A multitude of things will influence the way you feel, and this will influence the way your menstrual cycle is going to look which then in reverse will influence the way you’re going to experience your life (example: exacerbated PMS might mean more pillow time or vice versa: no PMS - training as usual).
So instead of memorising false diagrams - track your cycle and get to know your body well. Then learn basic female physiology and the corresponding changes that happen within your body and then apply specific adaptations to YOUR specific needs.
Amen!
Download the free eBook on ‘How To Track Your Cycle Like a Pro’ by clicking on the image below:
[1] You Don’t Need to Balance Your Hormones https://time.com/6277941/balance-hormones-cycle-syncing-myth/
Comments