Your hormones aren’t betraying you

They are trying to get your attention.

I think hormones get a bad rep in general. I don’t know how many times I have heard ‘is it your time of the month?’ (mainly from men) when I experienced anything from a feeling, to an emotion, to a mood swing. Sometimes it was my time of the month, and sometimes it wasn’t. But I found that society pinned everything on ‘THE HORMONES’. It was reductive, rude and frankly used to annoy the shit out of me. 

Fast forward now, I see a lot of women on social media saying how they only get 2 good weeks of the month, the other two weeks (luteal and menstrual) being f**king hell. I get it. I have been there. But what I want to so desperately shout, is that the luteal and menstrual don’t need to be this arduous feat every month. There is so much we can do with our nutrition, our supplements, but most important our nervous system to ensure we can navigate the plummet of progesterone and oestrogen in the late luteal phase (and just before our period starts). 

Progesterone is that ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ hormone that declines after ovulation. When oestrogen drops late in the luteal phase, serotonin activity can dip too. Lower serotonin is linked to anxiety, irritability, and low mood. The good news is there is a lot we can do to counteract these drops, and at the heart of it is the nervous system. Your HPA Axis (nervous system) can do a lot to influence the regulation of the HPO Axis (endocrine system).

The endocrine system (HPO Axis) and the nervous system (HPA Axis) are closely linked. Think of them as best buddies, holding hands. Unfortunately, most women I work with, experience chronic nervous system dysregulation AKA stress (cortisol). This breaks the hand holding between the endocrine and nervous system. The nervous system pushes all of its energy into survival, and when you are in survival, your ovulation is switched off. Your nervous system is low of oxytocin, that cushiony pleasure feeling we get when we experience joy. Oxytocin is essential to the female experience. It allows us to soften, to regulate, to feel where we are at that day, and adjust accordingly. When oxytocin is produced, the GnRH sends the right signals to basically tell your hormones that your system is safe. Hence regulated hormones but more importantly more resilience to buffer the hormone changes in your late luteal and menstrual phase.

What adds to the stress of the HPA Axis, is eating the same amount of calories religiously in that follicular, ovulation, luteal and menstrual. In your luteal and menstrual, your metabolism rises. So you actually need about 300 calories more to keep your system and mood steady especially in the face of the decline of serotonin (this is why we gravitate towards sugar at this time of the month). I also see women ‘push through’ by doing the same intense exercise despite being in their luteal and menstrual. Think of your luteal and menstrual as the autumn and winter of your cycle. It is a time to slow down, go inward, to reflect, to take it easy and to rest. 

So where can you start? Tracking your cycle is a good place to spring board from. So you know where you are in your cycle during the 28-35 day window. Then I would practice safe self-touch throughout the month. This can be as simple as touching your face in the morning, stretching, havening. This helps your system be flooded with ripples of joy that ultimately keep the bond between the endocrine and nervous system strong. 

Want to learn more? Download my free guide of Empowering your Cycle. There a simple somatic practices you can do in each part of your cycle to start to work with your body, not against it