A HEALTHY MENSTRUAL CYCLE
Article #1 in a Women’s Fertility and Menstrual Health Series from Nourish & Breathe
What is your connection with your monthly menstrual cycle?
In the Naturopathic clinic when talking to women I see a wide range of reactions when I ask: do you track your cycle? What is your bleed like? Do you experience PMS symptoms?
I see women completely comfortable and at ease, I see many who dread the arrival of their period due to the pain or disruption caused to their lives each month, in some I see confusion and in some an eagerness to learn and understand more about their own cycle, their own bodies.
And this is what I love to do, find the path to begin the journey to better connect and feel at ease with your monthly cycle, ease symptoms and understand your unique needs to best support your monthly menses.
A regular monthly flow that you do not dread the arrival of, and with no strong PMS is a sign of a healthy menstrual cycle and balanced hormones and even an indication of your overall health.
There are many factors that influence your monthly flow, and when you work closely with what may be influencing your flow, great relief can be found that has far reaching effects into all aspects of your life - your work, your relationships, your sense of self - self-love, self-confidence and self-empowerment. If you listen to your body's monthly rhythm, connect within, connect with your womb, many women experience a deep sense of calm - insights are revealed of who you are and where you come from, connected with your own personal lineage, your sister gal pals, with all women past present and future, holding each other up.
Women have always bled, the bleed connects us all, the bleed connects us with mother earth and the cycle of the moon. Many traditional cultures would honour the feminine and the time of the bleed, it was typical for women to bleed at the same time and in tune with the cycles of the moon, hence the referral of the menstrual cycle as the moon cycle. This is actually based on science - as it was the extra light of the full moon that would stimulate the pineal gland in the brain which impacts the pulsatile release of hormones from the brain to peak resulting in ovulation, and then 14 days later on the new moon the bleed would come. How cool is that?
However, in the modern world we work under artificial light at night, with technology and screens, and numerous other factors that interfere with these natural rhythms. But peace and connection can still be found as we can learn to understand our rhythms, especially if we let them happen.
A healthy cycle can be
a regular cycle, with a cycle length averaging 28 days (between 26-31 days)
A bleed of 3-5 days
minimal premenstrual symptoms (PMS), a certain level of discomfort and heaviness may be experienced as the uterus lining sheds
Monthly cyclical shifts in energy. After menstruation higher energy state with a desire to involved and engaged with the world, and after ovulation a shift to a more inward energy
Signs of imbalance vary from woman to woman and the monthly bleed is a unique and personal experience. The signs and symptoms may even vary month to month, or continue to worsen. The imbalances of hormones may express as:
Uncontrolled or unpredictable moods, with depths of low mood exacerbated, or the length of time that PMS is experienced being from after ovulation through to menstruation
Heavy bleeding
Irregular cycle lengths, or absent periods, missing cycles
Spotting before a full flow commences
Feeling bloated, or increased fluid retention, bowel changes
Tender breasts
Unfortunately if left unchecked, and the signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalance are ignored or patched up with hormonal treatments and without implementing practices to support your unique needs, physiological changes can start to occur. If the underlying cause of the imbalance is not identified and corrected, more serious and difficult to treat pathologies can result, such as polycystic ovaries, premature ovarian failure, menorrhagia. This is the first in a series of short articles which will discuss these conditions and what we can do about them, in further depth.
Nutrition, diet, and lifestyle practices and behaviours are all able and capable of influencing hormonal levels and the balance of hormones. The factors that affect hormone levels include:
Stress
Diet
Weight
Genetics
Liver capacity and function
Digestive capacity and function - especially constipation or diarrhoea
What Can you Do?
As a naturopath I am able to investigate and understand your unique needs. It is important to get to know your day to day life, the symptoms that you experience, your diet, your lifestyle, your health history, your moods, your anxieties and stresses. And from here it may be identified that hormonal testing via a blood test at a pathology lab is necessary to assist in guiding treatment approaches. The blood tests provide an insight into your hormonal responses during the cycle.
A few steps to get started include:
Keeping track of your cycle - first day of period
Bleed characteristics
Mood symptoms and experiences
PMS symptoms - bloating, congestion, energy, tenderness, pain
The stress experienced throughout the month
Diet diary with digestive symptoms.
If you are interested in starting a journey toward menstrual wellness, please reach out and ask any questions or book in for a naturopathic consult so we can continue to get to know each other better.