Women - Are You Adapting Your Life to the Different Cycles You Go Through?
Did you know that women weren’t included in clinical studies for much of history? It wasn’t required by law that women be included in studies until 1993. Most drugs that are on the market today were approved by the FDA before 1993, so when doses are prescribed for many medications, they are all based on the male body - which is very different than the female body.
Looking at this is in a broader sense, health advice for women is seriously under-represented in clinical trials, and women are still included in studies today to a lesser extent than men are. Men’s and women’s bodies work in totally different ways. Men have a very stable, predictable cycle day to day. Their hormones peak in the morning and gradually drop off over the day, reaching their lowest point at night. The next morning their hormones peak again, and the same cycle occurs. Over and over again.
Women’s Bodies Are Changing All the Time
Onset of the Menstrual Cycle
Women’s bodies change all throughout their lives. The first big shift happens when women get their first cycle. From that point on, women’s bodies are continuously on a cycle and are constantly changing, every day is different. Each cycle, a woman has the first half of her cycle in Estrogen phase, and the 2nd half of her cycle in the Progesterone phase. Did you know that there are different types of foods, beverages, types of exercise, activities, and types of work that are ideal depending on which phase of your cycle you are in? Have you ever adapted your activities/work/day to your cycle? My guess would be no, this isn’t even something I had heard about until a few years ago.
Menstrual Cycling
So many modern things that society has were set up for men. For example, the 9-5, 5 days a week work week was set up for the average middle aged man that didn’t have much or any involvement in the home or with children. It was designed to suit the body clock and circumstances of men.
Most Conversation About Women’s Cycles is about Suppressing Them
We’ve all heard about dealing with our cycles, and the negative side effects. Doing anything we can to get rid of the symptoms, and just march on with our day as if nothing is happening. Many women who are started on birth control (even at very young ages) are told it’s the only thing they can do to help their symptoms from their cycle. It’s presented to them as the solution to get rid of their pain and to make their life easier.
Have You Ever Heard About Harnessing the Power of Your Cycle and Living in Tune With It?
The truth is symptoms with a period are just like symptoms for any other thing. They are a signal from our body that something is off, and that there is problem that needs to be addressed. And no, the solution is not just to go on birth control and cause a greater shift in normal hormones. What if all women were taught not only to manage their cycles, but how to live in flow with them. To improve them overtime, balancing hormones to their normal levels, decreasing PMS symptoms, making the flow more predictable, lengthening out/improving ovulation.
Do you know what is so cool about doing this process? Instead of DREADING your cycle, you will start the embrace the differing seasons of each cycle, and living in balance with them. Using the different times of your cycle as a boost to you, by living life in the flow, you can adapt your day to get the greatest benefit from your current stage of your cycle. You can be empowered to know which days are the best for which types of activities. The more you work with your body instead of trying to fight it, the better you feel. And as you learn to work with your body, each cycle gets a little better. Ladies, we have a superpower that we haven’t been taught about. We’ve been led to believe it’s a curse, when in fact it’s a powerhouse that you can tap into!
Pregnancy/PostPartum
Some Amazing Things Your Body Does During Pregnancy:
Your Blood Volume Increases by 50%!
You Grow a Whole New Organ - the Placenta
Soft Tissues Relax to Make Delivery Easier
Your Breathing Capacity Improves
Your Sense of Taste and Smell Become More Acute - yes this leads to increased nausea and puking but also aids women in avoiding poisonous and spoiled food while pregnant
Your Breasts Change - to prepare for feeding baby
Your Brain Changes - to make you hypersensitive to baby’s needs and to motivate mothering behaviors.
Menopause
I think many women have heard pretty negative things about menopause. We’ve all known women that have lots of symptoms - like weight gain, heat flashes, pain with intercourse, chills, night sweats, sleep problems, mood changes etc. Doesn’t sound like much fun, right? However, did you know if you work on balancing your hormones earlier in life, the transition through menopause is MUCH easier?! There are way less to almost no symptoms. I know a few women who did this, addressed their hormones throughout their younger years, had a very smooth transition through menopause, and are doing well on the other side.
I just did a DUTCH test with a patient who is post menopause and has been having a really hard time just making it through daily activities, not to mention she’s unable to travel and do many of the activities she used to love. She’s also had an autoimmune health issue for many years. When we got her DUTCH results back, ALL of her hormones are low - way lower than the normal level for post-menopausal women. It’s hard to have energy to get anything done when you have super low levels of all hormones. We are currently working on building her hormones back up.
When Is It Too Late To Address Your Hormones/Female Health?
If you’re reading this and thinking, I’m already X age, is it too late? No!! There are always things we can do to improve female health! There’s no reason for you to have symptoms and be more uncomfortable than you need to be. If you’re having any troubles with periods, PMS, mood swings, weight, menopause, anxiety/depression, fertility challenges, these are all hormone related health issues that I would be happy to help you with! Questions? Contact me for a free phone consultation!
While It’s never too late to address your hormones/work on your health - the earlier you do so in life, the quicker and better your results will be! So don’t wait another few months, or years, contact me and let’s get started! I’m working on my hormonal problem with my parathyroid every day, and already my labs are improving. Plus, because this problem was found so early, I have many years left of menstrual cycles, which helps with building bone density!
