Many women have told me how their hormones have gone haywire during Lockdown. Here’s my top tip to understanding your hormones better, to start to get them back on track, and move from Hormone Hell to Hormone Harmony.
How to move from Hormone Hell to Hormone Harmony:
Track your Cycle
Whether you have a regular cycle or appear to have no rhythm, tracking helps. (By regular, I mean anything from 25-35 days, as only 13% of women have a textbook 28 day cycle). Tracking can be as simple as writing down one word that sums up how you feel during the day (before life throws – well, life – at you). Or, you can choose to include more information, such as mood, food, cervical mucus, BBT (basal Body Temperature), etc. Over a couple of months, you should start to see a pattern.
Analyse the information
During the first half of your cycle you are likely to see more positive words. As Oestrogen is dominant in this half, we become more outgoing, confident, ready to wear “that” dress. This peaks around the time of ovulation. In the second half of your cycle, Progesterone becomes more dominant: this is when we move into a more reflective and protective phase. For some women, PMT peaks on certain days leading up to their period. Instead of beating yourself up about feeling rubbish AGAIN, start to use your newly found knowledge to help and support yourself.
Use it!
If you know that, for example, between Days 7-10, it’s your time to shine, whereas on Day 17 you are likely to feel vulnerable and frustrated, make sure that you use this information. If you can, arrange your diary to maximise your strengths. Book in an interview or presentation to your most positive days. Spend your more critical days editing work, or having tough conversations (if you don’t get too teary). Why not use the days where you need time to yourself quietly working through a to-do list (particularly if you need to focus on dropping what you don’t need). Know when to push yourself, and when be kind to yourself. Like it or not, you and your hormones are in this journey together.
I’ve done this myself, and it works! Did I ever think that I would say “Go for it, Gorgeous!” on the treadmill (day 8)? No I didn’t! I also now know that it is a good idea to book in a quiet day, away from my family, in my polytunnel (day 17). The shift from “my body is letting me down AGAIN” to “Ok, it’s day….. so I need to give myself a break” is a powerful one. It enables you to understand and support yourself better – and we all need that.
Within this – a note of caution. Using your kick-ass PMT may be quite useful for tough negotiation (been there, done that). However, if your hormones are starting to affect your friendships and family life – or your view of yourself – it’s time to give them a helping hand. I’ve treated many women over the years, who have found that acupuncture has helped them enormously. If you’d like to know if acupuncture can help you, please get in touch.