How paying attention to your cycle can improve your mental health
How paying attention to your cycle can improve your mental health.
by Danielle D Jenkins, PsyD
Maybe you come from a family that celebrated your “moon time” or had a “period party” when you blossomed into womanhood or maybe you came from a family that never talked about your “shark week” at all. No matter what level of communication you grew up with, for menstruating people, there is unlocked potential in understanding, observing, and tracking the menstrual cycle. In my private practice, it is one of the many things that was not part of my training but is certainly a big part of how I practice.
I first started looking into this at the urging of a naturopath I saw briefly after I mentioned that there were just some times in the month where I had no energy to do any of my house chores at all. I did a very simple version of energy and mood tracking but it wasn’t until I joined Kate Northrup’s online women’s business collective and learned from her and Alisa Vitti about the true magic in understanding the four phases of the cycle. I learned from them that I could eat differently depending on where I was in my cycle to balance mood, resolve symptoms such as menstrual migraines, and even get more work done in my business simply by tracking my cycle.
I have taken the information I’ve learned in Kate’s program, Kate’s book Do Less, Alisa Vitti’s book Woman Code, and the App created by Alisa’s company (MyFlo) and brought it to my clients. The results have been amazing. Many of the women I work with have discovered severe hormonal and endocrine imbalances simply from tracking their cycles and even more have realized that their most severe mental health symptoms were not actually psychological at all. So basically, many of my clients who thought they were losing their minds have realized that they were actually being hijacked by hormones. When the realization dawns that they are not actually crazy, so many of my clients have been able to make sustainable changes and live the life they dreamed of.
Our bodies are supposed to make meaning of our experiences. So when we hit the sticky spots of our cycles (like the second half of the luteal phase for a lot of menstruating folks), so many of our brains tell an excessively negative story. During the luteal phase, the rise and fall of progesterone can be a catalyst for some very negative thinking. And for the women who have low progesterone and/or thyroid issues, the fluctuations of hormones can greatly affect mood and anxiety. Have you ever had one of those days where nothing goes right and you cry about things you’d never cry about on another day, only to start your period the next day? Of course you have. We all have.
The beauty of cycle tracking is that when those moods hit you can say “oh, I am right on target” or “I’m having very luteal thoughts today” instead of saying, “my partner is the worst” or “I’m super ugly and a horrible mother.” Since our minds are programed to make meaning, if we have the understanding of our bodies and their cyclical nature, we will be more understanding and kind to ourselves and others.
Once my clients have understood that they actually were having symptoms of a physical health problem or that their moods and anxieties were hormonally driven sometimes, they have been given back a sense of control. And any time we have more control over how we feel and function, we are winning! This information has given us a clear path to changing thinking about moods and anxiety which has led to a sharp decrease in symptoms. It’s amazing. Do we still work on interventions to further reduce anxiety, depression, and stress, absolutely. And since other symptoms are resolving due to understanding the menstrual cycle, it feels like a double win.
I could blabber on about this for ages and pages but one note is that if you aren’t menstruating due to pregnancy, menopause, hysterectomy, you were born without ovaries or uterus, or some other reason, you can actually tap into this cyclical pattern by following the cycle of the moon. This is pretty exciting because before electricity, our cycles used to track with the moon more than they do now. People were more in touch with their bodies and the cyclical nature of the earth. I say, any time we can become more in touch with our bodies, the better.
There are lots of folks out there who talk about this stuff right now but the two people I get the most from are Kate Northrup and Alisa Vitti.
If you want to discuss more, head over to social media and chat it up. Ask your cycle tracking questions! Tell us how you feel about honing in on your superpowers. Feel free to start a new post if you don’t see one to respond to.