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...