Periods & Productivity
Your menstrual cycle is the single greatest tool you have to power your life. Surprise! Don't worry know body told me either. But let's not dwell on the time you could have spent in period productivity heaven... Let's get you there right now.
First up, here's some critical information you should have learnt in school:
Your menstrual cycle is a biological rhythm and it's called your infradian rhythm.
Your infradian rhythm is ruled by the hormones estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone.
There are 4 distinct phases of your menstrual cycle aka infradian rhythm and these phases affect your whole life… the way you feel, your energy levels, your metabolism, your drive and your ability to focus, just to name a few.
When you understand your infradian rhythm and begin to anticipate how you will feel in the different phases of your cycle you can harness your innate power. The power of your period. When you harness this power your life gets easier, more in flow, you’ll naturally feel more productive at work and at home.
Here’s what happened when I started living in sync with this amazing rhythm; no more irritability and pointless fights with my loved ones, no more questioning my sanity and no more waisting my precious time curled up in Period Pain hell. The result? My productivity when through the roof.
Being productive does not mean performing at 100% all day everyday. You are not a machine, you are a human being. We all need sleep and as a menstruating human you need days of rest. Yes! Days. When you understand your body and your infradian rhythm you will know when is the best time to rest and when is the best time to work hard, push the limits and be a social butterfly.
It’s time to normalise days of rest. I’m not talking about weekends to rest from your week, I’m talking about days of the month where you go to work but consider it a rest day. A day to do the bare minimum. Not because you’re lazy but because you know when you rest in your menstrual phase, in 2 weeks when you ovulate you’ll have more time and energy than you can imagine that you will be able to channel into your work. This is about working smarter not harder!
It’s time to normalise the fact that you will not feel the same very day of the month and that doesn’t make you crazy or hormonal. It makes you a beautifully complex human who has the ability to create anything she wants. Nothing in nature is the same all year round, so why do we expect ourselves to feel the same, day in and day out?
We live in a world that sees everyday as the same. Our society lives and functions by the circadian biological rhythm, a repeating hormonal cycle of cortisol and melatonin. Always the same, always repeating day after day, after day. But when you have an infradian rhythm - a menstrual cycle, you have a second biological rhythm that repeats every month. You are an infradian girl living in a circadian world.
Nobody taught you to expect to feel different everyday of the month. Have you even felt like something was wrong with you because you didn’t feel like going out? Nothing is wrong with you! We all kept quiet about it. We all wanted to succeed in a male dominated world. The women’s liberation movement said we can do anything a man can do, and while that’s true we are different. And it’s time to accept those differences and lean into them.
It’s time to lean into the power of your hormones - the power of your period. You can start by allowing yourself time to rest in your menstrual phase; don’t hit the gym for cardio, don’t host dinner for friends, don’t say you’ll baby sit, don’t work late, don’t cram one more thing into your already busy day. What does this bring up for you? Does this feel impossible? Unrealistic? Irresponsible? These feelings are real and valid but ultimately, not helpful. It’s time to step outside the current paradigm and live in sync with your body’s natural rhythms.
If you’re a nurse, teacher, at uni or working in a repetitive job you will have to get creative to figure out how this can work for you. If this is you, it’s best to start with home life and really understand your body and rest as much as you can on your time.
But it’s not just about rest, your infradian rhythm has many gifts to offer. Let’s breakdown how you can use all 4 phases of your infradian rhythm to be more productive and live with more ease in your life.
Menstrual Phase - Dream & Reflect
The menstrual phase is your period, the time you're bleeding, usually 3-7 days. At this point in your cycle your hormones are at their lowest. It's the perfect time to take it slow, analyse where you are, what's been working and what needs tweaking. I call this the dream and reflect phase. It doesn’t matter if your focus is work or life, you can dream about the future, refine what’s been working for you and get clear on what needs to change.
This is actually the time you should allow yourself to not be productive! Sounds counter intuitive, I know. But when you take the pressure off yourself to perform and get stuff done everyday of the month, you'll allow your body time to rest. Which *shock horror* is so supportive and nourishing for your body. When you take it easy in your menstrual phase, month after month, eventually you'll notice you have more energy over all - which means more productivity overall.
If resting during your period feels difficult, rebellious or flat out naughty, you’re not alone. Our society doesn’t honour our need to rest, so it’s a pretty rebellious action to take. We all have jobs, families, homes and responsibilities but in this phase somethings got to give. It’s a fine line to tread but you have to start somewhere, I encourage you to find a way to not cook dinner, not clean the house, not socialise and not work late while you’re bleeding.
Resting in the menstrual phase will set you up for a much smoother and even PMS free 4th phase of your menstrual cycle, which is totally possible!
Follicular Phase - Ideas & Planning
This is the phase after your period ends, usually 7-10 days in total. Allow yourself time and space to slowly get back into ‘normal’ life after you’ve spend a few days resting. Your estrogen is rising in this phase and although you will feel like you have more energy it's important to not spread yourself too thin. There will be time for you to do all the things later in the cycle but for now, don't over do it. Find your footing, gather your plans and set a course for the remainder of your month. Whether that’s work life or home life, this is the time to get clear on exactly what needs to be done but not a time to push or put pressure on yourself to finish everything.
Think of this phase as the perfect time to brainstorm and developing ideas. Planning at work will be easy, so will planning holidays and events. The beginning of this phase is not the time to take massive action, that’s in your next phase, so chill my young padawan, your productive time is coming.
Ovulatory Phase - Productivity & Execution
Ok, you've made it to the ovulatory phase! This is when you have the most hormonal support with estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and testosterone all peaking in this phase.
This is when you can do all the things, be everywhere, talk to all the people, work late, push the limits and 'be productive'. This phase is short and usually lasts 3-4 days. But don't be disheartened, you can feel the affects of the ovulatory phase in the days leading up to ovulation and the days after you ovulate.
This is a great time to schedule important meetings, appointments and even presentations. The verbal centres in your brain are wired and ready to be used to the fullest in this phase, so take full advantage. If you're an extrovert you will love this time. If you're a bit more introverted, like me, you will be able to use this time to make the calls you don't usually want to make and be social.
Luteal Phase - The Final Push
This is the longest phase of your cycle lasting 11-16 days. This is also the PMS-zone... so it can be the most challenging phase BUT if you have balanced hormones you will feel calm and in control. In this phase progesterone should be the dominant hormone but for so many women it’s estrogen that’s dominant and that’s what causes PMS. I work with women helping them balance their hormones naturally, you can find out more about that here.
With balanced hormones you will be super focused on ticking everything off your to-do list, hello productivity. This is where you can get the nitty gritty stuff done - if your hormones are balanced and you haven't over extended yourself in the first half of your cycle.
How do you know if your hormones are balanced? Put simply, you'll feel good. There are many signs and symptoms that your hormones are out of balances, we call it PMS. There are 100's of PMS symptoms, here's the most common ones; period cramps, anxiety, depression, lost libido, headaches, migraines, sore boobs, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, fatigue, hormonal acne, moodiness, anger, irritability, heavy periods, irregular periods, missing periods. If you’re experiencing any of these the gifts of The Final Push will likely, not grace you with their presence.
One thing that can help you balance your hormones is actually living in sync with your infradian rhythm! Wild how doing what’s easy and comes naturally can actually help balance your hormones.
When you start to live in sync with your cycle, support yourself with period friendly diet and lifestyle choices you can use The Final Push to do all the boring things you’ve been putting off. And you’ll actually feel like doing them - think; cleaning out the fridge, filing that stack of papers on your desk, organising your pantry and doing your taxes.
How can you harness the power of these 4 phases?
Understand your infradian rhythm and lean into it! When you're cycling naturally aka, not on hormonal birth control you will be able to see and feel the difference. I suggest you take note your energy levels. This will help you begin to understand yourself and your cyclical energy pattern - your infradian rhythm. It’s easy enough to do, just record in a diary or an app on your phone and then evaluate how you feel in each week of your cycle. Then adjust your life accordingly.
It’s important to note, you can do anything at anytime. And if you’re wanting to go next level on your productivity, incorporating and changing your schedule to coincide with your menstrual cycle - your infradian rhythm - will result in feeling an ease and flow you didn’t know was possible.
You're body was not designed to 'be productive' 24/7.
You're not a robot.
We live in a patriarchal, industrial, capitalist society and nobody was taught this stuff! None of us were encouraged to listen to our body, so is it any wonder we all feel so 'off'? Is it any wonder why we all feel like we’re broken? Why 1 in 8 women will have thyroid issues, or 90% of women experience PMS.
You now have the opportunity to step outside the current work/life paradigm and set a new course. Destination: feeling good all month long! Allowing your productivity to ebb and flow with your hormones will be tricky to start with. But you will get everything done, maybe just not the way you ‘think’ it should be done.
Living in sync with your cycle means allowing yourself time and space to truly lean into the gifts your body is giving you.
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Intrigued and what to know more? Click here to find out the 3 ways I can help you understand your infradian rhythm and live in sync with your cycle.
