5 Easy Ways to Support Your Cycle Today
There's more to supporting your cycle health than cycle charting (although that is the BEST place to start), it's also about creating practices that go to support your body as a whole.
Several elements work together to maintain optimal cycle health, with key bodily components playing vital roles, such as:
- Your gut, aiding in hormone elimination,
- The liver, managing insulin to assist estrogen,
- And the entire endocrine system working harmoniously.
👉 Get the low down - What the heck is the Endocrine System?
So the better question is…how can you create better well-being in your body as a whole to support your cycle?
Ok, let's have a look, I'm going to share 5 easy ways you can start to support your menstrual cycle TODAY!
1. Validate Your Feelings
Stop. Sit up tall and roll your shoulders back... take a deep breath in… exhale slowly and completely… drop your shoulders away from your ears, unclench your jaw and soften your belly, allow easy effortless breath to continue.
How do you feel right now?
What do you need right now?
A break, rest, food, movement, sleep?
By taking moments to check-in throughout the day and asking yourself, "What do I need right now?" you not only validate how you feel when you take aligned actions, but you start to create more harmony in your work/life balance.
Pro Tip - Download your free cycle tracker HERE to make daily check-ins a seamless habit to understand your cycle's nuances and anticipate your daily needs.
2. Pockets of Less
Stress plays havoc with cycle health and while a whole day of rest would be lovely it's not always realistic so go for quality ‘pockets of less’ to help manage the pressure you put yourself under each day. Here are a few of my faves -
- Prioritise a quality time-out during your lunch break.
- Disconnect from emails & social media in the evening.
- Have a bath rather than a shower (without your phone)
- Start a breath practice and take a moment in the day just to breathe.
- Go to bed 10 mins earlier and brain-dump the stress of the day in your journal.
- Start a yoga practice to help you stay present rather than future tripping about work.
3. Move and Soothe
I know life can be full-on but stimulants just go to exacerbate feelings of stress and anxiety. There's nothing wrong with having a good quality coffee but drink it for the enjoyment of rather than relying on it to maintain your energy. And try swapping your afternoon coffee out for a herbal tea or matcha latte.
Move, whether it's a walk around the block or your favourite exercise class or some yummy yin, move your body. Not only does movement help all the happy chemicals in the brain, but it also helps you to feel more awake and alert without reaching for the coffee. PLUS it helps reduce stress and stimulates your lymphatic system for progesterone flow.
4. Sleep!
Sleep supports the whole body, including your reproductive system. You need good quality rest time to allow the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) to do all its favourite activities like digestion and healing.
A great way to instantly improve your sleep quality is to put boundaries around your screen time. Blue light from your devices acts like the morning sun, it triggers the release of cortisol, which is great to keep you alert during the day, but not so much when getting ready to go to bed.
Pro Tip - Consider screen filters or blue light glasses for evening device use but keep devices out of the bedroom for better sleep quality! And pretty please do not pick your phone up first thing and start scrolling, your brain has enough to do waking up. Although the blue light is not as problematic in the morning, the deluge of information on your system is. Take 10 mins to wake up naturally and consider your day and don't check your phone for at least an hour.
👉 5 Ways to Increase Your Productivity Using Your Circadian Rhythm!
5. Eat the Rainbow
What's on the menu tonight? Can you include a mix of colours? Too often (and especially in cooler months) it's tempting to eat a lot of beige foods. So get some green in there and swap your grains out for their more wholesome companions to support your digestion. Complex carbs also help the slow release of energy in the body too so that's a win-win!
Protein Alert - An Adult woman need between 45-50 gram per day! So swap cereals or sugary things for smoothies, porridge or homemade breakfast bars and add a scoop of a good quality protein powder in there to help you feel more balanced in your morning energy and help keep you fuller for longer!
Pro Tip - Cut the sugar, more specifically fructose! There are so many reasons why sugar isn't great, but when it comes to cycle health, it can cause inflammation in the body. I'm not talking fruit, but the stuff that gets added in sweets, chocolate, cereals and fizzy drinks. Your hormones act as messengers and when the body is reacting to inflammation the messages your hormones send to regulate your cycle become obstructed.
👉 Read 5 Food Rules for Happier Hormones
➡️ Remember, habits form over time with consistency and persistence. Choose one tip that resonates, make it part of your routine, then gradually integrate more. That's the key to lasting change!
P.S. Dive deeper into your cycle insights by tracking it! Access your FREE Guide & Cycle Charting tool HERE to kickstart your journey.