Supporting your cycle health goes much deeper than cycle tracking! It's about creating a holistic practice that goes to support your body as a whole. The health of your cycle is not confined to your womb health {although that's a pretty awesome place to start} So the better question is, how can you create better well-being in your body as a whole to support your cycle? But not such a catchy heading right?

Ok, let's have a look, I'm going to share 5 easy ways you can start to support your menstrual cycle.

Validating how you feel!

Have a mini check-in. What do you need right now? Then all you have to do is take aligned action eg a break, rest, food, movement, sleep. By checking in every day you not only validate how you feel by honouring that feeling with an aligned action but you start to create more harmony in your work/life balance.

If you need a little prompt to help you with this habit, download my free cycle tracker HERE to keep this practice up every day so that you get to understand your own cycle, what's happening and when and how you can anticipate your needs each day!

Pockets of Less!

Although a whole day of rest would be lovely it's not realistic BUT never underestimate the power of a good quality time out!  Go for quality rather than quantity and a great place to start is making sure that having a FULL lunch break is your non-negotiable!

Find somewhere quiet to just breathe, disconnect from your emails/social media and unplug. Stress plays havoc with cycle health so taking little pockets of time to do lets and connect inwards can help manage the pressure you put yourself under each day.

Move and Soothe!

Life can be full-on and stimulants just go to exacerbate feelings of stress and anxiety. So try swapping your afternoon coffee out for a herbal tea or matcha latte. There's nothing wrong with having a lovely good quality coffee, I like my one coffee a day with my breakfast because the smell and combination of flavours brings me joy. So drink coffee for the enjoyment of it rather than relying on it to maintain your energy.

Move, whether it's a walk around the block or your favourite exercise class or some yummy yin, move our 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 which encourages the free flow of progesterone. And if you want to know more about moving with your cycle download my FREE Cyclical Rhythm workshop HERE

SLEEP!

Sleep supports the whole body, including your reproductive system, we 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 standing in the morning sun, it triggers the release of cortisol, which is great to keep us alert during the day, but not so much when getting ready to go to bed.

Most devices allow you to set a screen filter, and you can get blue light glasses relatively inexpensively online to watch late-night TV. Ultimately no devices in the evening would be the best scenario, and certainly not in the bedroom. But I get it we all need some evening Netflix time make sure you have boundaries for everything else. I have a 7 pm cut off and my phone goes on Aeroplane in another room until 9 am. It's been a game-changer not only to limit after dark blue light but also so that my mind is not bombarded with information when I'm trying to feel sleepy.

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 defo 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! 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!

Cut the sugar, more specifically fructose! I'm not talking fruit, but the stuff that gets added in sweets, chocolate, cereals and fizzy drinks. There are so many reasons why sugar isn't great, but when it comes to cycle health it can cause inflammation in the body. Your hormones act as messengers and when the body is reacting to inflammation the messages your hormones send to regulate your cycle become obstructed.

So there you go 5 easy ways to better support your internal ecosystem! And as a last little tip.....Habits form over time with consistency and persistence. So choose the one that speaks to you most right now, make that part of your life and routine and then come back and integrate another. That is how you create lasting change!

P.S. For even more insights about your cycle you can start tracking it! I have a FREE Workshop & Cycle Charting tool HERE to get you started.