Have you been wondering how to get more balance with your energy levels throughout the month?
As a Health Coach, I look at how I can reset the energy levels in my clients.
I’ve noticed that women are not considering or informed about how to adapt our lifestyle choices to our delicate biological needs, or the ‘Infradian Rhythm’.
So you may have heard about circadian rhythm? Your natural sleep cycle. It’s a 24-hour sleep cycle that’s referred to as the sleep and wake cycle. Now the Infradian cycle is very different. It is a longer biological clock lasting more than 24 hours, as much as a month or whole season.
As you learn more about this cycle you can understand there are many opportunities to adapt. So you can perform more highly in more aspects of your life.
Flo Living, a hormone centre specialist, found that the chemical composition of the human brain changes by up to 25% over the course of 1 month alone!
So often, you can be pushing yourself at times. When your body is saying, “hang on…isn’t this the week of rest? I can’t cope with this right now!”
So how do women adapt when our world is essentially built by men for men. Or at least is better suited to their natural circadian rhythm?
We know our menstrual cycle really guides us to the 4-week biological calendar that our body flows effortlessly in sync with. Let’s look at 3 ways we can adapt to support our needs:
Firstly, the workplace. In a typical office-hours culture of 9 till 6. You have this peak of activity in the morning, a break in the middle of the day and then things start to wind down in the afternoon, that’s working towards that circadian rhythm. Instead, look at your calendar for the 4-week cycle. Look to plan any big projects, deadlines where possible when you feel the week of higher energy is. The week when you know your energy is generally less, is a good time to avoid meetings, after-work drinks & team events. Using an app such as ‘MyFlo’ to monitor your cycle and plan the best time to be productive. Managers can do more to consider the delicate needs of women & men within the company.
Next, you may even be exercising in a way where you look at your calendar and look for the classes that you’re gonna do this week and you fit in as many HIIT classes as possible and around that maybe you put in a few yoga sessions if you’re lucky. You’ve got that level of intensity that’s built around what can you get done within a day as opposed to what can you get done within a four-week cycle. Now with the Infradian cycle, we look at things very differently so we could have a week of restorative yoga, a week when it’s HIIT, and a combined week, etc, etc.
Lastly, it’s nutrition. When you know your week of raging hormones is coming, then it’s a good time to start to consider which foods support hormonal balance such as Maca and magnesium-rich foods. Which adaptogens (such as Ashwagandha) that support the adrenals responsible for managing stress hormones, can be incorporated into which weeks.
As we come to understand our unique differences we allow ourselves to make adjustments to what our body needs instead of trying ‘one size fits all’ solutions which leave us frustrated and overwhelmed.
Check out my Youtube page for my short video also on this topic!
