I'm Hormonal | functional hormone insight + advice

Cycle Syncing Series, Ep 3: Why you should balance hormones pre-cycle syncing

July 29, 2024 Bridget Walton, Functional Hormone Specialist & Menstrual Cycle Coach Episode 42

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Thinking about cycle syncing? You're in the right place. But did you know that cycle syncing might not be the right tool to help you actually overcome your hormone imbalance? Learn about why you should consider focusing on balancing your hormones and regulating your cycle in order to get the most juice out of your cycle syncing squeeze.

Download your free cycle syncing guide to get more familiar with how you can incorporate this practice into your routine. CLICK HERE.

This is episode two of this cycle syncing series. In this series you will hear about:
1. Why cycle sync? What's the benefit? 
2. How to prepare for cycle syncing **this was last week's episode
3. Why your hormones should be balanced before cycle syncing **today's episode
4. Workshop: Mapping your cycle to sync it effectively
5. Why ovulation is important for cycle syncing

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? On today's show, we are going to be talking about why your hormones should ideally be balanced before you start cycle syncing. If you've been with me for the last couple of episodes, you will already be up to speed with this cycle syncing series that I'm doing. If you haven't checked out the last two episodes, you'll hear about why cycle syncing might benefit you, what are the pros. You'll also hear how to prepare for cycle syncing. Like what should you get familiar with about yourself in order to implement cycle syncing in a seamless way? Now let's be clear. You can implement it just whatever.

Speaker 1:

Tuesday morning you wake up and you're ready to go, but if you have a little bit of time, you want to put some thought in first. Check out last week's episode to hear about that After today's episode, so next week or really later this week. Guys, I have been running into some weird technical difficulties. Maybe they're not even weird, but they just were happening. Anyway, next week with the episode there will be there'll be a downloadable for you so you can really workshop like okay, what are the different phases of my cycle? Pause me, replay, get your cycle mapped out and make a grocery list for yourself, make a plan to go to different workout classes. So not to get too far ahead of myself, but this next episode coming up, well, I hope you love it. It'll really bring everything together. So if you are back, then I so appreciate you sticking with me and listening.

Speaker 1:

Again, I had some technical problems and then some scheduling problems, but silver linings my audio engineer, aka my boo he helped me out with updating some of my audio. So hopefully I sound nice and I have a buttery smooth voice. But if you are new here then hey, hello. My name is Bridget and I am so glad that you found me. I started this podcast I'm hormonal almost a year ago because I think it's really important to talk about what I know and what we all collectively know about our hormones, our hormone health and, honestly, just how to feel better. So if that sounds good to you, if cycle syncing is something that you are up for, then you, my friend, are in the right place.

Speaker 1:

One quick reminder as always, the information that I share with you today is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for any sort of one-on-one support from a certified practitioner, in replacement for medical diagnosis or other medical advice. With that disclaimer out of the way, I have one more note for you, and then we will get into the good stuff here. If you want to check out the link in the show notes, you can download my free cycle syncing guidebook. So if you want to just jump right into cycle syncing, you want a more practical, actionable rundown of what are the four different phases, what are different changes you can make for each phase. Check out that link, that downloadable, and that will get you going on your way, sister. So why should your hormones be balanced before you begin cycle syncing? So cycle syncing is not necessarily a tool to fix any hormone imbalances, or, in other words, cycle syncing may not be what's needed to help you support hormone balance.

Speaker 1:

So let's open up this can of worms a bit. What it is supposed to do, or what it can really help you do, is to one, understand yourself and really take advantage of two, the natural hormonal fluctuations that menstruators go through each month. If you think about it, though, right, like if you're overworking yourself and you say, hey, let me dial this back, let me reel it in. Yes, that is great, great plan. I love this for you. And so when you dial it back and listen to what your body is telling you about how much energy you have, that is for sure a pro of cycle syncing, right. We don't need to be just getting smoked at workouts every day, right. If you love that, if that's your thing, you feel good doing it. I support you, girl.

Speaker 1:

But if you do have another imbalance, for example, if you are a girly out there with irregular cycles right, you never know when your period's going to come If you have no period, so maybe you still don't know when your period's going to come. If you are experiencing another sort of like energy drops throughout the day that you want to correct, right, those are really disturbing you. Then there are other steps that you will want to take to address that. Let me dive into this situation where, okay, if you're a gal who has a period that lasts longer than seven days, let's think about what. Or, if you've been here before, if you've been listening for a minute, what does a period longer than seven days normally indicate? A signal that either one estrogen is high relatively high and or it can be a sign that you're not ovulating.

Speaker 1:

So in this case, right, if you're a gal with a long cycle, or rather with a long bleed, then you really want to get to the bottom of why aren't you ovulating or making sure that you're ovulating. It's kind of like you know, if you break your arm, don't work out on it as soon as possible. It needs to heal. And it's the same thing with our cycles. We can't see our uterus and our ovaries and we can't see what's going on there, but our body and our cycles still need us to support it to heal when something is a little bit off.

Speaker 1:

Topic number two here for you. One of the reasons why cycle syncing can help you, or why you can take advantage of your hormonal fluctuations, is because you can like if you're ovulating. You know what your hormones are looking like. You understand how they're changing when estrogen is high, when it's low, when progesterone is high and when it's low. If, for example, you're not ovulating, maybe that's because you have a lot of stress, maybe it's because you have high androgens like testosterone, maybe you have a blood sugar imbalance right, there are a myriad of reasons why you may not ovulate.

Speaker 1:

But if that's you at some point, then you might not exactly align with the seasons that we've identified right Going through your menstrual phase follicular phase, ovulatory phase and then luteal phase. Also, you've probably heard them, and I will refer to them as winter, spring, summer and autumn. So you might not like, you might be like, hey, this doesn't even make sense to me. I'm supposed to be, you know, lively and outgoing in my ovulatory phase, but actually no, my estrogen is a high. I don't feel like this. This doesn't. None of this resonates. And so, while, yes, if you are somebody who you say, yeah, this menstrual phase doesn't really resonate with me the normal desire to be in my cave and be inward. I want to be out there. That also, you know, it's a.

Speaker 1:

I always say that psychosyncing is something where you can take what works for you and leave the rest, and I really mean that. But if you want to get the most bang for your buck out of psychosyncing, then I think that having an aligned cycle, having hormones that are in balance, having a cycle where you're ovulating regularly, that's going to be a good first stepping stone. Remember that your menstrual cycle is your fifth vital sign. This is another thing. If you've been here before, you've probably heard me say this. But for those who menstruate, your menstrual cycle is like a vital sign, like your heart rate, your temperature, your blood pressure. It's in that same category because if something is a little bit off with your cycle, that can be indicative of something else being off with your health, not to say that in a way that causes unnecessary concern. But this is me saying to you hey, get to know your body. If something is a little bit off, put just a quick pause on cycle syncing and ask yourself how can I really nourish my body to get my cycle back in line? How can I send my body signals of safety that this is a good time to ovulate? This is a safe time to ovulate because our you know crocodile brains are like okay, is this a good time to procreate? It doesn't care if we do or don't actually want to grow a family.

Speaker 1:

Just to recap some of those main signals that you should be looking for, keeping your eye out for as signs of hormonal balance. It would be something like irregular cycles, so if your cycle from month to month differs by more than four days, that'd be something to dial in. If you don't have a period she hasn't been here for a couple of months. We got to go on a search for her I would say, if you're somebody who experiences period pain, if you have really low energy no energy, fluctuating energy levels throughout the day you can't make it through the day without a nap or coffee. If that's something new and unusual for you, then those are all signs that there's a little bit more nourishing to focus on to get you to where you probably want to be Now. The good news is, if any of those situations resonated with you, you're in the right place, right. That's what we're here to talk about on.

Speaker 1:

I'm Hormonal, how you can make sense of your body's signals, what you can do to support your hormone balance. So you're in the right place. If you want to learn about how to support your hormones, then you've again, you've come to the right spot. So this is a good first step, or second step, or 17th step, wherever you're at, remember that if you ever have any specific questions about what's going on with you, you have a request for an episode on a certain topic. You can always find me on Instagram. I'm on Instagram at Bridget Walton and I love to get DMs from you guys with well A. I just love to know that you're out there. I love to connect with you. So thank you so much to those of you who have reached out in the past. But I was saying that because if you have a request, if there's something that you're looking for, then just shoot me a DM and I would love to put it on the list.

Speaker 1:

I got a little bit off topic there, but this is pretty much it for today. We're going to wrap up here in just a second. But the moral of the story is, if you have a hormone imbalance, if you're experiencing some of the symptoms that I mentioned just a minute ago here, then cycle syncing might not be the right tool to get you back to balance and to support your overall health and hormonal wellness. That's all I want for you is to have some happy hormones and feel your best and understand what's going on there. So, on that note, actually, let me remind you that I do work one-on-one with clients, so if any of those things resonated with you irregular cycles, no cycles. If you have period pain. Also, if you have fertility challenges or perimenopause challenges, you're like what is happening Then check out the link in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1:

You can set up a free consult call with me, no obligation. We can touch base base. I can learn more about you, understand where you're at, understand what your goals are and work together to adjust, make tweaks to your lifestyle that will support the hormone goals that you have and, again, really understand what's going on there. So thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect with you on Instagram. Like I said, check me out at Bridget Walton. If you haven't subscribed to the podcast, then just go ahead and like, click that little click, that little tiny cute button If you would. Honestly, I would really appreciate it. Also, while I'm at it, if you have it in your heart to leave a review or write the podcast, then that really is helpful for me too, and I'll just leave it there. I can't wait to see you here for the next episode. That'll be workshop style. So grab your notebook, grab your coffee and let's get into it. Alrighty, thanks guys. See you soon you.