Get hormonal balance by looking at your monthly cycle like a bicycle

After you’ve explored this Hormonology blog or guides or app and learned how your hormones impacted you every day of your cycle–for example, boosting your mood, energy and health some days, dragging it down others–did you ever start to secretly worry that you were on a kind of hormonal see-saw that you couldn’t escape?

Ever think that now that you see the science behind it, maybe those rumors that women are tied to their hormones were really true? That we’re biologically wired to have “good” days and “bad” days–and there’s no escape?

Let me take a few moments to tell you why knowing how your hormones impact you can actually free you from the hormonal see-saw and make you less impacted by them so you have greater balance throughout your monthly cycle.

Remember your bicycle

Before I get into how you can obtain hormonal freedom, I’d like you to think back to the first time you tried to ride a bicycle. The one without training wheels.

Remember the way the bike wobbled from side to side as you climbed onto the seat? The pedals felt like they were a million miles away. And the handlebars seemed to have a mind of their own.

That first push from whomever was (hopefully!) holding your bike made you fairly certain that someone was playing a big joke on you just to see you crash into the bushes or a fence. That’s because, based on the way the bike was lurching and leaning, you knew that no one in the history of the Earth could get one of these nefarious bike contraptions to stay upright on its own.

But, then something happens.

After a few more pushes and false starts and probably some falls and scraped knees, your body and brain intuitively begin to figure out how to move your legs and shift your weight and steer and pedal until it all comes together and you’re effortlessly biking up and down your block like you’ve been doing it for years.

Then, this odd two-wheeled device that you were once certain was going to be the death of you (or at least knock out some teeth) becomes the tool you rely on to make your life so much better because it gives you freedom and takes you places farther and faster than your two little legs could.

Your hormone cycle is like a bicycle

A few days ago, I was thinking of when my older sister, Jaimie, taught me how to ride a bicycle when we were kids.

This memory came to me during Week 3 of my monthly cycle (the 8 days following ovulation). I was bounding down the steps to my office, brimming with energy.

And, that was weird. Because Week 3 is when progesterone rises–and this sedating hormone is known to sap pep like someone letting the air out of bike tire.

But, I wasn’t exhausted. I was just the opposite. I was full of vim and vigor.

So, I paused to wonder why.

Then, I thought back: The night before, I’d made sure to go to bed a little earlier than usual. When I woke up, I started my day with a nutritious, vitamin-filled breakfast. I spent time outdoors as the sun came up because I’ve read several studies that show morning sunlight triggers more daytime alertness by syncing your inner body clock. After that, I downed a refreshing glass of orange juice, which is filled with citrus flavonoids that have also been shown in studies to boost energy thanks to their ability to enter the brain, recharging it.

I realized then that I was full of energy despite it being my Week 3 because I’d automatically adjusted for it. I didn’t plan all these energy-boosting acts ahead of time. I just intuitively knew to do them all so I wouldn’t be tired.

Just like the way I learned to intuitively balance and steer and pedal my bike so I wouldn’t fall when Jaimie was teaching me to ride.

Hormone balancing for a better cycle

I bring all this up because I want to show you how you can be free of many hormonal effects by simply knowing that they’re coming so you can then automatically adjust for them. Just like you did when you learned how to ride a bike.

You probably intuitively compensate for some hormonal challenges already, for instance, if you get anxiety during your Week 2 (the week leading up to and including ovulation) because you’re sensitive to high estrogen, you might avoid caffeine and switch to calming chamomile. Or, during your premenstrual Week 4, you might avoid frustrating situations or people because you know plunging estrogen makes you less patient.

Well, I’d like to recommend focusing a bit more on this balancing act or noticing how you’re already intuitively making changes to create more hormonal balance. This way, you can train yourself to automatically adjust for more hormonal effects to make every day of your cycle better.

And, use my tools (free eBooks, Hormonology Guides, Hormone Horoscope App) to continue learning how your hormones impact you. It’s only when you don’t know what your hormones are going to be doing to your mood, energy, health and more that you’re stuck with their see-sawy effects since you have no power to control them. When you’re aware of your hormonal effects, you can make changes to compensate for many of them–and, over time, many of these changes will come intuitively on their own.

Then, like that bike, your monthly cycle will become a tool that can help you go farther and do more.