A healthy menstrual cycle is of value to all ovary-owners, even if we aren’t wanting to pursue baby-making right now – if ever in some cases. 

So for those of you who don’t have baby-making in the 5-year plan, we wanted to shine a light on the other compelling reasons to make an active effort the nurture a healthy cycle, and the ways in which you can do so.

Essentially, a healthy cycle is a (wonderful!) byproduct, and indication of balanced hormones, which is integral for the health of our bones, neurochemistry – how we think and feel, hair skin and nails, supporting prevention of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer, and understanding the state of our bodies’ wellbeing in general.

A healthy menstrual cycle is of value to all ovary-owners.

Five ways your menstrual cycle is essential for the wellbeing of your whole being

1. Healthy Bones

Balanced oestrogen levels are essential not only for a regular, healthy cycle, but also for nurturing and maintaining strong bones. 

Oestrogen enhances the absorption of calcium, calcium plays a key role in bone growth and strength. Irregular cycle = suboptimal oestrogen levels = compromised bone health. This is an area where the long game is crucial. You won’t notice the effects until it’s getting to the point of too late.

2. Supporting our neurochemistry

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that relays messages related to mood, sexual desire and function, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, and some social behaviour. Oestrogen supports the transmission of serotonin’s messages. 

The state of your hormones has a huge effect on how you feel. If you’re not feeling so flash – down and drained – it could well be the case that a hormone imbalance is a contributing factor.

3. Preventing cardiovascular disease

You probably know that oestrogen plays a significant role in fat distribution. The best example being that women have higher levels of oestrogen than men. Females tend to store fat on their hips, thighs, butts and breasts. Males have much lower levels of oestrogen, and store fat on their trunks. Males developing ‘man boobs’ is a key indication that their levels of oestrogen are elevated. No coincidence there…

So, not only does oestrogen instruct the body to send fat to hips, thighs, butts and breasts, it also says, “keep most fat off the tummy please.” When oestrogen levels drop, fat distribution and body composition changes around leading to fat being stored around the middle around our organs. This can put our bodies at risk for cardiovascular disease, especially if we have a genetic predisposition.

4. Glowing hair, skin and nails

Pregnant women just glow! And why? Maybe it’s Maybelline… It’s probably oestrogen… 

Oestrogen influences skin thickness varies during the cycle corresponding to when it is highest in the cycle, and there is a strong association with accelerated ageing and hair loss once oestrogen levels decline after menopause.

Skin issues are almost always a sign that something’s up on the inside of the body, rather than an actual problem of the skin itself. The two most common issues are an imbalance of the hormones, or the gut, or a combination of the two.

5. A feedback system to tell us what’s up

Our bodies are constantly telling us what they need, and what’s going on. We don’t always know what the messages are telling us, but it’s important that we listen to them and find out.

Our bodies are constantly telling us what they need, and what’s going on. We don’t always know what the messages are telling us, but it’s important that we listen to them and find out.

Just like feeling hungry is our body telling us it would like some sustenance, and feeling tired means it needs to rest. Irregular, painful and heavy periods are all messages from the body telling us that something isn’t right, more often than not, it’ll be a hormone imbalance.

The solution isn’t necessarily to shut off the message – that’s like turning off the fire alarm when the house is on fire. The solution is to get to the root cause of why our hormones are out of whack, and providing the means for them to regulate themselves. 

At the BePure Clinic, identifying messages that come in the form of ‘health issues’  and getting to the root of the cause is what our BePure Holistic Health Consultants are specialised in. Our bodies are incredibly complex and intelligent systems, you can think of a BePure Holistic Health Consultant as a translator to support you in reading those messages, and giving you expert guidance in how to respond appropriately.

Four ways to nurture the health of your cycle

1. Sleep

Sleep is critical for hormone regulation. Sleep loss, disturbance and deprivation have been shown to negatively affect lots of our hormones, not just our sex hormones.

For example, two hormones regulate our feelings of hunger, ghrelin, and satiety, leptin, have their sensitivity impacted by a lack of sleep. Have you ever noticed that after a poor night’s sleep, you feel hungrier and tend to eat a little more than usual?

Getting around 8 hours of sound, interrupted sleep does wonders for supporting hormone balance both on a day-to-day basis, and long term. Better yet if you’re getting 2 - 4 of those hours before midnight.

2. Stabilise your blood sugar levels

Balanced hormones are essential for an easy-breezy cycle, indicative of good hormone health. Without stable blood sugar levels, hormone balance just isn’t going to happen.

The first step to stabilising your blood sugar levels, is finding out which foods are best suited to your individual body. Eating natural, whole foods is key to nourishing our bodies and feeling satiated throughout the day. 

Think of it this way – blood sugar levels are the driver, and hormones are the passengers. Ideally you want your blood sugar levels to be going for a gentle Sunday drive, which keeps our hormones happy in the back, just doing their thing. When we jump on the blood sugar roller coaster however, hormones get shaken up, and we experience that as not feeling our best.

The BePure Macronutrient Type Questionnaire gives you an indication as to which foods best fuel your body.

3. Manage the stressors you can control

Modern life sets us up to be chronically stressed – work pressure, relationships, finance, family, intense exercise, lack of sleep, coffee, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, processed foods – all of these things and so many more are stressors to our bodies, and boost our cortisol levels. 

Cortisol is our stress hormone, a hugely valuable one at the right amounts and at the right times. The good news is some very simple little practices can support healthy cortisol levels! 

Just taking ten deep belly breaths tells your parasympathetic nervous system that you are safe and can relax, cortisol isn’t needed right now, it can back off for a bit.

Lying on the ground with your legs up the wall before for just five minutes before you get into bed sets you up to relax into a good night’s restorative sleep.

Taking a gentle little walk around the block when you can sense you’re stressed. Of course the walk itself won’t fix all your problems, but moving your body, and getting some fresh air in your system will support the lowering of cortisol, in turn clearing your head to make way for your brain to get into sensible, problem solving mode and save the day when you get back.

4. Nourish your body with essential nutrients

Micronutrients are the resources our bodies rely on to fuel every single one of our functions and metabolic pathways (that’s a pretty big deal). 

Nutrients are into teamwork, and rely on each other to support the body in working efficiently. Having a nutrient deficiency is like giving a builder just some nails and a hammer, and asking them to build a house… They’re going to have a hard time.

Everything in the body is interlinked. Micronutrients are the foundation requirement to support the ease our hormones, gut, cells and everything else running smoothly.

To wrap everything up, a healthy cycle isn’t only beneficial for fertility, but also for the role is plays in the wellbeing of our whole beings, and how our reproductive systems interact with our other systems. And ultimately feeling happy, healthy and at-home in our bodies, for which, our diet, lifestyle and nutrient status are integral.