Back to work! Here’s how to work according to your cycle

Summer coming to an end marks the return of work and routine. For some, this is a welcome change. But for others, this can feel overwhelming. The reality of work is a huge contrast from sunshine and holidays! Busyness becomes the new normal and when you’re running around without a moment to spare, it can be hard to listen to your body.

Coupled with your body’s changing hormones throughout the month, this can lead to feelings of exhaustion and burnout. We want to help you get back into the swing of things without the drama. In this blog, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about working according to your cycle!

The Standard Workday

Work is an important part of our lives! Of course, we need some sort of income to live, but even if you’re lucky enough to have a career that gives you purpose and satisfaction, the day-to-day grind of professional life can be tough! It’s especially difficult for women because our standard workday is not at all aligned with our female physiology.

To learn more about this, check out our blog post about the male vs. female cycle.

How to be Happier At Work

Surprising though it may be, men have a cycle too. But unlike the month-long female cycle, a man’s cycle resets every 24 hours. When a man wakes up, his testosterone levels are at their highest and then slowly decrease over the course of the day. He wakes up feeling sharp, confident and focused. Throughout the day, these feelings decrease and are at their lowest in the evening. As a result, the male cycle is perfectly aligned with a standard 9-5 working day.

By contrast, the female cycle operates on a monthly schedule. Women are made to plan their lives around the moon's monthly rhythm, not the sun's 24-hour rhythm.

Does this mean you are not made for work or career? Or that you can do less than your male colleagues?

Absolutely not!

All you have to do is be aware of your cycle and schedule your tasks a little differently, namely around your cycle!

Track Your Cycle and Find Your Strength

Your body is controlled by hormones. From your blood pressure, to feelings of stress, to your libido and your sense of happiness, hormones play a role in all of it.

During your fertile years, these hormones ensure that you ovulate every month. But the most important reproductive hormones – estrogen and testosterone – also affect your mood. This means your cycle coincides with how you feel. (See? You’re not going crazy! It’s hormones!) While this can lead to disruptive changes in your mood, you can also use your hormones to your advantage...

Harness Your Hormones for Workplace Mastery

Your cycle has four distinct phases. Most women have a menstrual cycle between 25 and 35 days. To determine your cycle length, just count from the first day of your period (the day you start bleeding).

Day	What?	What is it?
Day 1-7	Your period	The days you are bleeding, on average 3 to 7 days
Day 8-12	The follicular phase	During this stage, an egg matures in your ovaries
Day 13-15	Ovulation	This is when an egg is released from your ovaries
Day 16-28	The luteal phase	These are the days after you ovulate. The egg travels through the fallopian tube to the uterine cavity. Along the way, your egg can be fertilized by a sperm cell. What if the egg is not fertilized? Your body rejects it and your period starts again.

If you track your cycle, you can find out what phase you’re currently in. The exact timing of each phase can be different for everyone so it could take you several months to figure your cycle out. To be certain, you could also purchase an ovulation test to find out for sure if you are ovulating.

Meanwhile, pay attention to how you feel at work (happy, confident, down, creative, insecure) and try to connect these feelings to the different phases of your cycle. After one or two months you should be able to predict when you will feel like a confident CEO and other times where you may feel more like an insecure intern!

It probably looks a little bit like this:

✨ The follicular phase – Creativity and Ideas

Your hormones are low during this phase but your estrogen is on the rise. During this phase, you might feel creative and have lots of new ideas on how to tackle projects and problems. You may also feel open to new things. This is the perfect time to start a new project or get some team members involved in a creative brainstorm. Try to plan any creative meetings ahead of time so they coincide with this phase of your cycle. Dream big and use your positive and creative energy to inspire others.

🥚 Ovulation phase – Confidence and Communication

Your communication skills and teamwork are at their best around ovulation. It's a good time to have important conversations (like asking for a raise or closing deals). You are charming, irresistible and generally oozing with confidence so take the chance to do everything that requires you to be assertive and articulate.

🧘‍♀️ Luteal or premenstrual phase – Focus and Concentration

The luteal phase is a good time to get things done. You are task-oriented and good at completing projects. It's easy to focus and pay attention to the smallest details. Complete projects, do administrative tasks such as your accounting, and submit monthly reports.

❣️ Menstrual phase – Intuition, Reflection and Adjustment

During this phase, the left and right hemispheres of your brain are working very well together. Your analytical skills are great, but at the same time you can reason intuitively. Reflect on the past month. How was your work? How are your colleagues? Are you working on the projects you care about? Is your work going in the direction you want? What are the changes you need to make to stay happy and successful in your work and career? It’s a good time for some introspection.

More Ways to Support Your Cycle

Working in tune with your cycle allows you to take advantage of your strengths in ways you may never have thought about before. It also may allow you to give yourself some grace when you’re not performing at your best. You can support your cycle even more with a healthy lifestyle, diet, regular activity and add the right supplements if you feel like you can use something extra.

More questions about your menstrual health? Talk to us! We’re here for you and we want to help. Talk to an expert, or find you guuds. You deserve to feel Guud every day of the month.
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