How Your Cycle Impacts your Brain
On a scale from full on clarity to brain fog, where do you say you land?
It’s not sci-fi, it’s not romantasy, and it’s 100% not in your head.
If you are an infradian body, menstruating body, woman, AFAB… your brain shifts approximately every week.
Because estrogen and progesterone are powerful neurochemicals that significantly change female brain physiology, mood, and cognition as they ebb and flow throughout the month.
That’s right… four different brains, four different realities—every single month!
When we ignore this, we're literally saying, okay superpower body, we're not going to unlock your gifts and instead try to be more stagnant.
THE SCIENCE
Estrogen and Progesterone are not simply ovarian hormones, they are critical neurochemicals that impact our brain function, mood, and cognition.
FOLLICULAR BRAIN
High estrogen, low progesterone
Higher metabolism
Enhanced Focus and Mental Energy
Mood, emotional capacity
Upregulated serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate aka all the happy chemicals
OVULATION BRAIN
Peak estrogen, low progesterone
Peak focus for mental processing and energy
Peak emotional capacity
Enhanced external communication
May be more socially oriented
LUTEAL BRAIN
Low estrogen, peak progesterone
Increased neuro-plasticity
Enhanced memory consolitation and communication
Sharper intellect, editing, and cutting through the bullshit
Inner critic voice may get increasing louder
MENSTRUAL/MENSES BRAIN
Lowest estrogen and progesterone
Lower metabolism
Less capacity for stress/higher stress sensitivity
More intuitive, and perhaps introspective
Downregulated mood boosters
It’s not about syncing a specific workout or modality to a specific “section” of your cycle, rather, how do you harness and deepen what you’re already primed for.
