Understanding your body

Understanding your body and the part your hormones play is the first step towards feeling more in control of it. Hormones have a huge influence on our bodies; telling us when to eat (and often what we feel like eating), shifting our mood and effecting fertility.  While these hormones in a male are pretty stable, it is a different story with women.

The two main female sex hormones; Estrogen and Progesterone have wide ranging effects on our bodies and are not just responsible for reproduction but work hand in hand to contribute to strong bones and affect your heart, brain and muscles. In becoming more aware of these hormones and how they rise and fall throughout our menstrual cycle, we can also gain a better understanding of what happens to our bodies through this time and put things into place to level the playing field.

Every body is different (and women’s menstrual cycles individual to them also) so you can start to see the benefit of tracking your personal cycle. Whether this is by manually recording sleep, energy and mood, training and nutrition alongside your menstrual cycle or by using an app such as ‘Clue’ or ‘FitRWoman’; over time you will start seeing patterns forming.   Being aware of any changes will help you prepare for them and better manage them.  Alongside this, any adjustments you then make to your exercise, sleep and food intake as a result, will lead you to feeing the best you possibly can!