Infradian Rhythm and Health

Women are being left out of medical, fitness, and nutrition research. So much so that in 96' the National Institute of Health put out a special task force committee to include researchers to include women in their human clinical trials. As of 2016 progress has been "slim to none" in their status report. This is directly impacting the quality of heal care women receive in a medical setting.

47% of women are struggling with hormone and autoimmune issues whereas men are relatively at under 10%.

If you've had a diagnosis of hormonal imbalance you know you probably will go several years to a decade without a proper diagnosis and then when you get one - there's likely not enough research around it to offer a solution (other than masking the symptoms).

Then in fitness and nutrition, we get the messages like intermitting fasting and HIIT being the best way to optimize your fitness. Turns out this research is being done on men and post-menopausal women! It's actually counter-indicated for women in their reproductive years which may be one reason women are getting sicker. There needs to be more transparency about who these studies are being done on.

Women in their reproductive years have a second biological rhythm called the infradian rhythm. Men, children, and post-menopausal women have 1 biological rhythm called the circadian rhythm. Because we haven't had the proper vocabulary to describe this second body clock, we have been left feeling like we're just crazy, it's all in our heads, and it's problematic.

Men follow the 24-hour circadian rhythm very closely and this is also what most of our culture and research around health, habits, diet, productivity, and more is based on.

This is why all the self-care rituals, diets, exercise routines, and productivity hacks can be such a struggle to stick to as a woman and why it leaves so many feeling like we've in some way failed. We have burnout and hormonal issues because we're trying to stick to a lifestyle that is fundamentally disrupting our infradian biological rhythm and distancing us from our natural way of living.

The infradian rhythm affects 6 key systems in your body: brain, metabolism, immune systems, microbiome, stress response system, and your reproductive system. It's way more than just your period - you are literally not the same person week over week. But it's not unpredictable changes, it's dynamic nature that can be predictable and measured and incredibly supportive. Your brain chemistry changes over 25% over the course of the month - this gives you different gifts of cognitive focus at different times, different skincare needs, different dietary needs, different energy levels, different body composition, and different sleep needs...I could go on and on!

When we learn how to dance with this incredible operating system that nature has given us, we can tap into abundant creativity, efficiency, attention to detail, productivity, better health, glowing skin, and so much more.