If you’re someone who menstruates, the reality is that your energy, mood, and motivation probably fluctuate over the span of your cycle no matter how hard you try to feel the same way day in and day out.

And the fact of the matter is that we’ve been brought up to believe that we should feel the same way day in and day out when our physiology is dictating a different narrative.

Your menstrual cycle is a synchronized dance that results from a variety of hormones dancing their parts. These hormones have a very real impact on your metabolism, mood, digestion (pre-menstrual bloating anyone?!), energy levels, motivation, sleep, and more. These hormonal changes can be more pronounced during times of stress (hello, global pandemic!), with age, and if we have underlying health conditions or hormonal imbalances.

To give you some context, let’s go over the different seasons of the menstrual cycle, some of the physiological changes that happen as a result of these natural hormonal fluctuations, and how you can tap into some of these changes to have a smoother cycle (and life!) instead of fighting against your physiology (which we often do especially as our period approaches).

Winter: Menstrual phase

You’re losing blood as a result of hormones dropping. This is a great time to rest and recover, especially on day 1 and 2 of your period as energy tends to be a tad lower. Most menstruators will start to feel pretty good a few days into their period as hormone levels start to rise again, notably follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and estrogen.

Spring: Follicular phase

The follicular phase is from partway through your period until ovulation time. Your FSH and estrogen continue to rise and testosterone goes up as well. All of these increases in hormones usually means that energy is also rising, mood is uplifted, motivation is higher, and you feel like you can tackle more things.

Summer: Ovulatory phase

This is when one of the follicles that was growing ruptures to release an egg that could potentially get fertilized. This happens as luteinizing hormone, LH, spikes while FSH, testosterone, and estrogen peter out a bit. This, for many, is a high energy time – lots of cervical mucus is present, you may experience a higher libido, and many of you may feel like you can conquer the world because mood, motivation, and confidence are all pretty good.

Fall: Luteal phase

After ovulation comes the luteal phase, when the body first has high estrogen and progesterone and then those hormone levels drop when body realizes that no pregnancy occurred. When estrogen and progesterone are high, you may continue to ride the high from ovulation. As you approach your period, the drop in hormones can trigger lower mood, lower motivation, a bit of water retention, and an increase in appetite which happens because our metabolism revs up. This is when A LOT of menstruators tend to over-caffeinate to get through the day and reach for more alcohol to help relax at night after drinking too much coffee during the day (both of these habits actually worsen PMS and period pain FYI). A strategy that might be more helpful (when/if possible) is to schedule less during this time, defer things, and ask for help with your responsibilities so that you’re not depleting yourself further.

As you can see, there’s a whole lot going on over the span of your cycle (and there’s more happening behind the scenes!).

Our hormones ebb and flow. Our mood and motivation also ebb and flow. And don’t forget to layer the daily goings-on of life on top of all of this (including a life-altering pandemic!). So, feeling the same way day in and day out is overrated.

Note: fluctuations that we’re talking about should be mild and not super volatile. If you’re having significant mood swings, big slumps in energy, and symptoms that significantly impact your activities of daily living, then please connect with your doctor to discuss your case.

Everyone experiences their cycles differently – tracking your cycles, mood, motivation, and symptoms is a great way to figure out what’s happening in your body. And you can also start to plan your life in a way that takes your cycles into account like scheduling fewer things around your period and doing more when your energy is higher!