Sticking to Exercise Habits on Your Period—Rest, Reflection, and Realignment
If you’re in the midst of flow days, be sure to check out the first post in this series on strategically starting new habits when you enter the follicular phase.
When your period arrives, hormones drop to their lowest levels and your body experiences something of a reset for the upcoming cycle.
With less hormonal interference, the left and right hemispheres of the brain experience greater connectivity and you may feel more balanced between heart and head.
Energy levels might stay on the low side for the first few days, so when it comes to movement, your period is a great time for strategic reflection, realignment, and rest.
Developing a strong exercise habit doesn’t mean you’re at max effort every day. Rest days are part and parcel of the menstrual phase. Still, a daily ritual is one that you show up for even on days off. Find a rest-day practice that reinforces the habit you are trying to create without depleting your resources.
Celebrate, and Course-Correct
The menstrual phase is an appropriate time for introspection when you have greater connectivity in the brain. Use the container of your daily practice to reflect on the progress you’ve made and celebrate all the ways you showed up for yourself.
During the quiet days of your period, clear a path forward for the next cycle and course-correct as necessary by considering the following prompts either internally or in a journal:
What did you enjoy most about moving your body?
What positive changes have you noticed—physical, emotional, or otherwise?
How did the timing, duration, and style of your workouts feel? What adjustments can you make to simplify?
When was it hard to stick to the habit? What was holding you back?
When did you feel motivated and what worked to keep it that way?
What can you reasonably commit to on a daily basis for the upcoming cycle?
How can you challenge yourself more in your practice?
What do you want to accomplish before your next period arrives?
Learn to Love Off Days
While I wholeheartedly recommend developing a movement habit that you show up for every single day, this doesn’t mean you’re at max effort each time. This is especially true during your period. Rest days are part and parcel of the menstrual phase.
Still, a daily ritual is one that you show up for even on days off.
Consistency pays dividends in habit creation and while it may be appropriate to take 3–4 recovery days in a single week, skipping the practice entirely on those days can be enough to throw off your rhythm. This is why I suggest finding a rest-day practice that reinforces the habit you are trying to create.
It doesn’t have to be a workout per se, it can be a restorative practice or meditation for the days when you know you’ll need something low-key.
Here are my go-to practices for rest and recovery days:
Begin Again
Mirror your body’s physical shedding with a conscious letting go where appropriate. Give yourself permission to begin again if needed.
The onset of your period initiates the next cycle with new opportunities to deepen the neural pathways you’ve programmed in each phase, allowing your new habits to become second nature.
As you continue to work with your brain chemistry and changing physiology, get creative with how you support your daily practice throughout your cycle, from planting environmental cues to eliminating obstacles and getting crystal clear on what drives you.
Are you ready to implement a healthy exercise habit that preserves energy levels and keeps your hormones happy?
Check out my 14-day cycle-syncing workshop for women who are burned out by exercise & want more from working out.
Vitti, A. (2020). In the Flo: Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life. HarperCollins Publishers.
Hausmann, M., Slabbekoorn, D., Van Goozen, S. H., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., & Güntürkün, O. (2000). Sex hormones affect spatial abilities during the menstrual cycle. Behavioral neuroscience, 114(6), 1245–1250. https://doi.org/10.1037//0735-7044.114.6.1245
J.C. Dreher, P.J. Schmidt, P. Kohn, D. Furman, D. Rubinow, K.F. Berman Menstrual cycle phase modulates reward-related neural function in women PNAS, 104 (2007), pp. 2465-2470, 10.1073/pnas.0605569104
Dema Hussain, Sarah Hanafi, Kyoko Konishi, Wayne G. Brake, Véronique D. Bohbot. Modulation of spatial and response strategies by phase of the menstrual cycle in women tested in a virtual navigation task. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2016; 70: 108 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.05.008
