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Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, CDCES, MBA
Whether you’re curious about new sleep habits or better coping techniques.
by Vivian Nunez
The conversations around period health truly never end. You may have learned about tampons, pads, and your period’s monthly visit as early as ten years old. In 2024, the conversation has turned toward ‘cycle syncing,’ the process of learning how to synchronize your day-to-day life to each phase of your menstrual cycle to better support your body and mind.
While the benefits of cycle syncing vary from person to person, the biggest gift it offers is more information about yourself. As you start noticing your cycle, it’s easier to see that fluctuating symptom occur during specific phases. As a refresher, the average menstrual cycle can span from 28 to 35 days, and is made up of four different phases: menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal, in this specific order.
Here are six ways cycle syncing can support your mental health, whether you’re swapping your exercise or sleep routine!
Your habits — from what you eat to how you move your body — impact stress levels and vice versa. While cycle syncing won’t eliminate all stress from your day-to-day life, it can provide a better guide on what type of exercise or food your body needs to feel the most supported, which can help you feel less overwhelmed.
PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) symptoms can be overwhelming, but it's not the only time when your cycle may be triggering physical symptoms. For instance, some women’s ovulatory phase triggers ovulation pain similar to menstrual cramps. And any type of physical pain can trigger anxiety, overwhelm, or mental strain. Tracking when these physical symptoms pop up can help you mentally prepare for future months and create corresponding self-care routines.
It’s common for some women to feel more tired during the later stages of their menstrual cycle (luteal and menstrual) than during the first half (follicular and ovulatory). Tracking to see if this rings true for your body is another way to gauge, for instance, when you should brainstorm at work or take meetings.
Hormone fluctuations can lead to sleep disruptions, whether because of pain or slight temperature shifts in your resting body temperature. Once you track how and when your sleep is interrupted, you can reverse engineer different sleep hygiene habits that best support you from your menstrual phase to your luteal phase.
Sometimes, the biggest gift we can give ourselves is understanding. The more you know about your body, the easier it may be to tend to how you’re feeling on any given day, instead of expecting your body and mind to feel like it did yesterday. Cycle syncing may pave the way for more self-compassion.
You’re also not the only person who benefits when you learn more about yourself because now you can teach others, too! You can create a support care system, perhaps to make you tea or cheer you up at different times during your menstrual cycle.
Cycle syncing isn’t one more task to add to your to-do list. Instead, it is an exercise in self-awareness that can potentially support your mental health in new ways and help you manage the ups and downs of PMS.
Calm Health is a mental health wellness product. Calm Health is not intended to diagnose or treat depression, anxiety, or any other disease or condition. Calm Health is not a substitute for care by a physician or other health care provider. Any questions that you may have regarding the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a medical condition should be directed to your physician or health care provider.
We’ve made it easy to take the first step. Just download the Calm Health app, create your account, and answer a few simple questions to help us understand how you’re feeling. You’ll get instant recommendations for the Calm Health programs that will be the most helpful for you.
Our programs are created by licensed psychologists, and you can explore them at your own pace, in any order you like.
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