April 8, 2025 • 25 mins
Foundational knowledge about your menstrual cycle is essential before you can effectively address hormone imbalances causing problematic symptoms. Understanding the key hormones at play during different phases helps you recognize patterns and identify potential imbalances affecting your health.
• Five important hormones regulate your menstrual cycle: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone
• Your "cycle" refers to the entire month from day one of your period to the day before your next period starts
• The cycle divides into two halves with ovulation as the midpoint – estrogen dominates before ovulation, progesterone after
• For more detail, think of four phases: menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal phases each with distinct hormone patterns
• Cycles naturally change as you age, especially during your 40s when progesterone decreases and later when estrogen fluctuates
• Red flags include periods shorter than 2 days or longer than 7 days, cycles under 21 or over 35 days, inconsistent cycle lengths
• PMS and period pain are common but not normal – they indicate hormone imbalances worth investigating
Referenced episodes:
Cycle Syncing Series, Ep 6: A phase by phase break down | Ep. 45
Cycle Syncing Series, Ep 4: Workshop to get clear on your phases | Ep. 43
7. Estrogen & Why It's Critical for Your Cyclical Health
🎉 Free Class: 100-Day Blueprint to Fix Your Hormones Naturally
Tired of the acne, bloating, low energy, and period chaos? Join me on Tuesday, June 24 at 5pm PT to learn how to support your gut + hormones — no crash diets, no guessing.
🎟 Save your spot → REGISTER HERE FOR FREE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now it is going to be pretty dang challenging for you
to get a grip on what is goinghaywire with your hormones if
you are not yet savvy on thebasics of your cycle, and that
is why, in today's episode, weare going to be going back to
those basics to do anintroduction to your menstrual
cycle hormones.
If you are just at the start ofthis journey, figuring out
(00:24):
what's up with your period, thenyou're in the right spot.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to I'm Hormonal, yoursource of information about
women's hormone health and howto support your body.
Naturally, I'm your host,bridget Walton, and I'm a
certified functional hormonespecialist and menstrual cycle
coach.
I am on a mission to hold thesehormone conversations with as
(00:45):
many menstruators as possible,because you deserve easier
access to accurate informationabout what's up with your unruly
menstrual cycle and with yourfertility mysteries.
Don't you think it's time thatwe figure this out once and for
all?
Hello, hello and welcome tothis 96th episode of I'm
(01:07):
Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I just want to say a special
welcome to those of you who arelistening to I'm Hormonal for
the first time today.
I'm so glad that you found me.
I've loved hearing feedbackfrom those of you who, yeah, are
listening for the first time,have questions, have feedback.
I'm always interested andenthusiastic to hear what you've
(01:29):
got to say.
So you can connect with me onInstagram at Bridget Walton, if
you want to send me a DM thereand let me know what you think,
what questions you have oranything else.
If you've listened to thepodcast before, then welcome
back to you and thank you forcoming back.
I know you guys have so manyoptions, so it is certainly not
lost on me that you're spendingsome time with me in your
(01:51):
earbuds.
I started this podcast a whileago I guess a couple years ago
now because I think it's soimportant to share what I know
and what we all collectivelyknow about how our cycles work,
how our hormones work, how ourbodies work, because you really
deserve to understand what'shappening in your body and you
(02:14):
deserve to feel better.
You deserve to feel your best.
So that's what we are here todo.
Like I said in the intro, it'sgoing to be really tough to
understand what's going on withyour hormones if you don't have
a good baseline for how does mycycle work?
What hormones do I even need tobe thinking of, and just have a
(02:37):
place to start.
So that is what we're going tobe focusing on today as we dive
back into the basics together ofthe menstrual cycle, and
hopefully this will be a reallygood resource for you if you are
just at the beginning of yourjourney, trying to understand
what's going on with your periodand why.
This will help you to beoriented, have some more context
(03:01):
for what's going on and,hopefully, better allow you to
express what is happening inyour body and therefore note
what's happening, keep track ofit.
So, with all of that out of theway, let me just give you a
rundown of the five questionsthat I'm going to be walking
through throughout this episode,so you know where we are headed
(03:24):
together.
The first question that I'mgoing to be speaking to is this
question of what hormones shouldI be aware of?
I'll walk you through the fivemost common or the five most
relevant hormones as it relatesto cycles.
Next, we'll talk about how youcan keep track of your cycle and
, again, how you can talk aboutit.
Third, we'll talk about how youcan keep track of your cycle
(03:45):
and again, how you can talkabout it.
Third, we'll look at how yourcycle is broken up.
Right, we'll break it up intosome phases so you can make
sense of you know where does thefirst half start, and then the
second half, and why do you evencare about halves, right?
So we'll get into that.
We'll answer the question ofhow does your cycle change over
(04:07):
time as you get older.
What are those changes that youcan expect to see?
And then, fifth and final,we'll talk about what are some
of the red flags to look forwhen it comes to your cycle.
So you know a little bit morecontext, for, okay, this is
normal and this isn't normal.
This is something worthinvestigating.
(04:28):
Let's dive into this firstquestion of what hormones you
should be aware of.
There are five that we're goingto touch on.
These five will be estrogen,progesterone, testosterone,
luteinizing hormone and folliclestimulating hormone.
Now, now I'm gonna go out on alimb and guess that those first
(04:48):
three estrogen, progesterone andtestosterone are going to be
the most top of mind, right?
You remember that from eighthgrade biology or whatever class,
health class, maybe back inmiddle school and starting,
starting with estrogen first.
I mean, estrogen is one of themost important hormones.
(05:10):
Well, they're all important.
We need them all to be balanced.
But when we think of women'shormones or menstrual cycle
hormones, estrogen is what comesto mind.
Estrogen is the hormone that isgoing to help your body get to
the point of ovulation, ofreleasing that egg from your
ovary in order to potentiallyget pregnant.
(05:32):
Right, but whether or not yourintention is to get pregnant,
it's important that that cyclestill happens each month.
A lot of good health benefitsthere.
We can get into that later.
So I also want to mention, too,that while estrogen is really
important for the menstrualcycle, it's also beneficial for
(05:52):
skin health, heart health, bonehealth, brain health and more.
So it's not just something thatimpacts your cycle, but it can
also impact other parts of yourlife, other parts of your
experience, and I think that'sreally important to know.
Now progesterone, the secondhormone that I mentioned.
(06:13):
This is kind of the oppositelike estrogen, progesterone, yin
and yang a little bit.
I don't know, maybe somebodyelse would disagree with me on
that, but to me, right when wethink of are your hormones
balanced?
Or you know, if you're havingthat conversation with your
provider, with your friend, mostof the time, what you're
talking about is this balancebetween estrogen and
(06:36):
progesterone.
So, again, progesterone ispredominant in the second half
of the menstrual cycle, which isafter ovulation, and that's
because progesterone is producedfrom the spot for the
unofficial term but from thecorpus luteum, which is that
(06:58):
follicle from which you ovulatein the middle of your cycle.
So what does this actually mean?
Why do we care?
Why is Bridget saying thatprogesterone is produced from
this same spot that the egg isreleased from?
So that's just to tie thistogether in your mind that if
(07:18):
you are not ovulating, thenyou're not going to be producing
progesterone.
Or if you don't have a qualityovulation maybe it's like a
relatively weak corpus luteumthen that can negatively impact
your progesterone levels, lowerthan what you expect to see or
(07:42):
than what you want to see, sothat you can either carry a
healthy pregnancy or just sothat you can feel more relaxed.
Right, progesterone will have,for most menstruators, a good
impact, a positive impact thatwe like to see as it relates to
nervous system regulation andstress and sleep.
Okay, so super quick recapEstrogen predominant in the
(08:03):
first half of the cycle, thenprogesterone in the second half.
Where does testosterone fall inthis picture?
Well, testosterone isdefinitely an important hormone
for women, even though we thinkof it as being just a male
hormone.
Yes, certainly it's found ingreater quantities in men's
(08:25):
bodies, but it's reallyimportant because actually
estrogen is made fromtestosterone in our bodies.
So TLDR testosterone isimportant.
It is going to peak mid-cycle.
It's right around the time ofovulation, and so you know, if
you're somebody who maybe you'rewondering already if you have
(08:47):
PCOS, or you say, okay, mycycles are really unpredictable.
That's why I'm listening tothis episode in the first place,
while there certainly are otherthings to look at too.
When testosterone is high, whenit's a little bit out of whack,
then that can certainly connectto irregular cycles.
(09:08):
So something to think of there.
Now, the last two that I wantedto touch base on luteinizing
hormone and follicle stimulatinghormone.
We'll just call them LH and FSH.
These are important, especiallyif you are looking to conceive
right.
Lh is the hormone that willpeak just ahead of ovulation.
(09:30):
It's that like last signal toyour body, like go, go, go, it's
time, it's time to ovulate.
And follicle stimulatinghormone, as you may have guessed
, is the hormone that helps tostimulate follicle growth, which
is going to be then impactinghow much progesterone you're
producing.
(09:50):
So there are more hormones thanjust these five to be aware of,
but these are the five that Iwant you to be aware of for
where we're at now and to startoff with whatever
troubleshooting that you mightbe looking to do.
Now let's talk about how you cankeep track of your cycle and
how should we talk about it Now?
(10:12):
You may have already noticed orasked yourself a question on
this, because you're hearing mesay cycle, not really saying
period.
So let's differentiate betweena cycle and your period.
Now, your cycle is the entiremonth, right?
Or another way to say that,from the first day of your
period, like think of the firstday of your most recent period.
(10:34):
That was cycle day number one,and then that cycle went all the
way through until the last daybefore your next period started.
Or the cycle that you'recurrently in now will go until
the day before your next periodwill start.
Do you follow me?
(10:55):
Hopefully that makes sense.
But this is all to say yourcycle.
That does not denote the timewhen you are bleeding that would
be your period but it denotesthe time from day one to day one
, which is ideally from about 21to 35 days or a little bit
(11:16):
closer to that 28 day range.
That's really sort of classic.
That's what we know from thetextbooks as what to shoot for
when you are talking to yourlike, or rather when you're
logging in your app or justtalking to your friend about
something and you say, okay, myperiod lasts for seven days, but
(11:38):
my whole cycle lasts for 29days.
That is the difference betweenthose two things.
So hopefully I'm not totallybeating a dead horse here, but I
think there is some confusionsometimes when I'm working with
clients, or even I've had, youknow, when you go to the doctor
and they always ask you aboutthe first day of your last
(11:58):
period, and I had a nurse oncewho was so confused when I was
like oh well, I'm on cycle day14 now, so I guess my period
must have started.
You know, whatever the date was, she's like oh my gosh, are you
bleeding?
You've been bleeding for 14days.
I was like my girl no, no, Igot to send her this podcast
(12:18):
maybe so she can know that yourcycle is the whole month.
Okay, I think I've gone on toolong about this, so let's move
on to the next question of howis the cycle broken up Now?
You heard me before referencethe first half or second half of
(12:39):
your cycle, and I'll break itthat down a little bit more now.
Let's start by looking at cycleday one.
And so that, again, is thefirst day of your period and
this begins, you guessed it, thefirst half of your cycle.
Now this is going to go all theway up to the time in your
(13:00):
cycle when you ovulate.
You may not know when youovulate because for a lot of
gals there aren't any physicalsymptoms of when you ovulate.
But I'll get into that a littlebit more in just a second.
Just know that generally aroundthe middle of your cycle,
around 10 to 14 days before yournext period begins, that's when
(13:20):
you ovulate.
And so it's this time betweenthe first day of your period and
ovulation, which is the firsthalf of your period, and
ovulation, which is the firsthalf of your cycle.
Now throw back to the mostcommon hormones that we talked
about for your cycle.
The first half of your cycle iswhen estrogen is the
predominant hormone.
It's growing, growing, growinguntil you get to mid cycle.
(13:41):
Then, once you cross that line,cross this ovulation line and
are in the second half of yourcycle, which is the time between
ovulation and that last daybefore your next period begins.
That's again when progesteroneis predominant and that's when
you know if you have a hormoneimbalance.
(14:03):
It oftentimes would present ina way.
Let me actually back up onesecond to make this make more
sense For those of you whoexperience PMS right before your
period.
You are just not feeling likeyourself.
You have breast tenderness,maybe you have really heavy
bleeding once your period doesstart Just those kind of
(14:26):
unsavory symptoms that happentowards the end of your period.
That can be a signal thatprogesterone and estrogen are
off balance.
Now I'm mentioning that herebecause knowing which half of
your cyclin and which hormoneshould normally be predominant,
that can be a good clue towhat's going on.
(14:47):
Now.
It's also worth mentioning that.
Or I should say, sometimesyou'll hear people talking about
the four phases of themenstrual cycle.
Sometimes people is me right.
If you want to check outepisodes from, I think, july,
August, I'll I'll link it in theshow notes of 2024, I did a
(15:07):
whole series on cycle syncingand I really broke down the four
phases, what's happeninghormonally in each of those four
phases, and I will give you thelight version of that in just a
moment here.
But when it comes to the basicstwo halves let's not
overcomplicate it and understandwhich hormones are most
(15:28):
relevant in each half.
If you do want to get a littlebit more granular with it, then
let's identify the four phases,if you want to break it up that
way.
The first phase is themenstrual phase.
That's the time when you are onyour period, you're bleeding,
and it's followed by thefollicular phase, now follicular
(15:50):
follicle.
This is the time when thefollicle is preparing.
Essentially, this is whenestrogen levels are rising, and
so it's the time between thelast day of your period and that
time just before ovulation.
It would logically follow thenthat the next phase is the
(16:12):
ovulatory phase.
So stick with me here.
This is going to be the phasethat's about three or four days
long, just in the middle of yourcycle, kind of when estrogen
and testosterone are at theirhighest levels throughout the
cycle, and once those levelsstart to go down, you're going
(16:33):
to roll right into the lutealphase.
This is the normally 10 to 14days before your next period
begins, when yes, you guessed itprogesterone is the predominant
hormone.
I'm so sorry for saying this8,000 times, but I hope you'll
remember it.
And the luteal phase is alsothe phase when most people are
(16:56):
experiencing these unsavoryperiod symptoms, right,
oftentimes an indication thatprogesterone levels are
relatively low.
When estrogen is relativelyhigh, and you'll want to focus
on okay, well, why is estrogenhigh and what can we do about it
?
Now, the next question that Iwant to address is how does my
(17:18):
cycle change over time?
Right, you probably know thatyour cycle, from when you were
13 to you know, in your 30s,will be different, and it will
surely change into your 40s andbeyond.
So if you are a gal who you'rein your 30s, late 30s or maybe
(17:39):
in your 40s and you notice somechanges, that is to be expected,
because we all go through thissecond puberty, right, like
reverse puberty as we approachmenopause.
So this is going to be just asuper short section, but really,
what I want to do here isclarify for you that sometime in
(18:01):
your late 30s more likely 40syou'll notice that your cycles
start to lengthen out, right,instead of 28 day cycles, they
might get longer, into 30 somedays, and that is going to be a
signal that your progesteronelevels are decreasing.
And then later on, you're goingCycles will become more erratic
(18:25):
, right?
If you hear about hot flashes,that's often what happens when
estrogen levels are like goingup and down really rapidly and
then, finally, your cycle willcome to an end and that's when
you'll see that folliclestimulating hormone is at its
highest and that's kind of youknow, that's the way to confirm
(18:47):
where you're at as it relates tomenopause.
So all of those details aren'tsuper important for you to store
in your memory right now, ormaybe they're not, but I wanted
to cruise through them because Iwant you to understand how
estrogen, progesterone andfollicle stimulating hormone
will change throughout your lifeand how they can, when in
(19:09):
different amounts, impact yourcycle length, impact any
symptoms that you'reexperiencing and, overall,
indicate what is your fertilitylooking like.
Now, the last section that Iwant to run through with you,
this last question I should say,is as it relates to red flags.
(19:30):
And what do I mean by red flags?
I mean, what are the signs thatyou should look for to indicate
that something is a little bitoff balance with your hormones?
Now let's dive in.
The first red flag would be ifyou notice that your period is
less than two days or more thanseven days.
(19:51):
You probably don't need me totell you that if your cycle is
more than seven days, rather, ifyour period is more than seven
days, that that's A probablyannoying for you, but B can be
an indication that you're notovulating, because if you were,
then your cycle would be alittle bit shorter.
Now there's some nuance, butregardless, let me come back to
(20:13):
home base here.
Two to seven days is what youwant to see, and the red flag
would be if your period does notlast a full two days or last
more than seven days.
The next thing you want to lookfor for red flags would be a
cycle that is less than 21 daysor more than 35 days.
(20:33):
If your cycle is less than 21days long or more than 35 days
long, so from cycle day one tocycle day one, that's also going
to be an indication that you'renot ovulating and a signal that
you want to do some moreinvestigating.
The third red flag to look forwould be inconsistency in cycle
(20:56):
lengths.
What do I mean by that?
I mean if your last month'speriod well, see even me mixing
up cycle and period.
It's okay, but we'll work on it.
If last month's cycle was 28days, the cycle before that was
(21:17):
36 days, the cycle before thatwas 22 days.
See how those cycles are allmore than four days apart in
variation, as opposed to 28 daythan 27 day, 29 day, which are
within that four day range.
That's going to indicate to youthat something is a little bit
(21:38):
off.
There isn't this regularcadence, regular pattern, which
is a sign of balanced hormones.
Next red flag to look for wouldbe unruly PMS.
We as a society have normalizedPMS and we think that everybody
has it and that it's normal and, yes, a lot of people have it.
(22:00):
But if you have PMS, it's asign that there is some sort of
imbalance and I want to reallyencourage you to dig into that
more and identify what you cando to feel better, which you
know I'm preaching to the choir.
You guys are already listeningto the podcast Along the same
note.
The next red flag that I wantyou to keep in the back of your
(22:22):
mind is period pain.
It's again something that isreally common, but can be a sign
that there is something elsebigger going on and that's
definitely worth investigating.
If you have period pain that ispreventing you from going to
work, going to school, doingwhatever is your normal thing,
then that is outside of whatwe're going to consider to be
(22:45):
normal.
All right, team, I hope thatthis was a good recap for you or
a good intro.
If it's just been like 20 yearssince you have looked into this
stuff, let me know whatquestions you have by connecting
with me on Instagram at BridgetWalton.
But I hope this was helpful foryou in really starting to get
grounded in where you're at andunderstanding what's going on
(23:07):
with your cycle.
So thank you again forlistening and I will see you on
the next one.
If you loved today's episode andgot something good out of it,
make sure you subscribe so thatthese episodes show up
automatically in your feed, nowork needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
(23:29):
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
Now it is going to be pretty dang challenging for you
to get a grip on what is goinghaywire with your hormones if
you are not yet savvy on thebasics of your cycle, and that
is why, in today's episode, weare going to be going back to
those basics to do anintroduction to your menstrual
cycle hormones.
If you are just at the start ofthis journey, figuring out
(00:24):
what's up with your period, thenyou're in the right spot.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to I'm Hormonal, yoursource of information about
women's hormone health and howto support your body.
Naturally, I'm your host,bridget Walton, and I'm a
certified functional hormonespecialist and menstrual cycle
coach.
I am on a mission to hold thesehormone conversations with as
(00:45):
many menstruators as possible,because you deserve easier
access to accurate informationabout what's up with your unruly
menstrual cycle and with yourfertility mysteries.
Don't you think it's time thatwe figure this out once and for
all?
Hello, hello and welcome tothis 96th episode of I'm
(01:07):
Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I just want to say a special
welcome to those of you who arelistening to I'm Hormonal for
the first time today.
I'm so glad that you found me.
I've loved hearing feedbackfrom those of you who, yeah, are
listening for the first time,have questions, have feedback.
I'm always interested andenthusiastic to hear what you've
(01:29):
got to say.
So you can connect with me onInstagram at Bridget Walton, if
you want to send me a DM thereand let me know what you think,
what questions you have oranything else.
If you've listened to thepodcast before, then welcome
back to you and thank you forcoming back.
I know you guys have so manyoptions, so it is certainly not
lost on me that you're spendingsome time with me in your
(01:51):
earbuds.
I started this podcast a whileago I guess a couple years ago
now because I think it's soimportant to share what I know
and what we all collectivelyknow about how our cycles work,
how our hormones work, how ourbodies work, because you really
deserve to understand what'shappening in your body and you
(02:14):
deserve to feel better.
You deserve to feel your best.
So that's what we are here todo.
Like I said in the intro, it'sgoing to be really tough to
understand what's going on withyour hormones if you don't have
a good baseline for how does mycycle work?
What hormones do I even need tobe thinking of, and just have a
(02:37):
place to start.
So that is what we're going tobe focusing on today as we dive
back into the basics together ofthe menstrual cycle, and
hopefully this will be a reallygood resource for you if you are
just at the beginning of yourjourney, trying to understand
what's going on with your periodand why.
This will help you to beoriented, have some more context
(03:01):
for what's going on and,hopefully, better allow you to
express what is happening inyour body and therefore note
what's happening, keep track ofit.
So, with all of that out of theway, let me just give you a
rundown of the five questionsthat I'm going to be walking
through throughout this episode,so you know where we are headed
(03:24):
together.
The first question that I'mgoing to be speaking to is this
question of what hormones shouldI be aware of?
I'll walk you through the fivemost common or the five most
relevant hormones as it relatesto cycles.
Next, we'll talk about how youcan keep track of your cycle and
, again, how you can talk aboutit.
Third, we'll talk about how youcan keep track of your cycle
(03:45):
and again, how you can talkabout it.
Third, we'll look at how yourcycle is broken up.
Right, we'll break it up intosome phases so you can make
sense of you know where does thefirst half start, and then the
second half, and why do you evencare about halves, right?
So we'll get into that.
We'll answer the question ofhow does your cycle change over
(04:07):
time as you get older.
What are those changes that youcan expect to see?
And then, fifth and final,we'll talk about what are some
of the red flags to look forwhen it comes to your cycle.
So you know a little bit morecontext, for, okay, this is
normal and this isn't normal.
This is something worthinvestigating.
(04:28):
Let's dive into this firstquestion of what hormones you
should be aware of.
There are five that we're goingto touch on.
These five will be estrogen,progesterone, testosterone,
luteinizing hormone and folliclestimulating hormone.
Now, now I'm gonna go out on alimb and guess that those first
(04:48):
three estrogen, progesterone andtestosterone are going to be
the most top of mind, right?
You remember that from eighthgrade biology or whatever class,
health class, maybe back inmiddle school and starting,
starting with estrogen first.
I mean, estrogen is one of themost important hormones.
(05:10):
Well, they're all important.
We need them all to be balanced.
But when we think of women'shormones or menstrual cycle
hormones, estrogen is what comesto mind.
Estrogen is the hormone that isgoing to help your body get to
the point of ovulation, ofreleasing that egg from your
ovary in order to potentiallyget pregnant.
(05:32):
Right, but whether or not yourintention is to get pregnant,
it's important that that cyclestill happens each month.
A lot of good health benefitsthere.
We can get into that later.
So I also want to mention, too,that while estrogen is really
important for the menstrualcycle, it's also beneficial for
(05:52):
skin health, heart health, bonehealth, brain health and more.
So it's not just something thatimpacts your cycle, but it can
also impact other parts of yourlife, other parts of your
experience, and I think that'sreally important to know.
Now progesterone, the secondhormone that I mentioned.
(06:13):
This is kind of the oppositelike estrogen, progesterone, yin
and yang a little bit.
I don't know, maybe somebodyelse would disagree with me on
that, but to me, right when wethink of are your hormones
balanced?
Or you know, if you're havingthat conversation with your
provider, with your friend, mostof the time, what you're
talking about is this balancebetween estrogen and
(06:36):
progesterone.
So, again, progesterone ispredominant in the second half
of the menstrual cycle, which isafter ovulation, and that's
because progesterone is producedfrom the spot for the
unofficial term but from thecorpus luteum, which is that
(06:58):
follicle from which you ovulatein the middle of your cycle.
So what does this actually mean?
Why do we care?
Why is Bridget saying thatprogesterone is produced from
this same spot that the egg isreleased from?
So that's just to tie thistogether in your mind that if
(07:18):
you are not ovulating, thenyou're not going to be producing
progesterone.
Or if you don't have a qualityovulation maybe it's like a
relatively weak corpus luteumthen that can negatively impact
your progesterone levels, lowerthan what you expect to see or
(07:42):
than what you want to see, sothat you can either carry a
healthy pregnancy or just sothat you can feel more relaxed.
Right, progesterone will have,for most menstruators, a good
impact, a positive impact thatwe like to see as it relates to
nervous system regulation andstress and sleep.
Okay, so super quick recapEstrogen predominant in the
(08:03):
first half of the cycle, thenprogesterone in the second half.
Where does testosterone fall inthis picture?
Well, testosterone isdefinitely an important hormone
for women, even though we thinkof it as being just a male
hormone.
Yes, certainly it's found ingreater quantities in men's
(08:25):
bodies, but it's reallyimportant because actually
estrogen is made fromtestosterone in our bodies.
So TLDR testosterone isimportant.
It is going to peak mid-cycle.
It's right around the time ofovulation, and so you know, if
you're somebody who maybe you'rewondering already if you have
(08:47):
PCOS, or you say, okay, mycycles are really unpredictable.
That's why I'm listening tothis episode in the first place,
while there certainly are otherthings to look at too.
When testosterone is high, whenit's a little bit out of whack,
then that can certainly connectto irregular cycles.
(09:08):
So something to think of there.
Now, the last two that I wantedto touch base on luteinizing
hormone and follicle stimulatinghormone.
We'll just call them LH and FSH.
These are important, especiallyif you are looking to conceive
right.
Lh is the hormone that willpeak just ahead of ovulation.
(09:30):
It's that like last signal toyour body, like go, go, go, it's
time, it's time to ovulate.
And follicle stimulatinghormone, as you may have guessed
, is the hormone that helps tostimulate follicle growth, which
is going to be then impactinghow much progesterone you're
producing.
(09:50):
So there are more hormones thanjust these five to be aware of,
but these are the five that Iwant you to be aware of for
where we're at now and to startoff with whatever
troubleshooting that you mightbe looking to do.
Now let's talk about how you cankeep track of your cycle and
how should we talk about it Now?
(10:12):
You may have already noticed orasked yourself a question on
this, because you're hearing mesay cycle, not really saying
period.
So let's differentiate betweena cycle and your period.
Now, your cycle is the entiremonth, right?
Or another way to say that,from the first day of your
period, like think of the firstday of your most recent period.
(10:34):
That was cycle day number one,and then that cycle went all the
way through until the last daybefore your next period started.
Or the cycle that you'recurrently in now will go until
the day before your next periodwill start.
Do you follow me?
(10:55):
Hopefully that makes sense.
But this is all to say yourcycle.
That does not denote the timewhen you are bleeding that would
be your period but it denotesthe time from day one to day one
, which is ideally from about 21to 35 days or a little bit
(11:16):
closer to that 28 day range.
That's really sort of classic.
That's what we know from thetextbooks as what to shoot for
when you are talking to yourlike, or rather when you're
logging in your app or justtalking to your friend about
something and you say, okay, myperiod lasts for seven days, but
(11:38):
my whole cycle lasts for 29days.
That is the difference betweenthose two things.
So hopefully I'm not totallybeating a dead horse here, but I
think there is some confusionsometimes when I'm working with
clients, or even I've had, youknow, when you go to the doctor
and they always ask you aboutthe first day of your last
(11:58):
period, and I had a nurse oncewho was so confused when I was
like oh well, I'm on cycle day14 now, so I guess my period
must have started.
You know, whatever the date was, she's like oh my gosh, are you
bleeding?
You've been bleeding for 14days.
I was like my girl no, no, Igot to send her this podcast
(12:18):
maybe so she can know that yourcycle is the whole month.
Okay, I think I've gone on toolong about this, so let's move
on to the next question of howis the cycle broken up Now?
You heard me before referencethe first half or second half of
(12:39):
your cycle, and I'll break itthat down a little bit more now.
Let's start by looking at cycleday one.
And so that, again, is thefirst day of your period and
this begins, you guessed it, thefirst half of your cycle.
Now this is going to go all theway up to the time in your
(13:00):
cycle when you ovulate.
You may not know when youovulate because for a lot of
gals there aren't any physicalsymptoms of when you ovulate.
But I'll get into that a littlebit more in just a second.
Just know that generally aroundthe middle of your cycle,
around 10 to 14 days before yournext period begins, that's when
(13:20):
you ovulate.
And so it's this time betweenthe first day of your period and
ovulation, which is the firsthalf of your period, and
ovulation, which is the firsthalf of your cycle.
Now throw back to the mostcommon hormones that we talked
about for your cycle.
The first half of your cycle iswhen estrogen is the
predominant hormone.
It's growing, growing, growinguntil you get to mid cycle.
(13:41):
Then, once you cross that line,cross this ovulation line and
are in the second half of yourcycle, which is the time between
ovulation and that last daybefore your next period begins.
That's again when progesteroneis predominant and that's when
you know if you have a hormoneimbalance.
(14:03):
It oftentimes would present ina way.
Let me actually back up onesecond to make this make more
sense For those of you whoexperience PMS right before your
period.
You are just not feeling likeyourself.
You have breast tenderness,maybe you have really heavy
bleeding once your period doesstart Just those kind of
(14:26):
unsavory symptoms that happentowards the end of your period.
That can be a signal thatprogesterone and estrogen are
off balance.
Now I'm mentioning that herebecause knowing which half of
your cyclin and which hormoneshould normally be predominant,
that can be a good clue towhat's going on.
(14:47):
Now.
It's also worth mentioning that.
Or I should say, sometimesyou'll hear people talking about
the four phases of themenstrual cycle.
Sometimes people is me right.
If you want to check outepisodes from, I think, july,
August, I'll I'll link it in theshow notes of 2024, I did a
(15:07):
whole series on cycle syncingand I really broke down the four
phases, what's happeninghormonally in each of those four
phases, and I will give you thelight version of that in just a
moment here.
But when it comes to the basicstwo halves let's not
overcomplicate it and understandwhich hormones are most
(15:28):
relevant in each half.
If you do want to get a littlebit more granular with it, then
let's identify the four phases,if you want to break it up that
way.
The first phase is themenstrual phase.
That's the time when you are onyour period, you're bleeding,
and it's followed by thefollicular phase, now follicular
(15:50):
follicle.
This is the time when thefollicle is preparing.
Essentially, this is whenestrogen levels are rising, and
so it's the time between thelast day of your period and that
time just before ovulation.
It would logically follow thenthat the next phase is the
(16:12):
ovulatory phase.
So stick with me here.
This is going to be the phasethat's about three or four days
long, just in the middle of yourcycle, kind of when estrogen
and testosterone are at theirhighest levels throughout the
cycle, and once those levelsstart to go down, you're going
(16:33):
to roll right into the lutealphase.
This is the normally 10 to 14days before your next period
begins, when yes, you guessed itprogesterone is the predominant
hormone.
I'm so sorry for saying this8,000 times, but I hope you'll
remember it.
And the luteal phase is alsothe phase when most people are
(16:56):
experiencing these unsavoryperiod symptoms, right,
oftentimes an indication thatprogesterone levels are
relatively low.
When estrogen is relativelyhigh, and you'll want to focus
on okay, well, why is estrogenhigh and what can we do about it
?
Now, the next question that Iwant to address is how does my
(17:18):
cycle change over time?
Right, you probably know thatyour cycle, from when you were
13 to you know, in your 30s,will be different, and it will
surely change into your 40s andbeyond.
So if you are a gal who you'rein your 30s, late 30s or maybe
(17:39):
in your 40s and you notice somechanges, that is to be expected,
because we all go through thissecond puberty, right, like
reverse puberty as we approachmenopause.
So this is going to be just asuper short section, but really,
what I want to do here isclarify for you that sometime in
(18:01):
your late 30s more likely 40syou'll notice that your cycles
start to lengthen out, right,instead of 28 day cycles, they
might get longer, into 30 somedays, and that is going to be a
signal that your progesteronelevels are decreasing.
And then later on, you're goingCycles will become more erratic
(18:25):
, right?
If you hear about hot flashes,that's often what happens when
estrogen levels are like goingup and down really rapidly and
then, finally, your cycle willcome to an end and that's when
you'll see that folliclestimulating hormone is at its
highest and that's kind of youknow, that's the way to confirm
(18:47):
where you're at as it relates tomenopause.
So all of those details aren'tsuper important for you to store
in your memory right now, ormaybe they're not, but I wanted
to cruise through them because Iwant you to understand how
estrogen, progesterone andfollicle stimulating hormone
will change throughout your lifeand how they can, when in
(19:09):
different amounts, impact yourcycle length, impact any
symptoms that you'reexperiencing and, overall,
indicate what is your fertilitylooking like.
Now, the last section that Iwant to run through with you,
this last question I should say,is as it relates to red flags.
(19:30):
And what do I mean by red flags?
I mean, what are the signs thatyou should look for to indicate
that something is a little bitoff balance with your hormones?
Now let's dive in.
The first red flag would be ifyou notice that your period is
less than two days or more thanseven days.
(19:51):
You probably don't need me totell you that if your cycle is
more than seven days, rather, ifyour period is more than seven
days, that that's A probablyannoying for you, but B can be
an indication that you're notovulating, because if you were,
then your cycle would be alittle bit shorter.
Now there's some nuance, butregardless, let me come back to
(20:13):
home base here.
Two to seven days is what youwant to see, and the red flag
would be if your period does notlast a full two days or last
more than seven days.
The next thing you want to lookfor for red flags would be a
cycle that is less than 21 daysor more than 35 days.
(20:33):
If your cycle is less than 21days long or more than 35 days
long, so from cycle day one tocycle day one, that's also going
to be an indication that you'renot ovulating and a signal that
you want to do some moreinvestigating.
The third red flag to look forwould be inconsistency in cycle
(20:56):
lengths.
What do I mean by that?
I mean if your last month'speriod well, see even me mixing
up cycle and period.
It's okay, but we'll work on it.
If last month's cycle was 28days, the cycle before that was
(21:17):
36 days, the cycle before thatwas 22 days.
See how those cycles are allmore than four days apart in
variation, as opposed to 28 daythan 27 day, 29 day, which are
within that four day range.
That's going to indicate to youthat something is a little bit
(21:38):
off.
There isn't this regularcadence, regular pattern, which
is a sign of balanced hormones.
Next red flag to look for wouldbe unruly PMS.
We as a society have normalizedPMS and we think that everybody
has it and that it's normal and, yes, a lot of people have it.
(22:00):
But if you have PMS, it's asign that there is some sort of
imbalance and I want to reallyencourage you to dig into that
more and identify what you cando to feel better, which you
know I'm preaching to the choir.
You guys are already listeningto the podcast Along the same
note.
The next red flag that I wantyou to keep in the back of your
(22:22):
mind is period pain.
It's again something that isreally common, but can be a sign
that there is something elsebigger going on and that's
definitely worth investigating.
If you have period pain that ispreventing you from going to
work, going to school, doingwhatever is your normal thing,
then that is outside of whatwe're going to consider to be
(22:45):
normal.
All right, team, I hope thatthis was a good recap for you or
a good intro.
If it's just been like 20 yearssince you have looked into this
stuff, let me know whatquestions you have by connecting
with me on Instagram at BridgetWalton.
But I hope this was helpful foryou in really starting to get
grounded in where you're at andunderstanding what's going on
(23:07):
with your cycle.
So thank you again forlistening and I will see you on
the next one.
If you loved today's episode andgot something good out of it,
make sure you subscribe so thatthese episodes show up
automatically in your feed, nowork needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
(23:29):
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
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