August 21, 2025 • 12 mins
👉 Ready to fix your hormones for good? Apply for 1:1 coaching at imhormonal.com/goals
I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.
If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.
On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.
This episode explores the connection between gut health and fertility, irregular cycles and conception, ovulation problems, reproductive health, and how to improve cycle regularity naturally. Learn why your menstrual cycle length predicts fertility issues before you start trying to conceive.
👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, there, you are listening to episode number 129
of I'm Hormonal and I'm yourhost, bridget Walton.
I'm so excited that you're herewith me today.
We're going to be talking moreabout cycle lengths and, like,
what does that even mean whenyour cycle is really long or
really short?
Or what if it's long one monthand then short the next month?
(00:21):
Like, why do we care about that?
This is definitely somethingyou should care about if you
would like to conceive, yes, butalso it's such a good way to
get a grip not get a grip, oh mygosh, but to like get a feel
for what is your body goingthrough?
How can you support your body?
So in this mini episode, I'mgoing to recap what are the kind
(00:45):
of red flags that I want you tokeep like in the back of your
mind if you ever need them ormaybe you're listening to this
episode because you have wonkypsycholinks.
Hopefully this will be a reallyhelpful guide for you to say
okay, here are a couple ofthings I can do or like.
All right, I really got tofigure this out, so let's jump
(01:05):
into those red flags or thesenumbers that I want you to
remember, because let's talkfirst about short cycles, then
we'll look at long cycles, thenwe'll look at irregular cycles,
so short cycles.
If your cycle and that's fromthe first day of one period to
the first day of your nextperiod, if your cycle and that's
(01:26):
from the first day of oneperiod to the first day of your
next period, if your cycle isless than 21 days, she is a
certified shorty.
I would say, though, if you aretrying to conceive, or if
that's what you're kind ofprepping your hormones for, then
you want to be more like in the25 day cycle range, at least,
when your cycles are shorterthan that, or just like
generally on the shorter side.
(01:46):
That's telling you one of acouple things Like could be that
ovulation is really quite weak.
Maybe you ovulated, but therewasn't that much progesterone
getting pumped out, and sothat's why your cycle, or rather
your next cycle, your period,might start a bit earlier.
Could also be that ovulationdidn't happen at all and you
(02:11):
just built up enough lining inyour endometrium that it was
like okay, time to time to shedthis out, time to move on to the
next.
So those are just a couple of acouple of things to look for
next.
So those are just a couple of acouple of things to look for,
and just well, the thing to lookfor being, if your cycle is
shorter than 21 days, um, let'sfigure out why.
(02:33):
And if it's shorter than 25days, like, how can we, how can
we juice that up a little bit?
How can we support a strongerovulation?
That's the task I've got foryou Now.
Next, looking at long cycles Ifyour cycle is longer than 35
(02:53):
days, that's definitely a longone.
I would say, though, to kind oflooking at what is the optimal
range.
If your cycle is regularly morethan about 31 days, you want to
say, okay, like what'shappening here, why is the cycle
so relatively long?
What can contribute to thiscould be also a lack of
(03:16):
ovulation.
Kind of confusing, uh, annoying, perhaps, that a lack of
ovulation could result in ashort cycle or a long cycle like
how do we know what's going on?
I'll comeulation could resultin a short cycle or a long cycle
, like how do we know what'sgoing on?
I'll come back to that in asecond here, but another thing
that can contribute to it couldbe a delayed ovulation.
So, if you have a lot of stress, if there's some inflammation,
(03:37):
if there's like well, I guessthose are the two main factors
really Stress, inflammation.
Inflammation causes stress.
You know that can certainlydelay ovulation or otherwise
send the signal to your bodythat like hey, dude, we don't
need to risk making anotherhuman right now, so we'll just
delay this whole operation.
(03:59):
Now, if you're somebody who has,like you're like well, my
cycles are short one month andthen long the next.
I don't know why there probablyis an inconsistent pattern of
ovulation, so kind of like a mixof the both.
Are you ovulating at all?
Like is there some stressthat's maybe delaying it?
(04:19):
How do we help supportovulation to make it more
consistent?
Maybe that's a matter of likefocusing on your nutrition and
saying, hey, here's some kind ofmissing components of your diet
that we want to fill in.
This is something I get reallyspecific with my one-on-one
clients with, and especiallybecause I mean a lot of folks
(04:41):
like we all think we're eatingpretty well, but we all have our
blind spots.
That's okay, and if you want toget your hormones back in shape
, you've got to really get thatdialed in.
So that's one big area that Iwork with clients on.
Now.
The other big area, too, islooking at stress because, again
, it's so like omnipresent.
(05:02):
Let me actually, because I feellike I really talk about stress
all the time.
I want to talk about stressspecifically as it relates to
gut health, because a lot of myclients are really shocked to
learn that their gut health doesimpact their fertility, right,
learned that their gut healthdoes impact their fertility,
(05:23):
right?
When we're thinking of guthealth, it's like, okay, well,
how well am I digesting my food?
But also, you know, do I havebloating?
What is that telling me?
Do I have a stomach ache?
What is that telling me?
Do I have heartburn?
What is that telling me?
Do I feel like super heavy?
Or do I have to, like, run tothe bathroom if I eat, you know,
certain type of food?
(05:43):
What is that telling me?
You see where I'm going withthis.
But this is all building up thepicture of how is your
digestion like operating as awhole, and is there any type of
imbalance?
Is there any type ofinflammation?
Because that's, you know, likenot uncommon, especially here,
where we all live in the US.
(06:05):
It's like I mean, I don't haveany actual stats on this, but
I'm just, you know, I'm like, dowe all, does anybody have good
gut health, like, without doinga gut health protocol first, man
, somebody send me a DM, if youwould, if you have any insights
into that, but I just anyway,okay, I'll get off this soapbox.
(06:26):
This is all to say, though,that if your gut health is
compromised, maybe you have anovergrowth of certain bacteria,
like there are certainopportunistic bacteria that will
kind of take over if given thechance that chance maybe being
stress or when you had to takethose antibiotics or something
else high sugar diet that canthen lead to a whole heap of
(06:52):
inflammation, which then drivesup cortisol and that disrupts
ovulation.
I have a client who we startedworking together.
Her cycles were quite longafter she got off of hormonal
birth control.
Her cycles were just like, Imean, up to even.
She had one anyway, like ahundred plus days.
Specific details aside, weimplemented a gut protocol for
(07:16):
her and brought her cycle backdown to.
She had one in like a 30something day range.
She had to take antibiotics forlike an unrelated kind of
infection, and then her gut gota little bit cray cray after
that.
Again, that is the technicalterm cray cray, right, when you
take antibiotics, it cancertainly kill off some bacteria
(07:39):
, even if they're good, and itcan inadvertently allow for
overgrowth of again thoseopportunistic or pathogenic
bacteria.
And so we had to start back over, kind of from square one, to
say, okay, let's get your guthealth back in good shape, how
do we nourish your digestivesystem?
(08:01):
And going through that processis what has made the most gains
for her.
That's where we've seen themost change as it relates to her
cycle length, bringing it backdown into a normal range.
So just one example, if that'snew for you, because again, a
lot of the gals I work withthey're like why are you asking
(08:21):
me about my poop?
Even Like, what does that haveto do with my period?
But I'll just mention this onelast time and I'll be done for
the day with this statement.
But your gut health willabsolutely impact your hormonal
health, for better or for worse.
So being aware of how your gutis faring like uh, would
(08:45):
recommend strong recommendation.
Um, if you are somebody who'splanning to conceive within the
next two years, probably a goodidea to start addressing any
cycle irregularities right now,any digestive irregularities
right now.
There can be a compound effectover time, surely right, like
(09:06):
most things in life yourhormonal issues or your cycle
issues they will rarely fixthemselves.
I don't mean to be the bearerof bad news, but they do
oftentimes get worse with stressand aging as you have more
responsibilities at work or youhave maybe a different type of
(09:28):
relationship than before.
That requires more time andenergy, or whatever the amazing
and strong and bold and bravethings that you gals are out
there doing.
That's just a site.
You have to prioritize yourhealth and your wellness because
it's so easy to let the otherthings really be front of mind.
(09:52):
So that's me.
I'm just cheering you on overhere.
I know that you are alreadydoing this.
You're listening to thispodcast because you want to
learn how to support yourhormones.
And so well, prioritizingyourself, setting good
boundaries, like asking yourselfwhat do you really need that's
(10:14):
a good way to start.
So I love that for you.
Let me know.
Let me know what your first.
You know steps are where youwant to start with that first.
You know steps are where youwant to start with that.
Okay, this is just a shortyepisode, so let me wrap up by
just recapping some of these redflags.
So, if your cycles are varyingby more than four days from
month to month, if you have acycle that's really like under
(10:37):
25 days and you want to conceive, or over like 31, 32 days and
you want to conceive, then thatwould be a good signal for you
that hey, it's time.
It's time to get things back ontrack.
It's time to do somethingdifferent than the way that
you've been doing things before.
If you want to see a change inyour health, in your hormones,
(11:00):
in your menstrual cycle, youcan't keep doing the same things
that you've been doing.
If that sounds like you at all,if you would love to have a
really clear set of guidanceabout what to eat not meal plans
, we're not getting that crazybut if you want to understand,
okay, where are the gaps in mynutrition?
(11:21):
Where's the gap with my sleep,with my stress?
What do I need to know when itcomes to blood sugar?
Go ahead and click the link inthe show notes to book a free
strategy.
Call with me.
We can talk about what yourgoals are.
What does a one-on-onepersonalized hormone coaching
package look like and how can wehelp you get to your goals
(11:41):
sooner?
Right, help me, help youcatalyze that transformation.
So that's it for me today.
Thank you again for listening.
Send me a DM on Instagram atI'm underscore hormonal If you
have any questions or thoughts,I would really love to hear from
you, and I'll see you on thenext one.
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
(12:05):
automatically in your feed.
No work needed on your side,let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
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
(12:27):
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.
Hey, there, you are listening to episode number 129
of I'm Hormonal and I'm yourhost, bridget Walton.
I'm so excited that you're herewith me today.
We're going to be talking moreabout cycle lengths and, like,
what does that even mean whenyour cycle is really long or
really short?
Or what if it's long one monthand then short the next month?
(00:21):
Like, why do we care about that?
This is definitely somethingyou should care about if you
would like to conceive, yes, butalso it's such a good way to
get a grip not get a grip, oh mygosh, but to like get a feel
for what is your body goingthrough?
How can you support your body?
So in this mini episode, I'mgoing to recap what are the kind
(00:45):
of red flags that I want you tokeep like in the back of your
mind if you ever need them ormaybe you're listening to this
episode because you have wonkypsycholinks.
Hopefully this will be a reallyhelpful guide for you to say
okay, here are a couple ofthings I can do or like.
All right, I really got tofigure this out, so let's jump
(01:05):
into those red flags or thesenumbers that I want you to
remember, because let's talkfirst about short cycles, then
we'll look at long cycles, thenwe'll look at irregular cycles,
so short cycles.
If your cycle and that's fromthe first day of one period to
the first day of your nextperiod, if your cycle and that's
(01:26):
from the first day of oneperiod to the first day of your
next period, if your cycle isless than 21 days, she is a
certified shorty.
I would say, though, if you aretrying to conceive, or if
that's what you're kind ofprepping your hormones for, then
you want to be more like in the25 day cycle range, at least,
when your cycles are shorterthan that, or just like
generally on the shorter side.
(01:46):
That's telling you one of acouple things Like could be that
ovulation is really quite weak.
Maybe you ovulated, but therewasn't that much progesterone
getting pumped out, and sothat's why your cycle, or rather
your next cycle, your period,might start a bit earlier.
Could also be that ovulationdidn't happen at all and you
(02:11):
just built up enough lining inyour endometrium that it was
like okay, time to time to shedthis out, time to move on to the
next.
So those are just a couple of acouple of things to look for
next.
So those are just a couple of acouple of things to look for,
and just well, the thing to lookfor being, if your cycle is
shorter than 21 days, um, let'sfigure out why.
(02:33):
And if it's shorter than 25days, like, how can we, how can
we juice that up a little bit?
How can we support a strongerovulation?
That's the task I've got foryou Now.
Next, looking at long cycles Ifyour cycle is longer than 35
(02:53):
days, that's definitely a longone.
I would say, though, to kind oflooking at what is the optimal
range.
If your cycle is regularly morethan about 31 days, you want to
say, okay, like what'shappening here, why is the cycle
so relatively long?
What can contribute to thiscould be also a lack of
(03:16):
ovulation.
Kind of confusing, uh, annoying, perhaps, that a lack of
ovulation could result in ashort cycle or a long cycle like
how do we know what's going on?
I'll comeulation could resultin a short cycle or a long cycle
, like how do we know what'sgoing on?
I'll come back to that in asecond here, but another thing
that can contribute to it couldbe a delayed ovulation.
So, if you have a lot of stress, if there's some inflammation,
(03:37):
if there's like well, I guessthose are the two main factors
really Stress, inflammation.
Inflammation causes stress.
You know that can certainlydelay ovulation or otherwise
send the signal to your bodythat like hey, dude, we don't
need to risk making anotherhuman right now, so we'll just
delay this whole operation.
(03:59):
Now, if you're somebody who has,like you're like well, my
cycles are short one month andthen long the next.
I don't know why there probablyis an inconsistent pattern of
ovulation, so kind of like a mixof the both.
Are you ovulating at all?
Like is there some stressthat's maybe delaying it?
(04:19):
How do we help supportovulation to make it more
consistent?
Maybe that's a matter of likefocusing on your nutrition and
saying, hey, here's some kind ofmissing components of your diet
that we want to fill in.
This is something I get reallyspecific with my one-on-one
clients with, and especiallybecause I mean a lot of folks
(04:41):
like we all think we're eatingpretty well, but we all have our
blind spots.
That's okay, and if you want toget your hormones back in shape
, you've got to really get thatdialed in.
So that's one big area that Iwork with clients on.
Now.
The other big area, too, islooking at stress because, again
, it's so like omnipresent.
(05:02):
Let me actually, because I feellike I really talk about stress
all the time.
I want to talk about stressspecifically as it relates to
gut health, because a lot of myclients are really shocked to
learn that their gut health doesimpact their fertility, right,
learned that their gut healthdoes impact their fertility,
(05:23):
right?
When we're thinking of guthealth, it's like, okay, well,
how well am I digesting my food?
But also, you know, do I havebloating?
What is that telling me?
Do I have a stomach ache?
What is that telling me?
Do I have heartburn?
What is that telling me?
Do I feel like super heavy?
Or do I have to, like, run tothe bathroom if I eat, you know,
certain type of food?
(05:43):
What is that telling me?
You see where I'm going withthis.
But this is all building up thepicture of how is your
digestion like operating as awhole, and is there any type of
imbalance?
Is there any type ofinflammation?
Because that's, you know, likenot uncommon, especially here,
where we all live in the US.
(06:05):
It's like I mean, I don't haveany actual stats on this, but
I'm just, you know, I'm like, dowe all, does anybody have good
gut health, like, without doinga gut health protocol first, man
, somebody send me a DM, if youwould, if you have any insights
into that, but I just anyway,okay, I'll get off this soapbox.
(06:26):
This is all to say, though,that if your gut health is
compromised, maybe you have anovergrowth of certain bacteria,
like there are certainopportunistic bacteria that will
kind of take over if given thechance that chance maybe being
stress or when you had to takethose antibiotics or something
else high sugar diet that canthen lead to a whole heap of
(06:52):
inflammation, which then drivesup cortisol and that disrupts
ovulation.
I have a client who we startedworking together.
Her cycles were quite longafter she got off of hormonal
birth control.
Her cycles were just like, Imean, up to even.
She had one anyway, like ahundred plus days.
Specific details aside, weimplemented a gut protocol for
(07:16):
her and brought her cycle backdown to.
She had one in like a 30something day range.
She had to take antibiotics forlike an unrelated kind of
infection, and then her gut gota little bit cray cray after
that.
Again, that is the technicalterm cray cray, right, when you
take antibiotics, it cancertainly kill off some bacteria
(07:39):
, even if they're good, and itcan inadvertently allow for
overgrowth of again thoseopportunistic or pathogenic
bacteria.
And so we had to start back over, kind of from square one, to
say, okay, let's get your guthealth back in good shape, how
do we nourish your digestivesystem?
(08:01):
And going through that processis what has made the most gains
for her.
That's where we've seen themost change as it relates to her
cycle length, bringing it backdown into a normal range.
So just one example, if that'snew for you, because again, a
lot of the gals I work withthey're like why are you asking
(08:21):
me about my poop?
Even Like, what does that haveto do with my period?
But I'll just mention this onelast time and I'll be done for
the day with this statement.
But your gut health willabsolutely impact your hormonal
health, for better or for worse.
So being aware of how your gutis faring like uh, would
(08:45):
recommend strong recommendation.
Um, if you are somebody who'splanning to conceive within the
next two years, probably a goodidea to start addressing any
cycle irregularities right now,any digestive irregularities
right now.
There can be a compound effectover time, surely right, like
(09:06):
most things in life yourhormonal issues or your cycle
issues they will rarely fixthemselves.
I don't mean to be the bearerof bad news, but they do
oftentimes get worse with stressand aging as you have more
responsibilities at work or youhave maybe a different type of
(09:28):
relationship than before.
That requires more time andenergy, or whatever the amazing
and strong and bold and bravethings that you gals are out
there doing.
That's just a site.
You have to prioritize yourhealth and your wellness because
it's so easy to let the otherthings really be front of mind.
(09:52):
So that's me.
I'm just cheering you on overhere.
I know that you are alreadydoing this.
You're listening to thispodcast because you want to
learn how to support yourhormones.
And so well, prioritizingyourself, setting good
boundaries, like asking yourselfwhat do you really need that's
(10:14):
a good way to start.
So I love that for you.
Let me know.
Let me know what your first.
You know steps are where youwant to start with that first.
You know steps are where youwant to start with that.
Okay, this is just a shortyepisode, so let me wrap up by
just recapping some of these redflags.
So, if your cycles are varyingby more than four days from
month to month, if you have acycle that's really like under
(10:37):
25 days and you want to conceive, or over like 31, 32 days and
you want to conceive, then thatwould be a good signal for you
that hey, it's time.
It's time to get things back ontrack.
It's time to do somethingdifferent than the way that
you've been doing things before.
If you want to see a change inyour health, in your hormones,
(11:00):
in your menstrual cycle, youcan't keep doing the same things
that you've been doing.
If that sounds like you at all,if you would love to have a
really clear set of guidanceabout what to eat not meal plans
, we're not getting that crazybut if you want to understand,
okay, where are the gaps in mynutrition?
(11:21):
Where's the gap with my sleep,with my stress?
What do I need to know when itcomes to blood sugar?
Go ahead and click the link inthe show notes to book a free
strategy.
Call with me.
We can talk about what yourgoals are.
What does a one-on-onepersonalized hormone coaching
package look like and how can wehelp you get to your goals
(11:41):
sooner?
Right, help me, help youcatalyze that transformation.
So that's it for me today.
Thank you again for listening.
Send me a DM on Instagram atI'm underscore hormonal If you
have any questions or thoughts,I would really love to hear from
you, and I'll see you on thenext one.
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
(12:05):
automatically in your feed.
No work needed on your side,let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
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
(12:27):
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.
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