Menstrual Cycle Health: The Fifth Vital Sign

The menstrual cycle is referred to as the fifth vital sign by Lily Nichols and Lisa Hendrickson-Jack, the authors of “Real Food for Fertility” (a book I highly recommend). They say that how your cycle is doing is an indicator of your overall health, just like your heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure are. A cycle length outside of the range of 24-35 days could be a sign of an underlying health problem.

Please note, while I am a certified health coach, I am by no means a doctor. I’m just sharing what worked personally for me in hopes that it will be helpful for you.

Ever since I was a teenager, my menstrual cycle has been inconsistent and often far too long. And from talking to friends, I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. Personally, I was quick to Google symptoms and come up with all kinds of scary diagnoses for myself. It turns out, all I needed was to make some simple healthy lifestyle choices. This might not work for everyone, but I highly recommend shooting for consistency with these five habits for up to a year and seeing what happens.

Menstrual Cycle Health: 5 Healthy Habits

These are the five habits I implemented the year my menstrual cycle finally became regular.

1. Exercising regularly.
   A few months before my cycle started consistently being in the normal range (24-35 days), I started exercising regularly. In the beginning, this looked like lifting heavy weights for an hour in the gym. Now this looks like twenty-minute workout videos done in my living room 3 times per week. Different budgets and schedules will allow different things. Just move your body somehow.
2. Taking Inositol every night.
   Inositol is a supplement that’s also called Vitamin B8. It’s mentioned in the Trim Healthy Wisdom book as a recommendation for women who have PCOS symptoms. Aside from improving menstrual cycle health, it also improves sleep quality. I’d probably taken this consistently for at least 5 months before I saw an obvious change.
3. Cutting out sugar and refined flours.
   Real Food for Fertility states that diets high in sugar are often associated with hormonal imbalances and other issues. About 10 months before my cycle changed for the better, I started cutting out sugar and refined flours. Maybe 4 months before the change, I started taking that more seriously. I still don’t stick to it perfectly, but now most sweets I eat are sweetened with natural sweeteners, and most baked goods I consume have been soured, soaked or sprouted. My reason behind these things was because they were kinder for my blood sugar levels and therefore helped me maintain a healthy weight. Turns out what’s kinder for my blood sugar is also kinder for my menstrual cycle health.
4. Focusing on protein.
   I always knew protein was important, but I didn’t understand just how important until recently. Trim Healthy Wisdom set a new standard for protein goals and I started taking that seriously. Again, when I started doing this it was so I could reach and maintain a healthy weight. But it turns out it also affects my menstrual health. See this recent post by Trim Healthy Mama to read some of the many benefits of protein.
5. Eating well-balanced meals.
   God created all the food groups, and it turns out to be healthy women we need all of them (crazy how it’s almost like he knew that, huh?). I don’t cut food groups out. I make sure that every day I get at least a little bit of both healthy carbs and healthy fats. I’ve grown to crave both. If it’s been too long since I’ve had a fat meal, I start to feel it and quickly make a peanut butter smoothie or something with lots of butter and cheese. The same goes for healthy carbs.

I’m not sure which one of these habits played the biggest role in making my menstrual cycle regular, but my guess is that they all played a part. Many of these habits I implemented simply because I chose to live the Trim Healthy lifestyle. At that point, I wasn’t specifically thinking about menstrual health. Implementing little healthy lifestyle changes goes a lot further than we realize.

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Make Some Healthy Changes

If you’re looking to make healthy lifestyle changes, but don’t know where to start, I’d love to help. Being a certified healthy lifestyle coach, my job is to teach and cheer ladies on in their health journeys. I’d love the opportunity to walk alongside you! If you want more details about the health coaching packages I offer visit my health coaching page. I also offer a free 15-minute phone consultation. I’d be honored to get to know you and where you’re at!