How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Your Body Image
One thing I believe every woman should learn growing up is the power of her menstrual cycle.
Women have been done an incredible (and deliberate) disservice over the years as we’ve been taught to fear and despise one of the most beautiful things about being a woman.
We’ve been taught that our cycles are something to be suppressed, controlled, or eliminated through artificial hormones and other methods.
We’ve been told they are biologically unnecessary for our health and wellbeing.
And we’ve been convinced that they are a nuisance rather than a gift.
The menstrual cycle is an incredibly powerful and important tool not only for our reproductive health, but for our general and mental wellbeing as well.
But most women don’t know this and most women don’t know that their cycle can have a significant impact on their body image.
So today, I want to share with you some of the basics around the menstrual cycle, how it affects your body image, and what you can do to start to work with it.
The Basics: Menstrual Cycle Phases
Unlike men, whose hormones cycle on a 24-hour basis, a woman’s hormones cycle on a roughly 28-day basis (this is part of our infradian rhythm).
Throughout this (roughly) 28-31 day period, there are 4 distinct phases that we go through.
When you start to understand and work with each phase of your cycle, you’ll start to work with your body instead of against it and this is where the magic really happens!
The 4 Phases
The Menstrual Phase
i.e. Your period or the actual bleeding time
Your Inner Winter
A time to rest, recover, and focus on self-care and nourishment
The Follicular Phase
i.e. The time right after your period
Follicle Stimulating Hormone is released and your body prepares to release an egg
Your Inner Spring
A time where your energy starts to pick back up (great for starting new projects and making new plans)
The Ovulatory Phase
i.e. When the egg is released from the ovary are your body is at its peak fertility
Your Internal Summer
A time when women normally feel their best (most energy, best mood, highest confidence, and best body image)
Biological imperative: Your body wants you to feel good so you’re more likely to get pregnant
The Luteal Phase
i.e. The week or two before your period aka the PMS phase
Your Internal Autumn
You might still feel okay at the beginning of this phase, but as it goes on you’re likely to feel increasingly tired, bloated, moody, etc.
**This is the time when women are most vulnerable to body image issues
How Your Cycle Affects Your Body Image
Let’s start with some data, shall we?
Studies by Jappe & Gardner (2009) and Teixeira et al. (2013) found that young women who did not have eating disorders had greater body dissatisfaction in the luteal and menstrual phases compared to the other phases of the cycle.
The study by Teixiera et al also found that women had the largest perceived body size during the menstrual phase.
Why is this important?
It’s important because if you’ve ever tracked your cycle (something I believe all women should do), you will very likely notice a pattern where right before and during your period your body image tends to worsen.
If you’re really struggling with your body image, it’s likely you’ll experience negative body image throughout the month, but if you were to pay close attention, there is a noticeable and important drop right about the time PMS hits and through the time when your bleeding starts.
This is critical information because if you know when your body image starts to worsen during your cycle, you can:
Prepare for it mentally ahead of time
Adjust your self-care to give yourself more emotional support when the time comes
When I work 1:1 with clients, this is a big piece of the work we do and it is life-changing for so many women because they can start to predict when their body image is going to worsen and they can do something about it sooner.
So why is it that the menstrual cycle affects body image? Or more specifically, how?
The menstrual cycle affects body image through a few different mechanisms and we’re going to talk about each of them:
Your emotions (i.e. mood)
Your physical state (i.e. physical symptoms)
Your energy levels
Let’s start with emotions…
Emotions/Mood & Body Image
If you’ve been around my work for a while, you know that I teach that the core of body image issues lies in your emotions, not your appearance.
Your emotions are the biggest culprit behind negative body image and if you learn how to work with your them, you will see your body image improve.
The hormonal fluctuations that happen throughout the menstrual cycle naturally affect our emotions and thus, body image.
For example:
During the Luteal and first few days of your Menstrual Phase, you’re likely to feel more irritable, sad, agitated, down, or anxious
During your Follicular phase, you’re likely to start to feeling more hopeful, eager, and motivated
And during your Ovulatory phase, you’re likely to feel more confident, energized, attractive, and capable
But when it comes to hormonal health, there’s a wide spectrum of how you might feel.
If you’re struggling with hormonal imbalances, an eating disorder, or other mental or physical health issues, you might experience greater emotional symptoms related to PMS and PMDD, which will all exacerbate negative body image.
The bottom line is that if you struggle to manage or regulate your emotions, especially around the time of your period, your body image will suffer too.
2. Physical Symptoms & Body Image
Another really significant part of body image is our relationship with our physical body, and this is strongly influenced by physical symptoms.
Bloating, cramps, or other physical pain that happen during your period are not going to leave you feeling great physically or emotionally.
These physical sensations, particularly bloating or any swelling, can wreak havoc on body image because women tend to think it’s weight gain when it’s really not.
Many women then have a tendency to make stories out of sensations they feel in their bodies (i.e. when they’re bloated they “feel fat”). Fat is not a feeling, but it does mean that you are experiencing a sensation plus a story.
Any physical symptoms or sensations that you’re experiencing can become a vulnerability factor either by leaving you in pain (which makes it harder to emotionally regulate) or by triggering stories about what you think the sensation means for your appearance.
Therefore if you don’t feel good physically in your body (like when you have PMS), this can lead to more body image distress.
3. Your Energy Levels
While the first two avenues we’ve talked about might seem obvious, this one typically isn’t.
Your energy levels have a lot to do with:
A) Your emotion regulation
B) Your ability to make good choices throughout your day and stick to healthy habits
Energy levels affect emotion regulation because when you’re tired, you are more likely to be anxious, cranky, or easily irritated or annoyed. All of these negative emotions exacerbate body image issues.
But when you are energized and well-rested, you are likely to feel a little more emotionally resilient or at least you can call on skills to help you manage any distress that comes up.
This doesn’t mean your body image is going to magically be better, but it does mean you’re going to be a little better prepared to handle it.
Your energy levels also affect the choices that you make throughout the day; Choices like what you eat, whether or not you exercise, or whether you make time for the things that are going to enhance your life (and therefore your body image).
And while I absolutely believe in eating everything in moderation, if you load up on sugar, coffee, and carbs because your energy is slacking, you’re only going to crash later, but physically and emotionally you’re not going to feel great either.
This is why being mindful of your energy throughout your cycle and doing things like maintaining good sleep hygiene, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, and eating balanced meals is important—because it indirectly affects your body image.
What to Do About It
So now that you know how your menstrual cycle affects your body image, what can you do about it?
Track Your Cycle: Tracking your menstrual cycle is a habit I believe every woman should do. Knowing when your body is in each phase and writing down trends and patterns is absolutely invaluable information for your physical and mental health. I recommend the Natural Cycles App and either a basal body thermometer or an Oura Ring.
Heal Your Hormones: If you notice severe PMS/PMDD symptoms, it is vital that you take a look at hormonal health. Some of my favorite resources on this topic include Natural Nurse Momma, Dr. Charlie Fagenholz, Nicole Jardim, Aimee Raupp, and Alissa Vitti.
Download my 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Body Image E-Guide so you can learn the 6 key pillars that underly positive body image and start to heal them from the inside out. This guide will break down what most therapists don’t know about body image (and therefore can’t teach you) and will help you get to the root cause instead of just giving you tips like “say affirmations” and “practice body neutrality.” I don’t just want you to be neutral about your body; I want you to learn to love it!
xx