Here at Yinova, many of our patients are feeling off-kilter right now and have flagged that their cyclical patterns (from menstruation to sleep; eating habits to adjusting to seasonal change, and more) are running amuck. Whenever our routines are disrupted, our cycles also tend to get disrupted; all of our cycles.
Establishing a routine
When I’m advising folks on regulating a cycle, I usually start with establishing (or re-establishing) a routine. The routines I like to focus on in particular are sleep, food, and exercise. I focus on these for two reasons: one, because your body likes predictability and two, these three things tend to inform the production of our reproductive hormones. Food provides the building blocks, and sleep combined with exercise provides the energy needed to assemble them.
A good place to start would be to:
- Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day
- Eat the same amount of food at about the same times every day. (You don’t need to eat the same food every day, though! My motto is to always eat a rainbow. However, meal size and eating time is a good thing to be consistent about if you are trying to regulate a cycle.)
- Get some exercise every day, even if it’s going for a walk.
Regulating your Menstrual Cycle
One of my favorite ways (second to acupuncture and Chinese herbs) to regulate menstrual cycles is seed cycling. The basic idea is to eat different kinds of seeds in the first and second half of your menstrual cycles to signal the necessary hormonal shifts. While seed cycling and establishing routines can be very helpful, nothing is better than a personalized plan complete with custom herb formulations and recommendations.
Regulating your Hormones
Our team at Yinova is able to provide you with personalized suggestions on how to take care of yourself and your family. Our practitioners work with you to find solutions for conditions ranging from anxiety & headaches to digestive & respiratory issues. They are also able to give you some advice on lifestyle adjustments that will help to regulate some of the cycles that may have been off for you. The best part is that we’re now able to see patients both in-clinic and through virtual consultations, so we can work with you however it feels best.
