- Hey everybody.
Today we're gonna talk
about some exciting things such as
your period, hormones and your mental health.
So like I said today we're gonna talk
about hormones and periods and your mental health
and before I even get into the hormone talk,
I want to explain and define
what menstrual cycle is.
When I say menstrual cycle
and I'm reading my notes,
it is the process of ovulation and menstruation.
The monthly cycle of hormones and shedding
of the uterine lining.
It is essentially when we have
to wear pads and tampons because we're bleeding.
So lets get into those five important hormones
that are involved in our whole menstrual cycle.
And I wanted to start off
by talking about estrogen.
And mainly because we hear about that the most.
And estrogen is otherwise known
as the growing hormone.
And I'm gonna read a little from my notes
to make sure I don't forget anything.
But it's a female sex hormone,
as I'm sure you've heard that helps grow
and mature our uterine lining.
Which is the essentially where if we decide
to have a baby where the egg lodges
and has enough lining to keep it safe
while it grows and turns into another human.
And I found this is really interesting.
Estrogen is produced not only in the ovaries
which I'd already known but also
in the adrenal glands and fat tissue.
Just to give you an idea of what parts
of your body are producing estrogen.
The second most important hormone that is
involved in our menstrual cycle is progesterone.
Now progesterone just like estrogen is
another female sex hormone.
And it kind of helps balance out estrogen
So estrogen comes into play at the beginning,
like the first half of our cycle
and it helps build up our uterine lining.
Progesterone's role is to kind
of balance off the effects of estrogen.
And I wanna read this because I want
to make sure that it makes sense to you.
The role of progesterone is
to control the build up of the uterine lining.
But if we aren't pregnant right,
so it's in there and it will keep
the build up goin strong if we're pregnant
but if we're not progesterone levels will
increase and go up and up and up
and our lining will shed.
The third important hormone involved
in our menstrual cycle is
the follicle stimulating hormone or F-S-H.
And I didn't know anything about this,
so this was news to me.
But it's released from our pituitary glad
and it stimulates the ovarian follicles so that
the egg matures and can be ready to be released.
So this has to happen like way back.
This is happening
at the beginning of our cycle right.
So we have these they're stimulating our ovaries.
And like hey you should probably get ready,
make sure that egg's mature enough to go
down your fallopian tubes.
And then once it is they send it out.
And that leads me
into our fourth important hormone
and that is called the luteinizing hormone or L-H.
And this is the hormone that
once that egg's matured it's like
we're ready to go and it sends
it down the fallopian tube.
It's actually the hormone that causes
the release of the egg.
And the fifth and final
important hormone involved
in our menstrual cycle is testosterone.
I didn't actually know it played a role
in our menstrual cycle but hear me out,
it's actually important because it happens
right before our period and during ovulation.
And what it does is it increases our energy
and our sex drive.
And you can think about it,
ovulation oh I'm fertile.
It's the time I can get pregnant.
So if you're out there and you're trying
to get pregnant know that your testosterone's
what makes you think
like ooh maybe I can have sex
because really what your body's saying
hey we can have a baby now maybe you should try
to create a baby because that's
the role of our body.
And testosterone also helps keep
our bone density up and our muscle mass.
So that if we do get pregnant our bodies can
hold the baby, keep the baby safe
and go through all the things that pregnancy
and birth makes us go through.
There are so many hormones involved
in just our menstrual cycle,
so you can imagine how much that can affect
our mood and how we feel.
We know if we have really low progesterone levels
that can cause symptoms of P-M-S and P-M-D-D
or if we have any intense fluctuation
of the other four hormones it can create
those symptoms in us.
And we already know that menopause is caused
by low levels of estrogen.
So with all these things swirling around
and changing week to week it can really make
us sometimes feel crazy.
And something that I have my clients do
that I think is really important is
tracking your mood.
And that is why I've decided
to partner with Clue.
Now Clue is a period tracking app that
you can find and download in your app store.
It is available in iOS and Android phones.
And what I love most about Clue is
not only that you can track.
So here's my app.
And I can enter today's data.
Now obviously I can say if I'm on my period,
I can say whether my flow is light medium heavy
then I can talk about if I'm having cramps
or if I'm having a lot of pain.
But the coolest thing is mood tracking.
And it tells me whether I'm--
I can tell the app
whether I'm happy sensitive sad
or if I'm having extreme P-M-S symptoms.
And the more information that
you give the Clue app,
the better it gets at predicting.
And this is what is really helpful
because then you can tell people in your life
or you can reschedule things if you know
that this time last month,
you really had a hard time for two or three days,
you felt really depressed
or you felt really agitated and moody.
It may not be the best time
to have a big social get together.
You may want to put that off for a couple days
until you feel a little bit better.
And Clue is the number one rated app
by top doctors and researchers
so you know it's gotta be good.
And my favorite part of it
other than the mood component is
the reminders to take my birth control
because every time I go to my OB
she says how important it is that I take it
at the exact same time every day.
And the app will remind you.
And it can even give you reminders
of when your P-M-S symptoms may come
or when you're at your most fertile.
If you're trying to get pregnant that can
be extremely helpful.
And the cool part also is that you can share it
with someone else.
I know that I often have my client's share
their mood trackers with their spouse
or their best friend or their roommate
because then we don't always have to say to them
hey today's I'm feeling really shitty
or I'm feeling really depressed
they can check the app and be like oh that's why
they're a little distant today.
And know that it's not about them
or the relationship that you have with them.
It's more about the fact that your body
and your hormones are shifting
and you're just feeling really crappy today.
So give it a try.
Click the link in the description
and check out the Clue app.
I think it's so helpful to track our moods.
Its been really helpful to me not only
to remember to take my birth control
at the right time but also to notice
when I may be feeling bad
and why that's happening
and kind of see my cycle.
Cause like I said there are over five
important hormones involved
in just our menstrual cycle.
And that's not even talking
about our neurotransmitters,
our dopamine, norepinephrine,
and all the things that make feel what we feel
each and every day.
So click the link.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
And don't forget to give this video a like
and if you're new to my channel,
click here to subscribe
and I will see you next time.
Bye.