Cycle Syncing: How the Menstrual Cycle Became a Wellness Trend

 

Menstruation was long considered embarrassing, painful, and best kept invisible. Now, cycle syncing promises greater well-being. To some, that sounds like bodily literacy; to others, like yet another cleverly marketed optimization program. So it is high time to look behind the hormone curve and the wellness hype. But be warned: there will be blood.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears?

Winston Churchill may have endured quite a lot in his life, but a period was certainly not among those things. Still, it is hard to imagine a more fitting description of the menstrual phase. Detached from all political rhetoric and its original context, Winston’s words sound like a surprisingly accurate description of bodies that, statistically speaking, perform something from the age of twelve that society long kept silent about, dressed up in metaphor, or illustrated with blue liquid.

The fact that menstruation can now be openly addressed in this article is due, not least, to period activism, which uses medical education to fight against centuries of stigmatization. And the issue is no longer merely about reducing shame and promoting open communication. For some menstruating people, “riding the crimson wave” has even become a matter of empowerment and self-assured femininity. Part of this period positivity is now also the trend toward cycle syncing — that is, adapting one’s lifestyle in order to deal better with the symptoms of the body’s constant hormonal changes.

Psst, It’s a Secret

Hidden behind coded language, medical ignorance, and cultural stigmas that turn basic biology into a negative female particularity, menstruation has been covered by a veil of silence for centuries, even millennia. For men from Pythagoras to Paracelsus to Krafft-Ebing, who nevertheless philosophized loudly about it, menstrual blood became synonymous with illness, poison, mental and physical weakness, disappointed pregnancy, and periodic insanity.

In reality, menstruation is a perfectly ordinary process for bodies that do not conform to XY norms — and has been since the dawn of human history. Nobody would be here if “the traffic light” did not regularly turn red. Nevertheless, the “red wave,” which, according to the NGO Plan International, affects around 300 million people every day, continues to be misunderstood, trivialized, mocked, and treated as something that has to happen in secret.

This is especially true of marketers for period products, who speak less about bleeding than about “leak-guard and odour-lock technology” designed to prevent fluid from escaping and to neutralize smells. Their message? Your period is not a normal bodily event, but a dirty, smelly secret that requires its own high-tech security architecture. As though blood did not need to be absorbed, but repelled like a hostile attack. Given such glittering feats of communication, it is hardly surprising that it took until 2023 for period products to be tested with blood instead of water for the very first time — and only as part of a study.

A Time of Transformation

This status quo is no longer being accepted in digital online spaces and on social media. “On Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, or Pinterest, people publish and share fruit, rose petals, tablecloths, or mountain fissures that visually allude to the vulva, underwear smeared with menstrual blood, bathroom tiles, pubic hair shaped into hearts, diamonds, and much more,” write Annekathrin Kohout and Wolfgang Ulrich in Netzfeminismus.

As a result, “Bloody Mary” is being discussed more openly. Real conversations are emerging, with no interest in the narrow linguistic guardrails that seek to turn a biological process into “feminine hygiene.” These conversations are spreading ever wider. They address period poverty, sustainable menstrual products, menstrual leave, and the tampon tax. Shame-laden silence is giving way to period positivity.

This positivity has also found fertile ground in the wellness and femtech spheres. Instead of asking, “How do I hide the fact that Aunt Flo is visiting?” menstruating people are increasingly thinking about what their cycle reveals about their bodies.

A New Body Feeling Every Week?

Because of the recurring changes in the uterine lining and the maturation of an egg cell in the ovary, each new week can bring hormonal changes. During the follicular phase, for example, the influence of estrogen helps build up the upper layer of the uterine lining. At the same time, follicle-stimulating hormone, or FSH, from the pituitary gland causes up to 25 follicles to grow in the ovaries, even though only one fully matures.

From the middle of the cycle — roughly between the twelfth and fourteenth day — estrogen levels fall again, while the hormones FSH and LH from the pituitary gland increase. Ovulation occurs during the ovulatory phase. At this point, some women feel a dull, one-sided pain in the lower abdomen.

Between 12 and 24 hours later, the luteal phase begins, lasting around 14 days. As a result, the high energy often associated with the follicular and ovulatory phases gives way to a greater need for rest during the luteal and menstrual phases. The follicle that previously released the egg during ovulation is transformed into what is known as the corpus luteum. This produces the hormone progesterone, which in turn initiates the remodeling of the uterine lining — in case a fertilized egg needs to implant.

At this stage, an estimated 47.8 percent of women experience moderate to severe physical or emotional PMS symptoms. For around 71.3 percent, these symptoms transition almost seamlessly into period pain during the menstrual phase, when blood vessels in the uterine lining widen to expel it from the body through the cervical canal and vagina, together with around 50 to 150 milliliters of blood.

Glowing with the Flow

Cycle syncing attempts to take these fluctuations into account in everyday life so that women can find their personal “best form” depending on the phase they are in. The basic assumption behind it is this: menstruating people should plan differently from the male-coded 24-hour productivity body, whose hormonal functioning is imagined as more linear.

Since getting up in the morning, performing during the day, and regenerating in the evening on an endless loop only works to a limited extent when the body is leaking, aching, or emotionally disruptive, cycle syncing deliberately aligns training, nutrition, productivity, self-care, and sometimes even sexuality with the four phases of the cycle. To do this, tracking apps measure not only the individual cycle but also data on sleep, steps, calories, pulse, water intake, and mood.

When the body has its lowest hormone concentration during the menstrual phase, cycle-syncing professionals recommend rest, warmth, and gentler movement. When the cycle begins again with the follicular phase, women benefit from renewed drive. According to Alisa Vitti, hormone specialist and author, creativity now runs at full speed. Accordingly, she advises prioritizing tasks or projects that require inventiveness, creative power, and imagination during this phase.

Exercise, too, may now become more intense: women can really exert themselves with cardio training or HIIT workouts before the body gradually slows down again and PMS starts to make itself felt. To prevent this, professionals recommend paying particular attention to nutrition, especially sufficient calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins. These are said to have a positive influence on the production of happiness hormones. The same applies to movement. However, experts tend to recommend strength training, walks, and yoga or Pilates sessions during the luteal phase.

Cycle Syncing vs. Science

For anyone now enthusiastically beginning to collect data about their own body and aiming to reach peak form through lifestyle changes, a brief caveat: at present, there is a lack of scientifically robust evidence that a diet tailored to specific menstrual phases truly balances hormone levels. There are still no concrete research findings showing that, for example, increasing the intake of certain nutrients at particular times of the month offers additional benefits.

The same applies to athletic performance. Personal symptoms may also be more meaningful than any formal framework for the cycle. Period pain, heavy bleeding, poor sleep, migraine, PMS, exhaustion, or mood swings can significantly affect everyday life.

Accordingly, quite apart from TikTok and self-help manuals, it can make sense to track one’s own cycle individually and develop a better awareness of one’s body and its changes. After all, not everything has to be optimized — especially not the menstrual cycle.