Hot Take: Why I Can’t Get Behind "Cycle Syncing"

For a long time, I felt pulled in two directions.

On one side was my life as an adventurer, expeditionary educator, and wilderness guide. I’m out backpacking, boating, or biking for long periods of time. In that world, I push my body hard and don’t have the flexibility to just "take a day off" or change my itinerary for my cycle.

On the other hand, I was driven to understand my hormone health and deeply wanted to support it. At the time, all I knew was the conventional advice to "cycle sync" my life—my workouts, food, and recovery. But that traditional approach didn't support me in a field where I was constantly pushing myself physically. It didn't feel feasible to both adventure and support my hormonal health. I felt frustrated.

It wasn't until I went through my formal hormonal training that I realized the problem wasn't my "conflicting" lifestyle. The problem was the general advice given about hormonal health. It often makes people feel like supporting their body isn't feasible for them, leading them to ignore the very clues their cycle is giving.

Why I can’t get behind "Cycle Syncing"

It ignores bio-uniqueness. The one-size-fits-all prescription of how to move, eat, and plan your life around your cycle can actually be contradictory. Some people need to consistently move or weight train throughout their cycle to support healthy hormone levels. Another person might be in a season of low energy availability and needs to scale back movement to regain health. Generic cycle syncing advice doesn't account for the fact that each menstruator interacts with our hormones differently. We each have our own genes, health history, and specific needs.

What I can get behind

There is one component of cycle syncing I can get behind: the idea that the body does not have the same physiology every day. This is true. Menstruators change on a cellular level every single day. Those hormonal shifts impact nutritional needs, energy, the brain, and how we perceive challenge and recovery.

It is important to change throughout the month to support the body, but the key is to change habits, not actions. It’s about supporting the body’s systems through nutrition, recovery, and the permission to listen to what’s happening. This individualized support allows the body to function optimally and sustain actions even if the body is not primed for it.

From Syncing to Literacy

I no longer choose between my hormonal health and my adventurous life. Instead, I incorporate menstrual literacy.

Menstrual literacy is the practice of learning how to read the menstrual cycle, symptoms, and basal body temperature to gain insight into what my body is asking for. Whether or not I acknowledge it, my hormonal health affects my life, my athletic pursuits, and my ability to make good decisions in the mountains.

Learning to read my cycle and integrating that support creates a reality where both my health and my outdoor pursuits can thrive. I am not having to choose between different parts of myself, but rather integrate them to create a reality where I acknowledge that my hormonal health governs my optimal overall health and safety in mountains, rivers, and desert.

Curious about learning more about Menstrual Literacy?

If you’re curious about what your own cycle is trying to tell you, I’d love to help you build the tools to to support your health and menstrual cycle.

Check Out

• Decoding the Menstrual Cycle: A live cohort course to dive into the interconnectedness of the menstrual cycle and how to support symptoms and overall health through what your cycle is telling you.

• 1:1 Coaching: One-on-one coaching to dive into our personal menstrual challenges to understand what your body is communicating and how to support it.