Hormonal Health is NOT just for people who sleep in plush beds.

Hormonal health is usually depicted with steaming teas, restful mornings, midday naps, and sunbathing next to a creek. While I love all those things, my days rarely look like that.

You are more likely to find me in the mountains or on a river, exhausted from boating, backpacking, or biking with a ration of food. Or, busily working, moving my body, and doing dishes just to be in bed by 10 PM. If hormonal health depended on that "slow living" aesthetic, I would be screwed.

I Didn't Feel Like I Could Have Both

For so long, I didn't believe I could have hormonal health with the lifestyle I lived. I didn't know I could be spared painful cramps while on a month-long backpacking trip. I didn't understand I could have exhaustion-free periods while meeting my next deadline on the computer.

My lifestyle contradicted what I thought I knew about health. I didn't want to give up my adventures for my period, so I just pushed through.

The Portable Toolbox

But hormonal health is not just for people who sleep in plush beds. It is not a "perk" for people with quiet schedules; it is foundational knowledge for all people with all lifestyles.

Whether I am sleeping in a tent, on a river, or in my somewhat plushy bed at home, I’ve learned to read my cycle. These pieces of me, the adventurer, working lady and the menstruator, used to feel at odds. But once I realized that hormonal health wasn’t an aesthetic but a box of tools, both areas of my life got better. My gut and my anxiety benefited from my hormones being happy, and my adventures benefited from less painful, exhausting periods.

Let’s be realistic

Sometimes my lifestyle does contradict my biology. There are adventures where my hormones and health pay the price. I’m not (yet 😉) a hormonal superhuman that has it all figured out; I still have trips where I push too hard, and my body lets me know.

The difference now is that I know how to identify when my hormonal health is waning. I finally understand the language my symptoms are speaking, and I know what to do with lifestyle, nutrition, and other tools to get my hormones back to optimal health.

Whether I am sleeping in a tent or moving through a hectic work schedule, I make sure to support myself in these ways:

• Healthy Fats (The Building Blocks): When I go on adventures I bring butter, olive oil, and sunflower butter and consume them generously. Without fat in the diet, the body has a hard time making hormones. Fat also helps stabilize my blood sugar and energy during strenuous exercise and meets my caloric needs, which all directly affect hormone production.

• Supporting the "Energy Budget": During the luteal phase, a menstruator's caloric needs can require an extra 90–500 calories a day, depending on the body and activity level. The body is careful with its energy; it serves the life-essential systems like the heart and lungs first. If there isn’t enough energy at the end of the day, the reproductive system gets the "budget cut." Hello, early, late period, or absent, when on a backpacking trip.

• Tracking Ovulation (The Truthteller): I track my ovulation whether I am sleeping in a tent, on a beach, or in a semi-plush bed. Basal body temperature and cervical fluid provide such valuable information about my body; they tell me if I am fueling enough, if my nervous system needs regulating or if I need to find more moments of ease. I use a Tempdrop—a wearable armband that stores about 6 nights of data. It’s perfect for when I’m out of service for a week; I just upload my temps when I’m back in service.

The Key is Menstrual Literacy

Hormonal health is for all types of life. It’s for the adventurers, entrepreneurs, movers, and shakers with a busy schedule. It is not a benefit to life, but a vital sign that influences your experience in life and deserves your attention. The key is learning to read your menstrual cycle and utilizing the clues it is giving you. When you understand your hormones, you aren't just "fixing a period" but also get the foundation to support your health and lifestyle that complement each other.

If you want to learn more about menstrual literacy, check out my post

Hot Take: Why I Cant Get Behind Cycle Syncing