menstrual cycle Archives - Big Kids' Table

Female Health

My sexual desire feels so hard to control, why did God make it work this way?

No matter what your journey has been up to this point, I want to bring us back to the truth that God is a graceful God whose love and mercy are never-ending. There are people whose experience around dating, physical boundaries, and sex is filled with broken-heartedness, pain, regret, and trauma and I acknowledge this may be a challenging space to sit in. Maintaining physical boundaries in dating is a challenging enough experience without even mentioning the difficulties surrounding a body full of sex hormones. Saying that we live in a hypersexualised world should not come as a surprise. The cultural messages we are exposed to suggest that sex is casual and not a big

Female Health

Why is my sexual desire so inconsistent? Are my hormones to blame?

Are you a woman who’s noticed that you become more sexually aroused during certain weeks of the month? Perhaps you struggle to understand why your libido feels so high despite being single or navigating boundaries in dating? Or perhaps you’re married and trying to figure out why some weeks all you can think about is sex, while during others being touched is the last thing you want? As women, while we are often quite familiar with our hormones in terms of our menstrual cycle, we can often shy away and blush at the thought of talking about hormones and sexual desire! However, this is a relevant and real part of the hormone cycle that few

Female Health

Tell me more, what I can do to support my mental health RIGHT NOW?

You now know that there might be a reason for those mood swings around your period, the tiredness, increased energy, changes in appetite and why you sometimes might not want anything to do with anybody. All that is well, but is there anything you can do about it while you wait for a doctor’s appointment? Yes, my friend! There is quite a lot you can do about it, actually! There are three main categories for this: Food As with the rest of our health, our mental health can benefit greatly from good nutrition. Eating a healthy diet and avoiding processed foods is helpful. Importantly, eating enough food is key, as too little food may result

Female Health

How do my hormones affect my mental health? It seems like a rollercoaster!

A quick Google of “why do I feel so angry/sad/emotional on my…” suggests that “on my period” or “before my period” are some of the most popular ways that question is entered into the search bar. I picture all the people who enter those questions in, perhaps as they are trying to understand why on earth they (or a loved one) feel as if their world is crumbling before or during menstruation. The simplest and most general explanation is that our hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, are the main culprits behind the emotional symptoms relating to menstruation. Our serotonin levels may also decrease and cause a dip in mood. Some emotional changes before or during our

Female Health

How do sex hormones affect my body?

Hair Have you heard that stress makes your hair fall out? That’s likely due to the rise in cortisol that can target and damage hair follicles, leading to hair loss. When it comes to reproductive health though, two significant events that can affect our health are pregnancy and menopause. The increase in oestrogen and progesterone during pregnancy leads to hair growth and strength, nurturing the hair and preventing hair loss. Once those hormone levels balance out post-pregnancy or decrease significantly in the case of menopause, it can lead to hair loss (Grymowicz et al., 2020). On the other side of the spectrum, we have hirsutism (excessive hair growth). This condition is often a symptom of

Female Health

Is my period normal?

Hi, my friend! If you are here it may be simply because you want to learn about the common hormonal disorders. It might also be because someone you care about experiences one of these conditions and you want to be more informed (how caring of you!). There is a chance that it may be you who is going through these symptoms (whether formally diagnosed or not). Before we go on to chat about this, I want to tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS. Whatever you are feeling is completely valid and there are other people walking alongside you on this journey. Sometimes, it can take up to seven years to diagnose conditions

Female Health

Forget about menstruation for a second, how do sex hormones impact other parts of my body?

If you’re over 15 years old, chances are that you’ve experienced the symptoms of puberty. You know what it feels like to have changes to your voice, hair, muscle growth, how you store fat and your skin (among many more). Most of us have been there and know what it’s like to experience all those changes and the awkwardness and even embarrassment that can come along with them. When we arrive at the other side of puberty, we tend to think we don’t need to worry about how our reproductive hormones affect our physical health until well…we want to have biological kids of our own, or if something goes wrong with our health. However, our

Female Health

Getting control of your menstrual cycle – one season at a time.

Breaking the fourth wall for a minute, as I’ve written about women’s menstrual cycle and how our hormones impact our wellbeing, I couldn’t help but share some of my journey navigating my own hormonal health and its various peaks and valleys. When I started to think about how to highlight the benefits of learning to understand your cycle, I thought it was a great opportunity to invite you to see some of the things that I pay attention to and how I’ve learned to shift gears to nurture my wellbeing and maximise some of the benefits that having a menstrual can bring. To track my menstrual cycle, I use the app called “Flo”. I generally

Female Health

What should I know about my hormones and menstrual cycle?

HORMONES & THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE – PART 1 Hi friend! If you are a biological woman, chances are that you bleed once a month-ish. While it can be annoying and sometimes ruin our plans, it can also be a relief, right? Have you ever wondered what actually happens inside our body to make it all happen? If you don’t have a period, I bet you know people that experience a menstrual cycle. This means that this is relevant to us all! You might have also thought about why we feel the way we do at different points in our cycles. One day you have the energy to conquer the world and a few days later

Female Health

What happens during my menstrual cycle?

There are four stages of the menstrual cycle, which begins with menstruation on Day 1. While many resources suggest that the average cycle is 28 days, a normal cycle can be anywhere from 21 to 45 days (particularly in the case of teenagers). A helpful analogy to understand menstruation and how you might feel in each stage is associating each stage with the seasons of the weather. We’ll break this down as we go through the stages. Winter: Menstruation Do you enjoy winter? The cosy blankets, warm cups of tea, layers of clothing. Personally, I am a summer gal but I won’t shame you for preferring the cooler weather. Typically, people tend to be lower

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