Ida Tin’s “Dear Men” Series: Part 8 of 29 – Living Cyclically

Dear Men, this is post is for you: 8/29 Living Cyclically (Mood, Sexual Desire, Energy Waves and More)

Here comes a motorcycle metaphor: If men do road racing (curves and no hills), women do off-road riding (all the curves plus lots of ups and downs too). Estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and other hormones fluctuate as they control women’s intricate bodies: involving our ovaries, pituitary glands, brain, and many other parts.

These substances all make bleeding, building babies, ovulating, and many other things happen. In fact, we know that our vision, voice, mating choices, sex drive, how we build muscle tissue, and a bunch of other things change over the course of our menstrual cycle.

But wait, there’s more: These hormonal curves also give us unique abilities and preferences at different times of the menstrual cycle! We have changing superpowers, and to be fair, also changing super needs.

For instance, many find themselves more outgoing, confident, and well-articulated around ovulation. Before the period some serious critical thinking may kick in—maybe the superpower that most men notice the most. Women seem irritable, less patient than usual, maybe even a bit aggressive. Some say that women’s communication and emotional patterns are most like men’s in this part of the cycle.

Now, to make things further complicated, every single woman will experience different things, but still distinctly related to her cycle. And within her unique pattern, there will be variation too. Ok, so total chaos? No.

To give you a sense, I built my own mood scale. It’s in the comments. It’s not scientific by any measure, and I can’t even say it’s accurate—but it’s also not insignificant. Think of it this way: It’s a very bad and only halfway useful map, but it’s the best I have. I built this map for myself after many cycles had passed. The world is starting to realize that it’s good for both men and women to know that these maps can be built. I see startups creating Google Calendar integrations to help people and organizations navigate the menstrual phases or even leverage them (in a good way)!

In fact, wise women from the more alternative communities and scientists are converging, both having studied these patterns and have applied some categorization for us. Here is a simplified summary from the first group.

Menstruation (winter): This phase represents renewal and new beginnings. It is a time for relaxation, introspection and self-care.

Follicular phase (spring): In this phase, you feel your energy and creativity rising again. The follicular phase is a time of growth and new ideas.

Ovulation phase (summer): In this phase, your energy reaches its peak. You feel alive and radiant most of the time.

Luteal phase (autumn): In this phase, you turn your gaze inward and should take time to reflect.

-This post by Ida Tin is shared on LinkedIn and is republished here with her permission. The SheSight Team has not made any changes to the content.