There is a conversation we need to have about your period.
Not the one about cramps, or the right tampon, or how to hide that you have one in a meeting. The real conversation. The one about what is actually happening in your body during these days and why the way most of us have been conditioned to push through it is working directly against us.
Because here is what nobody framed for us growing up: your period is not a malfunction. It is not an inconvenience your body insists on creating. It is a phase. A biological season. And like every season, it has a purpose and a very specific set of things it is asking of you.
What is actually happening in your body
The menstrual phase is day one of your cycle through to roughly day five, though this varies for every woman. It is the phase where both estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest point of the entire month.
A drop in progesterone and estrogen levels is what signals your uterus to shed its lining, triggering menstruation and beginning a new cycle. Your body is not breaking down. It is resetting. Deliberately. Completely. Every single month.
And while that reset is happening physically, something equally significant is happening in your brain.
Neuroscientists at the University of California Santa Barbara tracked women across their menstrual cycles, documenting structural changes in their brains as hormonal profiles shifted. Their findings suggest that structural brain changes during menstruation may not be limited to the regions directly associated with the cycle – the whole brain is involved.
Your whole brain. Changing. During your period.
Girl, this is not a weakness. It is a biological event of extraordinary complexity that we have been taught to mask with painkillers and productivity.
Why you feel the way you feel and why it makes sense
Low estrogen means lower serotonin. Not a mood disorder – Chemistry!
Decreased estrogen and progesterone levels can lead to feelings of fatigue and increased need for rest. This period can also be a time of reflection, where many women feel more introspective and contemplative.
Read that again. Introspective. Contemplative. Your body is not making you weak during your period. It is pulling you inward. On purpose. Because inward is exactly where you need to go right now.
The problem is not that you feel quieter, slower, more sensitive during these days. The issue is that we live in a world that has never made space for that and so we learned to fight it, suppress it, apologize for it.
But what if the slowness was the point?
The part that research is only beginning to catch up to
A 2025 study testing cognitive performance across cycle phases found that differences in processing speed between men and women were observed only during the menstrual phase and those differences disappeared entirely when estrogen levels rose before ovulation.
This is significant for two reasons.
One: it explains why you might feel cognitively different during your period. You are not imagining it. Your brain is running on a different operating system this week.
Two: and this is the part we want you to sit with: those differences are temporary. They are phase-specific. They are not who you are, they are where you are in your cycle.
That means that you are not less capable, you are in a different mode.
What your body is actually asking for
This is the phase where the answer is almost always the same: less.
Less output. Less performing. Less pretending you feel fine when you do not. Energy levels are at their lowest during the menstrual phase. The focus here is on rest and restorative movement: think yoga and light walking. Nutrition-wise, boosting protein and complex carbohydrates helps stabilize blood sugar and serotonin, alongside nutrient-dense foods, healthy fats and iron-rich choices to replenish what the body is losing.
But beyond the practical, there is something else your period is asking of you that no wellness guide really talks about. It is asking you to check in.
This is the phase where your intuition is loudest. Where things that have been quietly bothering you start to surface. Where clarity about what is not working arrives, not because something is wrong with you emotionally, but because your nervous system is turned down low enough to actually hear yourself.
Women who learn to work with this – who use these days for reflection, journaling, honest self-assessment – often report making their clearest decisions during or just after their period.
What this looks like when you stop fighting it
Instead of scheduling your biggest pitch, your most demanding client calls, your most visible moments during your period: Protect these days. Plan lighter. Say no to the things that drain you and yes to the things that restore you.
You treat your period like a monthly board meeting with yourself: What worked this cycle? What did not? What do you actually want? What needs to change?
This is not ‘being soft’. This is legit our strategy at Leading Her Way.
And the women who understand their cycle are not just more in tune with their bodies. These women are more deliberate about their time, their energy, their decisions. They stop spending their lowest energy days trying to perform at their highest level and everything around them starts to shift because of it.
One more thing
If your period is genuinely debilitating, we are talking pain that stops you functioning, flow that feels unmanageable, symptoms that go far beyond fatigue – please talk to a doctor. Conditions like endometriosis, fibroids and PCOS are real, they are common, and they are often under-diagnosed. Painful periods are not something you just have to endure.
But for the many women whose periods are simply uncomfortable and inconvenient in a world that refuses to accommodate them, THIS is for you.
You are not falling behind during your period. Quite the opposite. You are being given a chance to reset, reflect and come back to yourself. Every single month, your body may create this space for you. The question is whether you are finally ready to use it.
Love,
LHW x
The content shared in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional advice, including medical, psychological, or health-related consultation.
Leading Her Way LLC (“LHW”) does not provide medical or professional services and does not endorse or recommend any opinions, treatments, products, or practices mentioned. All views expressed are those of the writer or interviewee.
By engaging with this content, you acknowledge that LHW shall not be held responsible for any loss, claim, or consequence arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided.
