BODY IMAGE & THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE
Have you ever noticed that the way you feel in your skin can change week to week, or even day to day? One day your confidence, self-talk, and thoughts about your body are all thriving - only to take a massive dive a few days or weeks later, leaving you feeling uncomfortable in your skin and desperate to change your body. Even if you know that your body and routine haven’t changed much, your perception of your body can change drastically in a short period of time.
If this sounds like you - you are NOT alone. In my experience, clients often have a cyclical pattern of body image changes throughout the month. Seeing this pattern time and time again led me to ask the question - is something deeper going on here? And sure enough, there’s science behind the pattern.
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?
Research shows that one of the reasons for the changes in your body image could be a result of hormone fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle. Here’s what some of the research says:
Pre-menstrual (right before your period) and peri-menstrual (during your period) tend to be when naturally cycling women have the highest frequency of negative thoughts and anxiety over their appearances.
Women spent significantly more time gazing at “unattractive” body parts during a 3 minute mirror gaze test during the late luteal phase (right before the period) compared to during the late follicular phase (around ovulation).
Women were more likely to develop depressive episodes during their fertile years, when sex hormones have more prominent and cyclical fluctuations.
Lastly, and tragically - there seems to be a correlation between menstrual cycle phases and suicide attemps. A significantly higher number of suicide attempts tend to happen during menstruation when compared with the other cycle phases.
As we can see, hormone fluctuations can be extremely powerful psychologically. But before we get into the science, let’s go over some basics of the menstrual cycle (since 8th grade health class may have been more than a few years ago for some of us).
MENSTRUAL CYCLE 101
Although we think about the period or menstrual phase as the main event of the cycle (for obvious reasons - it’s by far the most noticeable!), ovulation is actually what the entire cycle exists for. All the bleeding and hormone fluctuations are there to make ovulation happen. And this is for a very important reason - ovulation is what allows the human body to reproduce! (if it was up to me, we’d call it the ovulation cycle!)
The cycle is divided into two primary phases, which are defined by ovulation and menstruation. A typical cycle lasts 26-32 days in naturally menstruating women (as opposed to those who use hormonal birth control).
The follicular phase comes first in the cycle. From the day you start your period up until ovulation (usually around day 14), you are in the follicular phase. We won’t go into too much detail about specific hormones, but know that this phase is dominated by estrogen. Estrogen is the hormone that can make us feel confident, bold, and like we have a little more pep in our step.
After ovulation, we enter into the luteal phase. The luteal phase lasts from after ovulation until we start our next period. This phase usually lasts 14-18 days and is characterized by increased progesterone, which is the hormone that supports a potential pregnancy and can make us feel calm, relaxed, and chill.
Right before menstruation hits, both estrogen and progesterone drop, which signals the body to end the current cycle and begin a new one, preparing for another potential pregnancy!
WHAT'S GOING ON UNDER THE SURFACE? WHY IS BODY IMAGE IMPACTED BY THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE?
The short answer - the changes in estrogen and progesterone that we just learned about impact the way the brain functions!
While we often think of estrogen and progesterone (E & P) as primarily impacting reproductive organs, the highest concentration of E & P receptors are actually located in the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and hypothalamus. In other words - E & P have a HUGE impact on the brain. And more specifically, they are highly involved in the structures of the brain that are related to emotion, fear, anger, and stress. We may even perceive facial expressions and social cues differently during different phases of the cycle!
Though this is a fairly new area of research, neuroimaging throughout the menstrual cycle has shown that the structure and volume of certain areas of the brain actually change as estrogen and progesterone fluctuate. In addition, E & P are also intimately connected with neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and GABA, which are mood influencing chemicals in the brain.
Lastly, physical changes that occur as a result of hormonal changes such as increased water retention, tender breasts, and bloating, have been shown to be associated with inaccuracies in body size perception.
So, during the late luteal phase and early follicular phases (right before and during a period), when estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest concentrations, women can experience changes in how we perceive stress, fear, and anger, AND physical changes cause women to inaccurately perceive their body size.
All of the changes in brain chemistry and functionality, mood balancing neurotransmitters, and misperception of body size can lead women to feeling more anxious, less confident, and more critical of their bodies during the pre and peri-menstrual phases.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL OF THIS?
If you’re reading this thinking, “well great, now I know why I don’t feel so hot right before and during my period, but that doesn’t change how I feel!” I totally get it! Here’s how I interpret these patterns with clients:
Being aware that these changes may happen can help you to anticipate them. Plan to wear comfy clothes that make you feel your best during these times.
Knowing that your hormones will change can help you to get through the difficult feelings in the moment. Remind yourself that the discomfort is temporary!
You can take advantage of the times you feel MOST confident - which is usually around ovulation! Schedule important meetings, dates, and interviews around mid cycle.
Know that your brain and your body image can be completely unrelated to your actual body - which means you don’t need to do anything drastic to change your body when you’re having a rough moment.
I hope this allows you to understand how your physiology and your psychology are intimately, inextricably linked. Your body and brain operate so closely, and knowing more about how they interact can help us to make better decisions for ourselves and our health.
UNTIL NEXT TIME - COACH SARAH