In our quiz 'Is Seed Cycle Blend Right for You?', 69% of participants indicated that they experience fatigue as a symptom of their cycle. That’s far too many, here's why I think this is happening.
I see so many women stretched between being the modern worker and the full-time caregiver (even if you don’t have any kids). You still bear the mental load of the household as well as your workload. On top of that, we are glued to the internet. Of course, we’re fatigued! But this isn’t something we should start to normalise and settle for just because we want it all.
I’ve had moments in my life where I was so fatigued at an event, social occasion, or even on holiday that it felt like I wasn’t really there.
And that feels like such a waste to me. Why are we trying to do it all when 'all' doesn’t even feel good? Is it FOMO? Is it status? Is it obligations?
I could harp on about how hormones play a role in how fatigued we are. And it’s true — when our hormones dip around the late luteal phase and menstruation, our energy is getting used for other important things like shedding the uterine lining. This is where seed cycling is actually a godsend.
BUT let’s not glaze over the fact that we are addicted to doing stuff. Even when we are a shell of a human, we can be on our side, in bed, one eye open, scrolling the last shred of energy out of our system. And for what? A video about someone making shoes out of bananas? (Why do I immediately want to see this video? 😭) All our body wanted was to watch the back of our eyelids in a deep slumber.
So, Rochelle, we know this — we’re addicted to dopamine and doing stuff. So what?
True. Who really cares if we’re addicted to dopamine and constantly feel the need to do stuff? The sad thing is — no one actually cares. Because the things that steal our energy make heaps of money off us being addicted to them. But the price we pay comes in the form of fatigue, depression, and anxiety. Not the best trade, I’d say.
Women are already more susceptible to these mental states due to how our brain is wired. Because we’re very clever and think a lot — this means we can think a lot about very inflammatory things too.
Just 1 hour ago, before writing this, I had a thought of being chopped up and put in a suitcase. I was able to swiftly talk myself out of this thought — but it still happened, you know?
The thing is, we deserve better than half-baked memories or blurry weekdays because we were exhausted and anxious. Being a new mum is a different story and a major exception. But in general, it’s not cool. I know as a business owner I have some late nights pushing work out — but I feel better when I’ve nailed something without ending up as a human husk. And it can be done.
We just need to decide wholeheartedly that we’ve had a guts full of being fatigued. And then do something about it.
We can debate all the reasons why fatigue occurs, and I could tell you that seed cycling can help combat the side of fatigue that’s affected by hormonal imbalances — 60% of women in fact. But let’s face it — as long as we feel the constant need to be doing stuff, fatigue isn’t going anywhere.
Something hopeful to end this rather cynical post is that you can do something small tonight that can transform everything. You’ve just got to have the courage to try it — just for one night. Get a cheap alarm clock (or an expensive one from Mudita — my absolute fave) and leave your phone out of your room. A bonus move is to go to bed earlier than usual and do a small wind-down task to transition you into your parasympathetic. I like to Gua Sha at night — so you still feel like you’re doing something — but it’s slow, relaxing, and without distractions.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this post. How do we combat the real root causes of fatigue?
