It was quite a moving experience for me to talk to a group of teen girls about the menstrual cycle. As a teen, I remember being clueless and slightly overwhelmed about the changes happening in my body. All I knew as a teenage girl was that I would bleed once a month and I had to wear a pad properly. No one told me that my hormones would change during different times of the month to prepare my body for different things… and that would affect my mood, energy level, behavior, tendency to socialize, communication, focus, metabolism and so much more.
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Now as a perimenopausal woman and having children who are going through puberty, I have a renewed appreciation and awe for my female hormones and the amazing work they do to keep me in balance, protect me from chronic diseases and make me innately and uniquely woman! Witnessing my girls go through the challenges of puberty, I think its so important for not only teen girls but also their parents to understand their menstrual cycles and the amazing work our hormones do – and how it affects us not only physically, but emotionally and mentally too.
Teenagers are going through alot – much more than previous generations. Being more sedentary, indoors than ever before -add to that a toxic social media culture of instant gratification, comparison, polarization and isolation – its the perfect storm for some serious social and public health issues that our society has trivialized for too long.
Girls, I hear you. I see you. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful journey of self-discovery of your body’s powerful capability to balance, self-heal and do the b*d*ss work of growing, birthing and nurturing the next generation of loving humans ❤️
