REBUILD: WEEK 4 MENSTRUAL PHASE
DETOX.
Many women don’t know this but your mombody is naturally detoxing during menstruation. Think of this time as your body’s way of getting rid of toxins through the shedding of your uterine lining. Your body has a built-in mechanism to flush out toxins and start anew next month. This phase is the perfect time to sit back, kick your heels up, and support this process by resting and resetting.
But since we are talking about autophagy this week…let’s explore ways to kick on this process by using stress.
Isn’t it strange that stress is actually good for your mombody? Sometimes stress gets a bad rap but really your body is made for handling stress - and it actually comes out stronger, healthier and more resilient when you do.
So, let’s get to work stressing that mombody.
First, let’s talk about stressing your mombody thermally - like with hot and cold exposure. We don’t grow in comfort. We grow and evolve as a result of stress - as long as it’s relatively mild and transient. Your HGH (Human Growth Hormone) kicks into gear and makes your body younger because new cells are forming and old, damaged cells are killed off.
We aren’t meant to be in a comfortable temperature at all times. When it’s too hot we kick on the AC. When it’s too cold we have a gas fireplace to turn with the flip of a switch. This is anything but natural. So, step outside your thermoneutral zone - that 72-degree comfort zone of yours and start reaping the tremendous upside. This practice can literally shave time off your mombody age.
Take a hot bath, lounge in an infrared sauna, lay with a heating pad, jump in a freezing cold lake, take a cold shower, or sit in an ice bath known as a polar plunge. My favorite thing to do in Colorado is to sit in a hot tub and then jump into the surrounding snow, then back again. My kids love this game too.
***Thermal stress is great for your mombody during all phases of your cycle including the menstrual phase (even though I personally skip stressing my body during menstruation). If you decide to thermally stress your body during menstruation, it’s best to wait out the first three days of your period before you start. ***
These are some of the benefits you will experience almost immediately:
improved insulin sensitivity - this is when your body is better able to take care of excess insulin in your body; when this isn’t working properly our body is more apt to store energy as fat - so basically you want to make sure this is working
reduced inflammation
improved mood
improved quality of sleep
enhanced resilience and stress tolerance
skin tightening
improved brain cognition
better cardiovascular health
improved endurance
improved body composition
an optimized healthspan - (pretty sure this means being healthier for a longer time in your mombody. That means graduating from a MOMbody to a GRANDMAbody, and getting to enjoy those grandbabies for longer. A serious bonus for being a little thermally uncomfortable at times).
This tedtalk is also about stress (just not the thermal kind I talk about this week). Turns out, you can reframe the way you think about stress and how your body handles it. Throughout this whole REBUILD program we have been finding ways to reduce stress in your mombody but I didn’t want to leave you with the idea that all stress should always be avoided.
I love this video and I think it’s worth checking out.