Your Menstrual Cycle is Your Superpower | Dinara Mukh | TEDxSFU

[Applause] all right i'm willing to bet that either you or someone you know someone you love goes through a monthly menstrual cycle that's right today i'm talking about periods how do you feel when you see that word how do you feel when you see this image do you feel like a little uncomfortable do you feel like maybe this is not something that should be discussed in public let alone in the tedx stage or maybe you're like i love periods no well what if i told you that by the end of this talk you will be

able to talk about your periods more freely you will realize that your period in your menstrual cycle carry this innate guidance that can help you to live to your full potential and if you ever wondered why is it that we know so little about periods well let's take a trip back to school days in school i learned all sorts of great subjects geometry trigonometry i even learned to recite a periodic table you know what i didn't learn how my female body works and what it goes through on a monthly basis not even in sex ed

in fact the most memorable thing from sex ed involved banana and a condom and for those of you that felt a little uncomfortable when i brought up that picture and that word there's a reason for that and i want to take you down history lane throughout history period has been masked in magic and mystery in some ancient cultures it was believed that menstrual cycle and menstrual blood had magical powers and menstruators had the ability to see the future things have changed in the middle ages when a massive religious and cultural shift has occurred menstruators were

no longer admired periods were considered dirty menstruators dangerous and period blood toxic enough and it was believed that it could make crops wither make men impotent and cause natural disasters well we've come a long way since then yet this long-held cultural ignorance around our periods resulted in many of us starting our menstrual journey in the dark not sure what's normal what's not i've had quite the journey with my period today as a bomb said i am in love with my period and it's not something that you hear very often yet my love story hasn't been

so rosy i want to take you back to 10 years ago i was in my early 20s on this particular day in september i woke up in so much pain i thought my appendix has burst and i thought i needed immediate medical attention so i called an ambulance medics arrived to my house i was inspected and told that my appendix was intact there was no medical emergency and what i was experiencing caused by my period crams so i was advised to take some painkillers and sleep it off and for years i've been sleeping off my

pain often missing school work and social commitments and i know i was not alone because according to the online survey done by yougov 30 of women have taken time off because of their periods i'd like to highlight the difference between the menstrual cycle and the periods so the menstrual cycle is the entire hormonal fluctuation throughout a female reproductive system while the body prepares for possible pregnancy the average length of a menstrual cycle is about 28 days the bleeding part what we know as period only lasts 5 days and marks the start of the period so

your period is not your menstrual cycle but rather just a small part of it and according to catherine woolley who is a professor at northwestern university female brain changes by up to 25 meaning our appetite changes our mood changes our desire to be social our desire to be alone and i'm sure i've no you've noticed those changes you know the coolest thing i wasn't taught about my period and my menstrual cycle is that throughout month it goes through these incredible phases mimicking the seasons of nature i also have my inner winter my inner spring my

inner summer and my inner fall men you're not excluded you have seasons two except yours operate on a different timeline instead of 28 days like they do for us women menstruators yours work on the 24-hour clock and it goes something like this your winter happens while you sleep about six o'clock in the morning you wake up with a full hormonal potion ready to go for the day ahead the laser focus is yours to be hot in the afternoon you enter your inner summer this is a great time to pitch ideas go for happy hours and

in the evening as your hormones wane all you're interested in is chilling on a couch watching netflix maybe reading something inspirational to quiet down the mind that's it 24 hours 365 days lather rinse repeat women's body is not static nor does it follow a linear energy path our energy bank is not synced to happy hours and we do not cocoon when we sleep our cocooning happens during our winter which is our period and we have never asked does this 24 hour clock works for us we have been fitting to this 24 hour schedules not entirely

sure whether it makes sense for our bodies and statistics show that it affects our health well-being and our performance because women are 50 percent more likely to experience burnouts 75 of people with autoimmune disease are women 85 of women yes most of you in this audience experience some sort of hormonal imbalances ranging from migraines hormonal acne periods pain cramping and even an innocent sort of symptom that's been normalized as hormonal acne has a cost i used to work with a woman who shared with me that she did not go to a job interview because she

did not feel confident because of her acne and i'm sure she's not alone the standard advice would have been she should have pushed through gone anyway and women are no strangers to pushing through discomfort this is a perfect example this is kieran gandy who is a musician she ran a london marathon on her period without a pad or a tampon you know what we really need is to create a menstrual cycle awareness in the workplace if we truly want to achieve gender diverse and inclusive environments and yes it will help women but also everyone else

because according to the mckinsey research teams that are the most gender diverse are 48 more likely to outperform other teams and the most inclusive teams are typically the ones that are most successful and happier at work so understanding a female body is everyone's business menstruators are you ready to learn new superpowers yay men what about you let's get going this is your menstrual phase your inner winter winter is time for renewal rebirth shedding of the old layers the superpower of the season is restoration winter gives you opportunity to let go it is only through rest

that we able to switch off the noise from the outside and tune in to what's truly important to us i tend to block few days on my calendar for the arrival of my period and i have observed that i've become more focused more lively more determined and just more fun to be around and if you don't restore your energy you'll be just like a fruit tree robbed of a full winter producing fewer and weaker buds support yourself throughout this time with foods that are rich in iron and minerals that you lose through bleeding personally i

crave steak during this time which actually highlights my body's wisdom my body says tanar are you bleeding oh my gosh you're losing iron quick grab a hunk of meat and then i do that and support yourself with activities that are slightly more gentle in nature walking and stretching to support your restoration season and just like the nature wakes up so do you welcome to spring this is known as the follicular phase this is the time after period you might find an immediate shift in your energy and enthusiasm for life the superpower of this season is

initiation you might notice an immediate floodgate of ideas and inspirations everywhere i get mine on the run in the middle of my walk in the middle of the shower i even have a brainstorming folder dedicated to this whisper respirations on my phone and in fact in preparation for the static stock i scheduled my brainstorming specifically for this time so i can let my ideas run wild and then i sort them out in the rest of the season light vibrance fresh fruits and vegetables like sauteed lighter grains will give you just enough energy to get you

through the day and given that you've been gifted with this extra spring in your step focus on endurance activities things that you have energy for running biking walking you can go for hours and it will feel amazing and just like that from the warmth of spring we come into summer this is ovulatory phase the superpower of this phase is confidence this particular time for women coincides with our fertility window and given that our god-given purpose on this earth was to reproduce we are gifted with a gift of confidence to go out and look for a

potential mate i noticed that i instinctively put out a red lipstick or wears slightly more revealing clothing because i want to be noticed actually i think it's my biology wants me to get noticed and in chinese medicine this particular time is known as our hot season so to counterbalance that you want to be focused on cooling foods things like berries salads and smoothies and this is the only time for women where we ser our levels of our testosterone surge those dystocia and hormone that we associate with the hunky men we produce it too and it's

very important to us so if the muscle definition is your goal then hit up the gym or better yet go to a group class and introduce yourself to a stranger menstruators also notice that they become much better communicators during this time they become much confident at expressing themselves so that offer you wanted to pitch that race you wanted to ask for that hot date you've been postponing it's go time baby and just like that from the full sunshine of summer we're moving to the competence of fall this is the luteal phase fall used to be

a very challenging time for me before i realized what menstrual cycle does and how it works within my body i wanted to keep going my body wanted me to slow down and i continuously pushed against it and that left me with premenstrual syndromes premenstrual syndrome are varied from all sorts of things mood swings brain fog migraines cramps and pms today has become so common that now we make jokes about it and we've abbreviated to all sorts of things like perpetual munching spree pc mood syndrome or the one that used to describe me best please meet

satan the superpower of this phase is focus typically women begin to notice things that they wouldn't have noticed before so i usually schedule a lot of my admin spreadsheet for paperwork stuff that i can't sit or deal with any during any other time and i actually weirdly enjoy it another thing that i tend to notice is actually dust in my house i become hyper focused and hyper vigilant to any mess and this is the only time when i enjoy deep clean pay attention to yourself when you're in the fall i promise you it will come

through women's metabolism during this time speeds up you need more food this would explain your all too familiar cravings so to offset your cravings for cake just before your period focus on foods that are more full in nature denser stews root vegetables and given that the fall invites us to slow down focus on things that are more resistant slower yoga winter is frustration spring initiation show your confidence in the summer and focus on things in the fall your menstrual cycle is predictable it's cyclical and it's monthly why not plan for it if it means less

emotional and physical discomfort why not have menstruators take time off during the time where they need it most on their period period leave is not a new concept it's been introduced for years in countries like japan and south korea and many companies across australia argentina and france introducing it in conclusion of this talk i'd like you to take away three messages can you do that number one let's take away stigma and shame taboo around period it's a very natural process the more we know about our bodies the better transparent we can be with others and

our children second message is your menstrual cycle is so much more than just your period as you've seen it's a symphony orchestra of all sorts of things so use it so you can show up better and more confidently in the world and the third message is cyclical awareness must be introduced in workplace if we want to achieve diverse inclusive environments and address burnout so i really hope that we can stop dreading our periods and move into a place where we can embrace and even celebrate it are you ready to turn an old enemy into a

new ally thank you [Applause]