Why Your Incontinence Symptoms Are Worse At Certain Times Of The Month
Did you know that your menstrual cycle impacts the effectiveness of your pelvic floor!
So if you have been wondering why sometimes your pelvic floor is a boss and other times it's like you have never even tried to strengthen it, I bet you haven't considered where you are in your cycle?
So let's talk about what happens during your menstrual cycle and why your symptoms are worse at certain times.
Here is an image that represents the average 28 day cycle. Take in this image for a little bit...
You can see estrogen levels are highlighted in yellow and the black stars represent times in your cycle that estrogen is LOW; during your period, just after ovulation and a few days before your period starts.
So why is this important to know? Because estrogen actually contributes to muscle function! So if estrogen is low it cannot contribute to muscular function and therefore not help with its effectiveness. Crazy right!
If you have a weaker pelvic floor and have been working on your strength and have seen fabulous results and then all of a sudden you have a couple of days where it feels like everything has gone backwards, THIS IS POSSIBLY WHY! Take note of where you are in your cycle and see if it lines up with this typical pattern.
Super frustrating that this is a hormonal contribution that we cannot really control, BUT we know that it's not because you were doing something wrong and this often helps us manage what we do with exercise and training around certain times of the month to help this natural cycle.
What about Menopause?
Peri-menopause and Menopause is the stage of the female life cycle where estrogen levels naturally decline and unfortunately we cannot do anything about that. This is when lots of women start experiencing pelvic floor symptoms for the first time due to the lack of muscular function (thanks to estrogen) OR their symptoms get worse.
Take a look at what the hormone levels are doing once you enter perimenopause.
If you have not fallen victim to menopause yet but have some pelvic floor symptoms I cannot stress to you how important it is to do something about this now! Build some solid strength AND some good muscular tone so when estrogen starts to leave the building you have already established the support and strength to help reduce the chance of symptoms exacerbating.
And if you are already a victim of menopause then it still isn't too late! You can still work on your pelvic floor strength and see improvements in your symptoms.
I would love to help you begin the pelvic health journey and build a solid pelvic floor that doesn't hold you back from the activities you love! Book a complimentary discovery call with me to talk about how I can help you get started.
Book Complimentary Discovery Call HERE
Or if the 1:1 service is not for you, my 4 week Pee Free Program is self guided and fully online. You can jump into this course at any time you like and start your pelvic floor strengthening journey.
Learn More About The Pee Free Program
