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$0 Cycle Syncing Hacks & Myths We Wish We Knew Sooner · Two Broke Chicks

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Speaker 1: This podcast is recorded on gadigal Land Always was, always
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Speaker 1: will be Aboriginal Land.
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Speaker 2: Hey chicks, I'm Sal and I'm al and this is
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Speaker 2: two broat chicks to show that shares life lessons and
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Speaker 2: tips to help make you rich in life. Today, we're
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Speaker 2: joined by our friends and big small talk hosts Hannah
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Speaker 2: Ferguson and Sarah Adams. From periods and hacking your metroation
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Speaker 2: cycle to the gender health gap, We're chatting the things
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Speaker 2: that no one teaches you as a woman that we
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Speaker 2: wish we knew sooner.
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Speaker 3: Welcome to two broad chicks, Hannah and Sarah.
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Speaker 4: Hi, thanks for having us.
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Speaker 3: We are so excited. We were just saying off Mike,
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Speaker 3: it's well overdue.
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Speaker 5: I know, this feels fun.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, we all have seen in yapped, like the four
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Speaker 6: of us together, so I feel like it's already happened.
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Speaker 1: But I'm like, wait, it has not.
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Speaker 4: Not all for it once.
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Speaker 2: Yes, So we're going to be talking a whole bunch
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Speaker 2: of different things. All the thing is that as women
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Speaker 2: and as people, we wish that we had learned earlier
1:04
Speaker 2: in life. And there's sort of these realizations that you
1:07
Speaker 2: have in adulthood that you're like maybe this is the
1:10
Speaker 2: sort of stuff that I wish I learned at UNI,
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Speaker 2: or even like maybe that my parents had taught me,
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Speaker 2: and that we feel like we wish that we were
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Speaker 2: more equipped in.
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Speaker 3: And one of our first topics is going to be
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Speaker 3: around periods.
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Speaker 2: But before we get into the period chat, we usually
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Speaker 2: start with a life lesson of the week, but we
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Speaker 2: wanted to mix it up on theme for this episode
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Speaker 2: because honestly, I think that the best part of getting
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Speaker 2: your period is when you open up the pad and
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Speaker 2: you get to sit down and read the little trivia
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Speaker 2: and Libra odd spots on the back of the package.
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Speaker 4: This is one of my favorite things to do.
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Speaker 7: I was actually very excited to read by this morning,
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Speaker 7: and it dictated to me which one I would read
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Speaker 7: out today, which one I'm wearing.
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Speaker 3: Basically, I love that.
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Speaker 2: I literally remember the first time that I got my period.
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Speaker 2: I like didn't tell my mom for maybe a good
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Speaker 2: twenty four hours because I was like, maybe if I ignore it,
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Speaker 2: it'll just go away and I won't have to tell
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Speaker 2: her about it. And I was so embarrassed. And then
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Speaker 2: when I eventually did, she was like okay. She explained
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Speaker 2: to me how pads were handed me the pad and
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Speaker 2: I opened it and saw this trivia and I was like,
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Speaker 2: maybe this won't be all bad. Actually for a little
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Speaker 2: fun factor recess.
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Speaker 4: Okay, this is actually.
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Speaker 7: Really fun because I was the last girl I knew
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Speaker 7: to get her period, and I desperately wanted it because
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Speaker 7: I felt like something was wrong with me because everyone
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Speaker 7: at school had theirs except me.
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Speaker 4: I was late.
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Speaker 7: I was like fourteen. Everyone already had their, and I
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Speaker 7: was desperate, waiting when will I wake up and they'll
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Speaker 7: be blooded.
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Speaker 4: Everyone's like, you're so lucky, and I was like phil
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Speaker 4: left out.
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Speaker 3: You're like I wonder to please exactly.
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Speaker 7: So the day that I got it in year eight
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Speaker 7: in art class, I remember it so vividly and I
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Speaker 7: was like everyone I went school too, boys get around
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Speaker 7: like I was so excited to get my firstly brother.
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Speaker 3: Let's get into our odd spots, shall we.
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Speaker 6: My favorite one is that some turtles can breathe through
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Speaker 6: their butt, where.
3:07
Speaker 1: I've never wanted to be a turtle more only some,
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Speaker 1: only some, not all.
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Speaker 3: What's yours, Sarah?
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Speaker 5: Okay, this one really stuck out to me.
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Speaker 8: There is a hallow Kitty themed maternity hospital in Taiwan
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Speaker 8: that's really awesome.
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Speaker 5: And my first thought was who and why and would
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Speaker 5: that make you feel more comfortable some people?
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Speaker 6: But can we also have a moment that Imagine you
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Speaker 6: go into labor and the closest hospital is the Hello
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Speaker 6: Kitty one and it's not planned. Mascot is out in
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Speaker 6: the front, like doing the hand wave because they can't
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Speaker 6: speak when you're in a mascot costume.
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Speaker 1: When you're like, what's going on?
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Speaker 8: So many stories and also who pioneered that we needed that?
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Speaker 4: I have so many questions.
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Speaker 1: If I ever have kids, I will, I will have
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Speaker 1: one there.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, for Sien on the.
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Speaker 4: Record, huge.
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Speaker 7: That the first newspaper was printed on silk that feels
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Speaker 7: aligned to.
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Speaker 4: My personality is a fact. I like it. It just
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Speaker 4: stuck out to me. Yeah, Bougie agreed.
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Speaker 2: Okay, well, my favorite odd spot was on average, a
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Speaker 2: human will spend up to two weeks kissing in their.
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Speaker 3: Lifetime, so I thought it'd be more that's on average though.
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Speaker 6: Okay, Well, that life lesson is that we all need
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Speaker 6: to be out here kissing more, not enough. That.
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Speaker 5: I also recon it's declining. I don't see enough club book.
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Speaker 1: The art of the making has been lost.
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Speaker 6: I agree, Yeah, I agree, and you know what, it's
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Speaker 6: TikTok's fault because people film everyone agreed, well, anyone.
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Speaker 5: Did that as well.
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Speaker 6: It just would go on your Facebook, on your birth
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Speaker 6: or on like some Facebook album from the party, and
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Speaker 6: you'd be.
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Speaker 2: Like, Yeah, let's get into our topic, shall we the
4:57
Speaker 2: things that we wish that we learned earlier in life?
5:00
Speaker 2: And I want to talk cycle sinking, which is something
5:04
Speaker 2: that we're touched on briefly.
5:06
Speaker 3: But do both of you subscribe to cycle sinking? Do
5:10
Speaker 3: you know what it is?
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Speaker 4: Can you explain it for everyone?
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Speaker 7: So I make sure that when I answer, even because
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Speaker 7: now I feel like I've really done a lot of
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Speaker 7: reading and research around menstrual cycles in the last year
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Speaker 7: to try and understand mine better. But even when the
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Speaker 7: topic comes up, I'm like, please clarify so because.
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Speaker 5: I also know, is cycle tracking different? Because is that
5:28
Speaker 5: like contraceptive?
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Speaker 6: Yeah, because I think the thing that we were taught
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Speaker 6: was that your cycle.
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Speaker 1: Is one week.
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Speaker 6: Right in Pe'd be like, yep, there's seven days give
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Speaker 6: or take that you bleed and.
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Speaker 1: That's it and then you're back and you're done and
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Speaker 1: it's fine and it's gorgeous. And in my high school experience.
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Speaker 6: I was not taught that your cycle is the entire month,
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Speaker 6: and there's actually the four stages which I was going
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Speaker 6: to go into. But cycle tracking and cycle sinking is different,
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Speaker 6: and it's about how to like optimize your habits and
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Speaker 6: your routine with where you're at in your cycle, and
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Speaker 6: the way you do that is through tracking it then
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Speaker 6: sinking it.
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Speaker 7: Okay, so I track, but I don't see yeah tracking
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Speaker 7: it even learning what that was.
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Speaker 5: I remember when I found out.
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Speaker 1: I was like, when did you find that out?
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Speaker 8: Maybe like a year and a half ago properly, and
6:17
Speaker 8: I remember being like, this is so fucked up that
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Speaker 8: we're not taught this in school. Like it really is
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Speaker 8: the one thing that really bored my blood because what
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Speaker 8: it annoys me with it is everyone talks about it
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Speaker 8: as if it's almost like they're talking about a horoscope
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Speaker 8: or like stuff.
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Speaker 5: It's like do you believe in it?
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Speaker 8: Like do you believe in the luteal phase? And it's
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Speaker 8: like it is an actual thing. It's not like woo
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Speaker 8: woo opt in. It's it's not a blood, but it's
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Speaker 8: kind of like, yeah, it's kind of like spoken about as.
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Speaker 5: If like is if it's like maybe a thing, and
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Speaker 5: it is a thing.
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Speaker 4: Why have we not taught it?
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Speaker 6: Yeah?
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Speaker 1: That's good about it?
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Speaker 6: Is it kind of took away like the gas lighting
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Speaker 6: of women's moods and how it we fluctuate so much
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Speaker 6: in what we can take on emotionally and mentally and
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Speaker 6: physically throughout an entire month.
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Speaker 8: Also, mood is a big part of it. Yeah, like
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Speaker 8: it's it's actually on my period. I feel great, Like
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Speaker 8: it's not, but you do. I didn't grow up thinking
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Speaker 8: that it's the week before that. I'm like probably a
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Speaker 8: little bit more. It's not even sensus. It's not that,
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Speaker 8: it's just like more aware of my emotions and then hungrier,
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Speaker 8: like you know that things like you're on your period
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Speaker 8: and you're just gonna chocolate and ice cream. I actually
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Speaker 8: don't feel that on my period at all. It'll be
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Speaker 8: at a different point and now it actually lines up
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Speaker 8: every month.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I think that's why it's so important though, because the
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Speaker 2: symptoms are so varied and they can look really different
7:31
Speaker 2: to different people as well. And it's interesting that you say, like,
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Speaker 2: I wish I knew this sooner, because Labra released a
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Speaker 2: study that found that six in ten people wish that
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Speaker 2: they learned more about their cycles earlier in their lives.
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Speaker 7: I think what's hard about the conversation, though, is because
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Speaker 7: so many people men are saying, oh, well, why women
7:53
Speaker 7: can't be in X, Y and Z positions because of
7:56
Speaker 7: the hormonal disruption to cycles. And the argument back that
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Speaker 7: I always say is like, let's validate the fact that
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Speaker 7: we have a different emotional experience at different parts of
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Speaker 7: the month or what.
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Speaker 4: However long your cycle is, are the be twenty eight days,
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Speaker 4: thirty five days, whatever it is, and it's not.
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Speaker 8: Actually Also, I feel like we're talking about this it
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Speaker 8: feels like there's drastic differences between the weeks. Lots of
8:12
Speaker 8: people don't feel drastic difference, but it's just good to know.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, should I give us a crash course?
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Speaker 7: Yeah?
8:18
Speaker 3: What the phases are?
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Speaker 2: So if anybody isn't familiar, So there are four phases
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Speaker 2: of your metroation cycle. We'll start with the menstrual phase,
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Speaker 2: which is the bleeding phase, the period, and that's the start.
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Speaker 7: And that's the start, which it's always positioned as being
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Speaker 7: the end, and actually the first like five seven days
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Speaker 7: however long you bleed for which I didn't know at school.
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Speaker 2: Neither yeah me, neither as well. I thought that that
8:42
Speaker 2: was at the end, which is just wild. So this
8:46
Speaker 2: is when your hormones are at their lowest, and it's
8:49
Speaker 2: when your body is shedding its uterunlining. So that's why
8:52
Speaker 2: we're feeling extra tired. Hormones are low, feeling lethargic. Then
8:57
Speaker 2: we move into the follicular phase, which is the post
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Speaker 2: period to ovulation. That's roughly days six to fourteen, depending
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Speaker 2: on how long your period lasts. This is when estrogen
9:08
Speaker 2: starts to rise, energy starts to increase, and your brain
9:12
Speaker 2: is more open to new ideas. Apparently, Apparently, this is
9:16
Speaker 2: when you start to become more creative.
9:18
Speaker 6: This is when I walk into our office and I
9:19
Speaker 6: go south. We're going to start three new businesses. We're
9:22
Speaker 6: actually going to do a newsletter and a website, and
9:24
Speaker 6: I actually want to start this new podcast because I
9:26
Speaker 6: have this idea and sounds.
9:27
Speaker 1: Like who hell where?
9:29
Speaker 4: Yeah?
9:30
Speaker 2: And then we've got ovulation, which is peak energy. This
9:34
Speaker 2: is when our estrogen is that its peak ovulation occurs,
9:38
Speaker 2: and it's also when you're you're most extroverted and confident.
9:42
Speaker 2: My favorite thing that I see online is that ovulation
9:46
Speaker 2: is when people feel their hottest and horniest.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, do we agree?
9:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah.
9:53
Speaker 2: And then again we're moving into our luteel phase, which
9:57
Speaker 2: is the pre menstrual phase, which is day's eighteen twenty eight,
10:01
Speaker 2: and that's when our energy begins to slow and also
10:04
Speaker 2: that's when your PMS symptoms most likely to start kicking
10:07
Speaker 2: in which you said out, I think a lot of
10:10
Speaker 2: the time when we were younger, you think that you
10:12
Speaker 2: get PMS when you have your period, or like the
10:15
Speaker 2: day before you get your period, not like ten days
10:18
Speaker 2: before you get your period. Yeah, And I think that's
10:20
Speaker 2: from the shitty stereotype that's been fueled predominantly by men
10:24
Speaker 2: of if a woman displays any form of emotion frustration, sadness,
10:29
Speaker 2: anything negative emotion in quotation marks.
10:32
Speaker 6: It's all in the heavy period. And like that's why
10:35
Speaker 6: that's been so put within that basket. But what I
10:38
Speaker 6: think about the cycle tracking is that while it's really
10:42
Speaker 6: amazing for you to know your own cycle, it's also
10:46
Speaker 6: really amazing to share that with others.
10:48
Speaker 1: And like, I know you.
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Speaker 6: Did this as well with a partner and sharing like
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Speaker 6: what phase you're out, and you can do that with
10:54
Speaker 6: certain apps and how like I also saw videos of
10:57
Speaker 6: a girl who lives in a sharehouse with men and
11:01
Speaker 6: on like the fridge on a whiteboard, she would write
11:04
Speaker 6: down what phase she was in and they like would
11:06
Speaker 6: understand that. So she would be like, liud to your
11:07
Speaker 6: pace and they'd be like wide both.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, they'd be like wide.
11:10
Speaker 6: Birth and like I will also do that with my
11:12
Speaker 6: partner being like, it's not it today. And I think
11:15
Speaker 6: sharing that and also other people understanding that, especially those
11:19
Speaker 6: humans who don't have menstruation cycles, only can empower us
11:24
Speaker 6: all to kind of track our cycles and be a
11:26
Speaker 6: little bit softer with it as well.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
11:29
Speaker 2: And also because like we were saying, the symptoms look
11:31
Speaker 2: so different. So I think for me growing up, I
11:34
Speaker 2: always thought that PMS looked like drastic mood swings between
11:39
Speaker 2: sadness and anger, and that was kind of it. I
11:42
Speaker 2: didn't realize that it can manifest in anxiety, sadness also
11:48
Speaker 2: feeling lethargic, and for so many years I didn't actually
11:53
Speaker 2: track that. In that week before I get my period,
11:56
Speaker 2: I get incredibly anxious and it wasn't until I and
12:00
Speaker 2: what cycle sinking was. I was like, wait a second,
12:02
Speaker 2: and it was like that guy with the red string,
12:05
Speaker 2: like putting it all together, and I was like, oh
12:07
Speaker 2: my god, like this is actually something that I've been
12:09
Speaker 2: dealing with since I was twelve, but I had.
12:13
Speaker 3: No idea that that was it.
12:14
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't get PMS because I don't
12:16
Speaker 2: get like anger mood swings, but that's not what it is.
12:20
Speaker 4: Yeah.
12:20
Speaker 8: Yeah, especially I think bringing it back to wanting to
12:23
Speaker 8: know this back at school, how useful would that have
12:26
Speaker 8: been back when you're also going through like puberty, and
12:29
Speaker 8: like a lot of it that just gets blamed on
12:31
Speaker 8: that rather than understanding you're also going through cycles.
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Speaker 7: Oh and also like for me understanding now that a
12:38
Speaker 7: lot of what I desire when I'm pre period is
12:41
Speaker 7: really just I have a sense of introversion that's heightened
12:44
Speaker 7: and heightened self awareness. So it's like, yes, it's a
12:47
Speaker 7: bit of anxiety. It's never really anger. It's always just
12:49
Speaker 7: this desire to have more alone time, to be more thoughtful,
12:52
Speaker 7: and to try and be able to kind of quiet
12:54
Speaker 7: that internal critic It's really.
12:56
Speaker 4: Those sorts of facts.
12:57
Speaker 7: It's not like rageful, it's not spiteful, it's not bitter
13:00
Speaker 7: like I think a lot.
13:01
Speaker 4: Of compulsions exactly.
13:03
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's just this understanding that, like, I probably just
13:06
Speaker 7: need to be by myself a little bit more.
13:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Well, in that same study by Labor, they
13:11
Speaker 2: found that seventy four percent of people who mentruate no
13:14
Speaker 2: little to nothing about PMS.
13:16
Speaker 1: Wow, how wild is that?
13:18
Speaker 2: Like that is the majority of people, And it's something
13:21
Speaker 2: that we experience, generally speaking, every single month, and three
13:26
Speaker 2: quarters of us don't know really anything about.
13:28
Speaker 8: It because we're not taught anything. Also, on that note,
13:32
Speaker 8: like pcos and demetrios is like so many other things
13:35
Speaker 8: in that realm, I don't think they're ever taught to me.
13:38
Speaker 7: And when and when your blanket taught that you will
13:40
Speaker 7: experience pain, cramping, intense bleeding, and the variations of those
13:44
Speaker 7: symptoms will be wide. You don't know at what point
13:47
Speaker 7: you can question the pain your experience and what is
13:50
Speaker 7: the sort of right threshold to then advocate for.
13:52
Speaker 4: Yourself with a medical professional.
13:54
Speaker 7: So I think a lot of it it's not I
13:55
Speaker 7: don't think it's purposeful gas lighting. I think it's a
13:57
Speaker 7: lack of information and research that's been done generally, and
14:00
Speaker 7: then PE teachers are often not equipped with this information.
14:03
Speaker 4: My male pe teachers were so nervous to bring any
14:06
Speaker 4: of this up so.
14:07
Speaker 7: And I can't understand that fear because if I don't understand,
14:09
Speaker 7: how like of course they don't understand even though they
14:11
Speaker 7: actually are trained to provide this education.
14:14
Speaker 4: And then when you go and you're twenty five.
14:15
Speaker 7: This is why a lot of people do not get
14:18
Speaker 7: diagnosed with whether it be PMDD and demetriosis pcos these
14:22
Speaker 7: conditions still much later in life because they've actually had
14:25
Speaker 7: to question and interrogate and probe multiple medical professions to
14:29
Speaker 7: take their pain seriously.
14:30
Speaker 8: Yeah, you can blame medical professionals like your doctor for
14:33
Speaker 8: not knowing or for like not taking you seriously, or
14:35
Speaker 8: for your pea teacher not knowing, but like, the bigger
14:38
Speaker 8: problem would be the fact that they didn't actually study
14:40
Speaker 8: women's bodies at all.
14:41
Speaker 4: It's only misogyny at a historical life.
14:44
Speaker 8: Yes, yeah, and most things were tested on men and
14:47
Speaker 8: not ever seeing side effects on like it's run so.
14:50
Speaker 4: Deep, it's systemic. Yeah yeah yeah.
14:52
Speaker 1: And you know what else is crazy.
14:53
Speaker 6: I don't know what your high school experience was like,
14:55
Speaker 6: but when girls got taught about periods, they got pulled
14:58
Speaker 6: into a separate class. So girls got taught about periods
15:02
Speaker 6: but boys didn't. Because why would they need to know,
15:05
Speaker 6: which I think is just so inherently wrong, because then
15:09
Speaker 6: it just causes this further separate separation of understanding.
15:13
Speaker 7: I remember in year four having the boys and girls
15:15
Speaker 7: split in class and there was a binder brought around
15:18
Speaker 7: with clear sleeves and there was like different types of
15:20
Speaker 7: pads and tampons placed in each sleeve, and it was like, oh,
15:24
Speaker 7: just if you want to or not, and everyone passed
15:25
Speaker 7: around like it was the dirtiest thing in the world,
15:27
Speaker 7: and the boys didn't even have the conversation.
15:29
Speaker 4: And then teachers would just.
15:30
Speaker 7: Tell you horror stories instead of actually advising you. I
15:32
Speaker 7: remember multiple primary school teachers saying, oh, this one time,
15:37
Speaker 7: this girl had explosive period when over the floor, and
15:40
Speaker 7: I was terrified for years because of stories like that,
15:43
Speaker 7: where it's like, instead of just advising us on actually
15:45
Speaker 7: what it's going to be, like any horror story or
15:48
Speaker 7: major anecdote that could be shared, was it was like,
15:50
Speaker 7: these are ten year olds, Yeah you know, there's no
15:53
Speaker 7: reason to think this is a horror film.
15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and it's like, no, wonder then we still
15:58
Speaker 2: feel so much shame. One percent of people felt their
16:01
Speaker 2: concerns around their period weren't taken seriously, and only two
16:05
Speaker 2: in five people who menstrate actually feel comfortable enough to bring.
16:08
Speaker 3: It up with their healthcare professional.
16:11
Speaker 2: And I know I've had that experience before where I've
16:13
Speaker 2: spoken about my period pain to my GP and they
16:16
Speaker 2: sort of just like brushed it off.
16:18
Speaker 7: I think so often in so many stories I hear
16:21
Speaker 7: from lots of women who've experienced medical misogyny like that,
16:24
Speaker 7: and oftentimes from female GPS. What it really comes down
16:27
Speaker 7: to so often is the bedside manner and the lack
16:30
Speaker 7: of socialization of a lot of gps who don't understand
16:32
Speaker 7: the kind of anxiety they're inducing, the medical anxiety, health anxiety,
16:35
Speaker 7: because when you don't understand the language and terminology of
16:38
Speaker 7: the medical industry, of the medical profession, you're going to
16:41
Speaker 7: be fearful by any mention of large language. And instead
16:43
Speaker 7: of trying to facilitate like a comfortable, empathetic experience, they
16:47
Speaker 7: are often in stressful positions where they're doing fifteen minute
16:49
Speaker 7: appointments back to back and they don't have that long
16:52
Speaker 7: term relationship with the patient. So I can also be
16:54
Speaker 7: empathetic to the situation they're in while also saying like
16:57
Speaker 7: you don't understand the fear of just instilled in a
16:59
Speaker 7: young woman.
16:59
Speaker 4: Yeah.
17:00
Speaker 2: What I thought was interesting is that we brought up
17:02
Speaker 2: cycle sinking right, and you both mentioned that you do
17:06
Speaker 2: track your periods, right. Do you track them like using
17:08
Speaker 2: any tools or anything, or do you use.
17:11
Speaker 4: Snap called stardust?
17:13
Speaker 5: Ironically for me being like, it's not a horror.
17:16
Speaker 4: That makes it hor That.
17:18
Speaker 7: Is fine fun, but also it's better with data privacy,
17:23
Speaker 7: which is a major concern globally right now. And it's
17:25
Speaker 7: built by women, so I think there's a significant difference.
17:33
Speaker 2: Do you guys, feel like you've had any aha moments
17:36
Speaker 2: ever since you started tracking a period?
17:38
Speaker 7: I actually down to the cravings that I have each day,
17:41
Speaker 7: track them and they are absolutely there every day, Like
17:45
Speaker 7: so certain days it's salty, certain days it's sweet. It
17:47
Speaker 7: can sometimes be a particular form of exercise, or there's
17:50
Speaker 7: even a button on the app that I use that's
17:52
Speaker 7: like impulsive haircut. All it does is inform me that
17:54
Speaker 7: I probably shouldn't be shaming myself for feeling hunger for
17:56
Speaker 7: particular things because it is just a pattern for me,
17:58
Speaker 7: and understanding my body makes me feel so much more calm.
18:02
Speaker 1: Yes, but again less shame. I really like that.
18:06
Speaker 8: With like the food thing, I've now noticed weeks that
18:09
Speaker 8: I'm okay with just like eating more than I normally
18:11
Speaker 8: would because I'm like, yeah, I'm hungry. I'm hungrier this
18:15
Speaker 8: week than I will probably be in other weeks, and
18:17
Speaker 8: like normalizing that a bit.
18:18
Speaker 5: Where I was before that used to really freak.
18:20
Speaker 4: Me out for understood it.
18:21
Speaker 5: And then the other part is bloating.
18:24
Speaker 8: I'm also like a lot kinder to myself when I
18:26
Speaker 8: know that I'm probably gonna bloat this week, or like
18:28
Speaker 8: my face shape's gonna look a bit different or whatever
18:30
Speaker 8: it is.
18:30
Speaker 5: It's not like a it's not like even an image
18:33
Speaker 5: thing that I'm worried about. It's like more of an
18:35
Speaker 5: internal feeling when you just feel like a bit more
18:37
Speaker 5: sluggish some weeks. Yeah, it's just nice to know.
18:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like I said before, I just think that
18:42
Speaker 2: it's knowing these things and normalizing these things as well.
18:46
Speaker 2: And I think even when it comes to social situations,
18:50
Speaker 2: like if I look at my calendar and I say
18:52
Speaker 2: that it's the week before my period and I've got
18:55
Speaker 2: a lot of social things booked in, I'm like, Okay,
18:58
Speaker 2: I know that I've probably bitten off more than I
19:00
Speaker 2: can chew.
19:00
Speaker 3: Let's see if we can like reschedule some of.
19:03
Speaker 2: These things, and even being able to say that to
19:06
Speaker 2: your friends, like I'm about to get my period, I'm
19:08
Speaker 2: not in a good headspace.
19:09
Speaker 3: I'm not going to be a lot of fun.
19:11
Speaker 2: This is why I still want to hang out, but like,
19:13
Speaker 2: can we maybe do it next week?
19:15
Speaker 7: And it's better than canceling the morning of even though
19:17
Speaker 7: it's totally fine as well, because you can see ahead
19:19
Speaker 7: of time what's going to happen and reevaluate with the
19:22
Speaker 7: person's schedule in mind.
19:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Like I think that it honestly has given
19:27
Speaker 2: a good basis for boundaries.
19:29
Speaker 3: And I know that that.
19:30
Speaker 2: Boundaries is a bit of a buzzword at the moment,
19:33
Speaker 2: but I do think that it is important. And everybody's
19:37
Speaker 2: experience with their cycle is so different and that's why
19:40
Speaker 2: I love that. Like, as for adults in the room today,
19:43
Speaker 2: we can have this conversation. Let's get into our cycle
19:46
Speaker 2: sinking cheat sheet. So during the mentoral phase, which is
19:49
Speaker 2: the bleeding phase days one to five or seven depending,
19:53
Speaker 2: this is when your hormones are at their lower so
19:55
Speaker 2: this is your time to rest and restore. So prioritize sleep,
20:01
Speaker 2: light exercise at best yoga stretching. Also focus on eating
20:08
Speaker 2: iron rich foods and also warming foods as well, like
20:11
Speaker 2: soups and stees and stuff I feel like really helps
20:14
Speaker 2: with the pain and the bloating for me personally.
20:17
Speaker 3: And then for work, focus on.
20:20
Speaker 2: Reflective tasks like journaling, low pressure planning, maybe looking at
20:25
Speaker 2: the calendar for the rest of the month. Follicular phase
20:29
Speaker 2: which is post period to ovulation days six to fourteen.
20:33
Speaker 2: This is when your estrogen is rising and also your
20:35
Speaker 2: energy is increasing, so this is the time to try
20:38
Speaker 2: new projects, start that new business idea, send out those emails.
20:43
Speaker 2: Maybe the time also to have some of those more
20:46
Speaker 2: conflict based or controversial conversations because you actually have the
20:50
Speaker 2: energy for it. This is the phase when you can
20:52
Speaker 2: plan and initiate. They're moving on to ovulation. This is
20:57
Speaker 2: our peak energy moment, so this is when you can
21:01
Speaker 2: do like your hit training, your strength training. You've really
21:04
Speaker 2: got the energy to like throw yourself into that hot
21:06
Speaker 2: yoga workout that otherwise.
21:08
Speaker 3: You'd be like, I'm not going in there.
21:10
Speaker 2: And then this is also when you'd be scheduling in
21:12
Speaker 2: your social events meetings, if you're going in.
21:15
Speaker 3: For a promotion, I would pick this stake because this
21:17
Speaker 3: is when.
21:18
Speaker 2: Like you're feeling your hottest, most confident, best version of yourself.
21:22
Speaker 3: And then last but not least, the low to heel face.
21:25
Speaker 2: Let have a moment of silence, please, so focus on
21:29
Speaker 2: detail work wrap up mode again, like, try not to
21:34
Speaker 2: make huge decisions if you can during this time, because
21:37
Speaker 2: this is when your energy is at its lowest, your
21:41
Speaker 2: PMS symptoms are at their highest, and it's a good
21:45
Speaker 2: time to reflect but maybe not make any big moves.
21:50
Speaker 1: What's good with this is it's not a rule book.
21:53
Speaker 6: It's not to say you're incapable of doing anything within
21:55
Speaker 6: whatever phase. It is like, if you want to go
21:57
Speaker 6: to a hit class when you've got your fucking period,
21:59
Speaker 6: go to here, Like exactly you are, you have free will,
22:02
Speaker 6: you are your main character. You can do all of
22:05
Speaker 6: these things. But I think what I like about cycle
22:07
Speaker 6: thinking is it gives you the grace to be able
22:10
Speaker 6: to take a step back.
22:11
Speaker 7: If you want to go on a long run on
22:12
Speaker 7: the first day of your period and you feel tired
22:14
Speaker 7: halfway through.
22:15
Speaker 4: It's not that you can't do it.
22:17
Speaker 7: It's just that the body is telling you something exactly
22:19
Speaker 7: absolutely okay.
22:21
Speaker 6: And that's the thing for me that I wish I
22:24
Speaker 6: learned sooner, is that you don't have to do everything
22:28
Speaker 6: and you can just listen to your body.
22:30
Speaker 2: Should we move on to our next lesson or next
22:33
Speaker 2: thing that we wish we learned, Sarah, do you want to?
22:36
Speaker 1: Okay?
22:37
Speaker 8: I wrote down a few, but the one I probably
22:41
Speaker 8: feel the most passionate about is gut health.
22:45
Speaker 5: Oh yes, and just nutrition in general. And they're like
22:49
Speaker 5: the mind gut link.
22:51
Speaker 8: I this has been a journey that I know a
22:53
Speaker 8: lot of my friends and myself have gone on in
22:55
Speaker 8: the last year or so of being like why do
22:58
Speaker 8: I why do I feel sick to some foods?
23:00
Speaker 5: Why does this happen?
23:01
Speaker 8: Why why do I get like I used to get
23:03
Speaker 8: the worst stomach eggs. And it's all to do with
23:07
Speaker 8: nutrition and gut health and me having bad gut health
23:11
Speaker 8: from being on antibiotics too much and stuff like that,
23:13
Speaker 8: all the stuff I would never have thought of, and
23:16
Speaker 8: similar if you go to the doctor, not particularly helpful,
23:20
Speaker 8: and being on that journey of like learning what foods
23:23
Speaker 8: are going to be good for my gut, what foods
23:25
Speaker 8: aren't going to be eating or protein whatever it is
23:28
Speaker 8: so helpful. And the other thing was learning that like
23:31
Speaker 8: when I'm super stressed or I'm not managing my stress well,
23:35
Speaker 8: I will have like inflamed gut symptoms and that there
23:40
Speaker 8: is such a strong mind gut link and just researching
23:44
Speaker 8: that and understanding that so much better has made me.
23:46
Speaker 5: Feel way better.
23:49
Speaker 1: I'm getting into it now, yeah, and it's so good.
23:51
Speaker 8: Really Like it's just been such a tangible difference. And
23:54
Speaker 8: again it feels kind of like it's a trend or
23:57
Speaker 8: it's woo were There are definitely elements of it going
23:59
Speaker 8: to far or being like I think anything that sort
24:02
Speaker 8: of gets as much traction does turn into a bit
24:03
Speaker 8: of capitalism after a while, But the rocks of it
24:06
Speaker 8: is still what's important.
24:07
Speaker 6: And everything with women's health feel like it's witchy or
24:11
Speaker 6: intuition or woo woo, do you know what I mean?
24:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I swear like that's like.
24:15
Speaker 6: And don't get me wrong, I love a fucking witchy moment.
24:18
Speaker 6: But I'm just like, where like intuition verse science, right.
24:22
Speaker 7: Well, that's I think where wellness culture and vertic quotations
24:26
Speaker 7: comes in. Where there's like a multi trillion dollar industry
24:29
Speaker 7: been built on teaching us about self care, and there
24:32
Speaker 7: is of course a certain level of what works fore
24:34
Speaker 7: you works if you I'm not trying to shame anyone
24:36
Speaker 7: out of this, but you know, there's a lot of
24:37
Speaker 7: science coming out at the moment about women needing to
24:39
Speaker 7: lift her heavy weights into and through metopause, and you know,
24:42
Speaker 7: there's lots of there's heaps of amazing women.
24:45
Speaker 4: There's doctor Sarah E.
24:46
Speaker 7: Hill who's writing a lot of great stuff about contraceptives
24:48
Speaker 7: at the moment. There's like not doctor Jen Gundo, who's
24:50
Speaker 7: another amazing medical professional who talks about women's health, specifically
24:54
Speaker 7: in reproductive areas. And these are the people to be
24:57
Speaker 7: following because they speak specifically to reproductive health all for
25:00
Speaker 7: the experience of menopause.
25:01
Speaker 4: And while I'm online seeing like.
25:03
Speaker 7: Oh, this candle is going to make you feel happy,
25:04
Speaker 7: it's like, no, I need to actually understand gut health
25:07
Speaker 7: and weightlifting and all of these strategies that I need
25:10
Speaker 7: to implement.
25:11
Speaker 5: And it is a sign of the times as well.
25:12
Speaker 8: Like the other thing I thought when I looked, when
25:14
Speaker 8: I started thinking about what we actually learned in Pe,
25:16
Speaker 8: and it would be like eighty twenty rule and like
25:18
Speaker 8: whatever it is, it was really it's kind of crazy
25:21
Speaker 8: to look back and think about it. But the other
25:23
Speaker 8: thing was like cabs were so villainized when.
25:25
Speaker 5: We were growing up, and now we know that we
25:28
Speaker 5: need that for our brains to function a lot of
25:30
Speaker 5: the time.
25:31
Speaker 8: And protein, Like I love a steak, but even a
25:35
Speaker 8: few years ago, I would have been like that would
25:37
Speaker 8: have felt quite blokey and masculine to be like, give
25:39
Speaker 8: me a steak.
25:41
Speaker 5: Yes, foods and that's really interesting as well easy. Yeah,
25:45
Speaker 5: And just also when you said metopause, that is another one.
25:47
Speaker 8: That I'm like, that is something every woman will go
25:49
Speaker 8: through and yes, and yeah, we've never been taught, Like
25:53
Speaker 8: my mom's going through it now, and like just even
25:55
Speaker 8: talking to her about it, I'm like, how do we
25:57
Speaker 8: just we just kind of wait till we get there
25:59
Speaker 8: and go like, oh, what's happening?
26:00
Speaker 7: And then then you get an influx of information. You're
26:03
Speaker 7: almost overwhelmed by the discovery and you and everyone's having
26:06
Speaker 7: the same conversation why didn't.
26:07
Speaker 4: I know this earlier?
26:08
Speaker 8: So much same with like every major stage, like if
26:11
Speaker 8: you choose to have kids, and it's like, why don't
26:13
Speaker 8: we learn about postpartum depression or anything like that?
26:16
Speaker 5: It grinds my guess what did we learn in Pe?
26:20
Speaker 7: I feel like for me because I went to a
26:21
Speaker 7: Catholic school as well, and there was a level of
26:23
Speaker 7: sex education, but it was probably at its bare bones,
26:26
Speaker 7: like consent education, which was okay. And then there was
26:29
Speaker 7: also a religious education that said, like, well, sex primaries
26:31
Speaker 7: for reproduction and secondary is for like no, no, not
26:35
Speaker 7: even that second aout, but second is for increasing the
26:40
Speaker 7: love between a married couple, was the argument, right. But
26:43
Speaker 7: when I remember in Pe is having the one sheet
26:46
Speaker 7: one a for page that had every kind of contraceptive
26:49
Speaker 7: and it was a mix and match where you had
26:51
Speaker 7: to draw a line between the contraceptive and the definition.
26:54
Speaker 7: Yeah that's all I remember.
26:55
Speaker 6: Yeah.
26:56
Speaker 7: I never remember hearing like, okay, well, if you were
26:58
Speaker 7: to get an IUD, there's two sizes, and you go
27:02
Speaker 7: like you should be offered sedation, you know, you shouldn't
27:04
Speaker 7: have to like a local anesthetic or blah, like there
27:06
Speaker 7: should be this on offer. This is how much it costs,
27:08
Speaker 7: but like there was no information about like how long
27:11
Speaker 7: it lasted, like I remember it just being a plain
27:12
Speaker 7: definition of water was yes, but it's also so unclear
27:16
Speaker 7: because I've tried three or four different contraceptors. Now, when
27:19
Speaker 7: you go in and I pay a significant amount of
27:21
Speaker 7: money to have this of us provided and to be
27:23
Speaker 7: protected for three years to eight years, now.
27:25
Speaker 4: Somewhere a lot of them.
27:27
Speaker 7: I remember getting the implant on in when I was
27:29
Speaker 7: about twenty two, and they said also for twenty percent
27:32
Speaker 7: of people, they'd never bleed for the next three years.
27:33
Speaker 4: For twenty percent of people they bleed lightly.
27:36
Speaker 7: And for me, I ended up bleeding heavily for about
27:38
Speaker 7: ninety days straight and they wouldn't even take it out
27:40
Speaker 7: of my body after I requested and requested and requested.
27:43
Speaker 7: So it's all these experiences where they go, Okay, don't
27:45
Speaker 7: want this, throw other options, and yet this constant outlay
27:48
Speaker 7: of side effects. And yet when they were studying male
27:51
Speaker 7: contraceptor for male pill and they had a five percent
27:53
Speaker 7: report back in symptoms of depression and mood swings, they
27:55
Speaker 7: went back to the drawing board. And so I think
27:58
Speaker 7: again everything were speaking about cons in this episode really
28:01
Speaker 7: comes back to the lack of research and investment into
28:03
Speaker 7: women's health.
28:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, and just ute finding root causes and problems.
28:07
Speaker 8: Like when you were saying and you would have we
28:09
Speaker 8: both struggled with our skin in the past, and it's
28:11
Speaker 8: like when I went to the doctor again and I
28:15
Speaker 8: was like, well, I would like to do the implant on.
28:17
Speaker 8: I'd like to do something else because I'm really bad it,
28:19
Speaker 8: remember to take the pill, etc. And they were like, well,
28:22
Speaker 8: you're actne will probably come back then, And I was like, well,
28:24
Speaker 8: what's the game plan for when I want to get
28:26
Speaker 8: off this to have kids however?
28:28
Speaker 5: And they were like, well, you'll just have sister acne.
28:30
Speaker 7: And I think this is just and I can understand
28:32
Speaker 7: again the health system in many ways and short appointments,
28:35
Speaker 7: in these fifteen minutes sort of windows that we get
28:37
Speaker 7: with a practitioner, they're just trying to kind of get
28:40
Speaker 7: you to the next appointment in many ways, like the
28:42
Speaker 7: system isn't actually designed to examine root causes, and it's
28:45
Speaker 7: not the fault of an individual practitioner, but it is
28:48
Speaker 7: a larger question to ask, like can you refer me
28:50
Speaker 7: to see a dermatologist? Can you provide me with the
28:52
Speaker 7: long term solution as opposed to the surface level fix.
28:55
Speaker 2: There is a lot about this conversation that can be
28:58
Speaker 2: really disheartening, and it really is easy to lose hope.
29:02
Speaker 2: But I do think that the fact that we are
29:05
Speaker 2: sitting here and we can have this conversation as for
29:08
Speaker 2: adults and for women and talk about our very different
29:11
Speaker 2: experiences so openly is hopefully a sign that we're taking
29:15
Speaker 2: a step in the right direction and that there is
29:18
Speaker 2: a lot of really helpful resources out there, and we
29:22
Speaker 2: will link them in the show notes so that if
29:24
Speaker 2: any of the points of conversation today did align with
29:27
Speaker 2: you or you have further questions, we will put resources
29:30
Speaker 2: in the show notes so that you do know where
29:32
Speaker 2: to go for help or information for the next steps.
29:35
Speaker 2: Because I think that it is it can be really sad,
29:39
Speaker 2: you know, the state of the situation that we are in,
29:42
Speaker 2: but also like I have hope that things.
29:45
Speaker 5: Not to put like a toxic positive spin on this.
29:48
Speaker 8: But I think it's fantastic that we're even having these
29:50
Speaker 8: conversations now because and that we know to ask these questions,
29:53
Speaker 8: because we're starting to research and starting pay attention to
29:55
Speaker 8: this stuff.
29:56
Speaker 4: So and also this is not to provide any sort
29:59
Speaker 4: of medical advice. We cannot do that.
30:01
Speaker 7: But the idea is that I think when groups of women,
30:03
Speaker 7: I know, when I talk to my friends about this,
30:05
Speaker 7: it's incredibly validating to hear about their experiences. You know
30:07
Speaker 7: what kind of questions I could ask my doctrine, where
30:09
Speaker 7: I could go next?
30:09
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly if someone else got help, And it's it's
30:12
Speaker 8: just having these transparent conversations.
30:14
Speaker 4: It's trying to get there a lot faster.
30:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, thank you so much for coming
30:19
Speaker 2: on today's show. We very much appreciate it, and I
30:23
Speaker 2: think a lot of the chicks are going to get
30:24
Speaker 2: a lot of guidance.
30:25
Speaker 3: And help and reassurance from this episode. So thank you
30:28
Speaker 3: so much.
30:28
Speaker 2: But where can the chicks learn more about you, both
30:31
Speaker 2: individually and also together.
30:33
Speaker 8: Well, we have a podcast God Big Small Talk, which
30:37
Speaker 8: is got on a little bit of something for everyone.
30:41
Speaker 8: But on Tuesdays we do it's like half news, half
30:44
Speaker 8: pop culture, and then on Thursdays we do Small Talk,
30:47
Speaker 8: which is interviewing someone a bit more chit chatty personal.
30:51
Speaker 5: And then once a month we do a.
30:53
Speaker 8: News deep dive episode two episodes as well on different
30:56
Speaker 8: news topics.
30:57
Speaker 3: That's called Big Talk Big Talk, Yeah amazing.
31:00
Speaker 4: And then I run an.
31:01
Speaker 7: Independent commentary platform called cheek Media, which is at cheek
31:03
Speaker 7: media dot com on Instagram.
31:05
Speaker 3: Amazing.
31:06
Speaker 2: We'll put all the links in the show notes, of course,
31:08
Speaker 2: and thank you again for coming on, and thanks to
31:10
Speaker 2: your chicks for having us in your ear holes.
31:12
Speaker 3: We'd love to be here. And thank you to m
31:14
Speaker 3: ik Made for making today's episode happened. Bye Chicks, Bye
31:17
Speaker 3: bye