Athletic performance is impacted by your exercise and menstrual cycle phases. Listen as Jess Freemas explains how to work out according to your cycle and optimize your health.
How can you sync your fitness routines with your menstrual cycle? And why should you? In this episode, exercise physiology expert Jess Freemas discusses the connection between periods, workouts, and women’s hormonal phases. She is from Orreco, a bio-analytics platform that helps athletes. At Orreco, Jess helped pioneer the FitrWoman app, which empowers female athletes and exercise enthusiasts to understand their bodies and optimize their performance.
Jess explains the challenges, stigmas, and misconceptions surrounding menstruation, working out, and how tracking your menstrual cycle can equip you to adapt your exercise habits for improved health. You’ll learn strategies to manage period symptoms, the science behind exercising according to menstrual cycle phases, and ways to level up your fitness for life.
Jess is a Female Athlete Specialist at Orreco. Based in the U.S., Dr. Freemas is advancing female athlete research and delivering high-impact consultation to various athletes and teams across the NWSL, WNBA, NCAA, and Team USA. Jess holds a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology and a Ph.D. in Human Performance from Indiana University and has published work detailing the effects of menstrual cycle hormone fluctuations on female physiology and performance.
Discussed in this episode:
Research on the menstrual cycle and working out
Women’s hormones and their impact on energy, mood, and nutritional needs
What happens when women stop working out because of their period?
How women can follow a menstrual cycle workout plan to improve health and performance
How the FitrWoman app helps women align their workouts and athletic goals with their menstrual cycles
Ways to improve menstrual education and awareness for overall health
“Menstrual cycle symptoms affect up to 90% of women. Now that we have this data, how do we make it actionable? How do we improve it? That’s really the point of [this research] — showing that women are affected and that they actually realize they’re affected by the menstrual cycle.” — Jess Freemas
Transcript:
Georgie Kovacs:
So Jess, thank you so much for joining the Fempower Health podcast. I actually learned about Orreco through media around the FitrWoman app. And what also got me excited is Georgie Bruinveld. Is that how you pronounce her name? So. My name's Georgie. Her name's Georgie. I'm like, Holy cow. And I could tell you got slammed with press because she reached we were talking and then all of her messages were we are overwhelmed with press. So that's good news. So by the name of the app, I think people will get an idea of what we're here to talk about, which is menstrual cycles and athletics. And maybe not everyone that's listening is a full on athlete, but we're going to also talk about how the data you guys are looking at and the research you're doing can impact all of us who want to stay healthy. So before we dive into that, tell us your background and then we can dive into some of the research.
Jess Freemas:
So I recently finished a PhD in exercise physiology with a focus in human performance. And then I went deeper into just sort of female physiology and changes across the menstrual cycle and how it affects everything from mood to renal function and how it compares to men and to fluid regulation and just during exercise and in the heat. And so just all the ways that really hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle can affect your physiology. And then of course related to exercise in some of these studies as well. And so really the goal of this FitrWoman app is like you said, we do work with athletes as a consultancy. But this is for the just general recreationally active, two elite, anybody who's exercising woman and how to train smarter and better and give the evidence based researches and practices to really hone in and harness sort of we call it this inner superpower that your body is and that the menstrual cycle can be.
Georgie Kovacs:
I did some research. So I looked at top questions people ask about menstrual cycles and working out, and some of the questions were even is this factor fiction? That it really matters? Your menstrual cycle, where you are in your menstrual cycle and how that impacts working out and some of the data is it's ridiculous. It's hocus pocus. And then you guys are looking at data. Before we, I guess, dive into some of this data, I had just a theoretical question. So one of the things that I'm noticing in women's health, because I've spoken to well over 100 experts now and some are clinicians, some are doing like tech companies that are doing deep data analysis is sometimes I wonder if the reason why people may not think something works is because we don't yet have the data. So the question is the wrong question. It's not, does this work? It's almost, do we have the data and what does the data say? Does it work or not. And I don't know if people start with that first question. And so based on the research that you guys have been doing, I'm so curious on your thoughts on that very general question.
Jess Freemas:
I mean, this is discussed often, especially among scientists and applied scientists, and just both because there's a barrier to research, there's a barrier to applied side, and they're so interlinked. So, for instance, on the scientists like research side, we're like, yes, show us the evidence. Where's the evidence so that we can really sort of make best informed choices. And I think, to your point, we are lacking so much data in the space, even though it's gaining popularity and there is more research out and coming and people are taking notice. But we still have so many years and studies to do to really, I mean, even equal men if that ever happens. But it just takes so long to study the menstrual cycle in these women. And so we just don't have clear cut evidence on anything. And every woman is so individual based off her own sensitivity to her hormones, her levels of hormones, everything can affect the cycle too. And every woman is completely different. And so I think in that sense, we try to frame it as much evidence as we can gather to sort of maybe not necessarily change practices, but just inform decisions around what we do know based off of just general physiology, because internal lab environment is so different from the applied side. And the applied side, they're just like, some of them, especially sports teams or whatever, they're like, we want to win, give us that edge. We don't care if that's like proof. The applied side has to be so far advanced because it's just they're real humans trying to be applied in practice and exercise and be optimal health and performance. And so you kind of can't always go based off of this is proven, although we as our team really try to not only do the research and contribute, but then also just apply what we actually know. And there's no sort of force around that for each athlete. It's just like what's individual to her as this athlete and her team sport or individual sport and how her Lytle is. And then we sort of go from there. But we do give the basics of progesterone effects, amino acid catabolisms, that might mean you may need more protein at certain times, especially if you're an athlete. And so we sort of frame it like that, not as you should do endurance during this time, and you shouldn't do resistance training. It's not as clear cut. But that was a long winded way to say, I agree with everything that you just asked, and we definitely need more data.
Georgie Kovacs:
Well, fear not, listeners, because we will be solution oriented today and hear what your research says. So when Oracle first came out, there was a study that was published and it was in the Guardian and it said a recent UK wide opinion poll of 2000 women conducted by Populace, 54% of participants identified that they had to stop exercising as a result of their menstrual cycle, with this increasing to 73% in 16 to 24 year olds. And so this is why what's even more concerning is there was a women in sport finding that 42% of girls don't exercise when they're on their period and some of this is embarrassment and I'm sure a lot of it is pain as well. So talk to us about this data and we don't necessarily have to quote the numbers, but I think the theme is it's more of a women may exercise not want to or exercise less when they're on their period because of various reasons. So tell us what we should take away from that and what some of your data is starting to point to because even some of the papers you sent were really interesting.
Jess Freemas:
So I think sort of that paper was I mean it was so great in just showing that, you know what, the menstrual cycle has been ignored and it shouldn't be because look at all these women maybe silently suffering or having these effects and affecting their productivity and their life and their exercise habits. All of this stuff that can really improve or impact health. And so I think it's more sort of just look at the general perceptions in women and this is something that needs to be noticed and not ignored and honed in on and why is it normal for women to be losing out on things because of their menstrual cycle? And so with that, it could be that again, every woman is so individual. But I think collectively seeing population data is so important to show that every woman almost. So in that same study, they, quote, cite another paper that's like up to 90% of women actually experience menstrual cycle symptoms. And so this is a totally normal thing. But now that we have this data, how do we make it actionable, how do we change it, how do we improve that? And so that is really the point of this is showing that women are affected and they actually realize they're affected. Or maybe some women took that survey and didn't realize how much it affected them until they got actually asked those questions. Because that's the biggest issue, right, is that female health isn't really discussed even sort of with medical practitioners. Not every woman is really maybe honest or even has that body awareness to know that it's her hormones that are affecting her in this X, Y and Z way. And so I think that is sort of the really important thing to take away from this.
Georgie Kovacs:
Yeah, my presumption, especially from that interview and just general things I've read is it's almost like this formula, which didn't really make sense to me when you think of professional athletes is based on where you are in your cycle that impacts the type of work out that you should do. And so, for example, when you have your actual menstrual cycle, when you're bleeding, maybe you do lighter workouts, but you can't schedule, let's say, a professional soccer game around an entire team's menstrual cycle. And so when we look at this concept of women's, hormones change throughout their cycle and we all want to be fit whether we're an athlete or not, it may matter a bit more to an athlete as far as their ability to truly perform. What does that really mean for the activity level? Do you really have to change it based on where you are? Does it not matter? Can you supplement with food? What does that grand picture look like?
Jess Freemas:
Great question. And I think I often see a lot of sort of misinformation or you should or shouldn't do this, and I think you can't really say that. And again, I'm always going to come back. It comes down to the individual. But the whole goal of what we're doing and by tracking the cycle and bringing that body awareness and figuring out maybe patterns of symptoms isn't to say, hey, yeah, this is a bad day for you, just take a day off or do rest, or maybe you shouldn't do high intensity today. And it's more like, no, you're going to have these symptoms on this day, you might feel worse. So what can we do proactively leading up to that so that those symptoms aren't going to affect how you play, because you're going to play right, exactly like you said, you can't sort of change competition scheduling around your menstrual cycle, right? And every other individual woman, you can't do that. And so the biggest thing you can do is sort of, we like to say be the CEO of your own body, like take control of your menstrual cycle, how it affects you, notice it so that you can actually make behavioral changes like, oh, I know I need more. I get these symptoms, I get headaches, I get low back pain, I get cramps. And so I know that I need anti inflammatory foods and antioxidants because that's going to sort of combat the inflammation maybe going on in the body as the process of menstruation occurs. And so it's really just about being able to take proactive steps and really impact your health. And so that might mean changing training for yourself. However, there is no, I think, proven sort of like enough evidence to say yes. In phase two, when estrogen is dominant, you should only do resistance training because you're going to be probably more likely to adapt well to resistance training because there are studies that show maybe like force development changes and maybe you will adapt a little bit better in that phase compared to another. But it doesn't mean that you should definitely do one exercise versus the other. And I think you can kind of hone in on those hormones to maybe say, I'm also going to be more motivated in this estrogen dominant phase, so I'm going to push myself harder. Whereas when I'm feeling like pretty bad right before I get my period because I have these symptoms, maybe I'll just plan a little bit of a lighter workout or instead I'm going to push myself hard and then I'm going to actually take a longer recovery. Right? It's just what else can you do that's just not necessarily directly affecting training, but might affect how you recover and your just overall health and optimizing everything around training so that you can train at your best every single day regardless of menstrual cycle phase.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay, so for those who may not have intimate knowledge of the phases of menstrual cycle, do you mind just walking through those real quick? Because what I'd love to do is see if there's general themes of things you guys are seeing, especially for those who may not necessarily be athletes. So let's walk through those phases and then we can dive into some of that information. Yeah.
Jess Freemas:
Okay. So the menstrual cycle is characterized by fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone and luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. So estrogen being estrogen and progesterone being, of course, the dominant hormones that really regulate this lytle or that really change the most throughout. We have a four phase model and we break it down by phase one is your bleed phase. So that's typically when both estrogen and progesterone are low and that's the menstruation phase. So that's phase one. And then phase two is it's characterized by this peak in estrogen that occurs before the onset of Ovulation. And that's sort of like estrogen plays on serotonin dopamine pathway and it can affect all of these other things. And so we often say that maybe women have a greater readiness in that phase just because estrogen does have these effects neurobiologically and physiologically that can actually maybe enhance performance or maybe enhance how you adapt to training. That whole phase one and two is really the follicular phase. The first half of the cycle separated and then ovulation occurs and then the luteal phase comes after ovulation. And so we really break that down into phase three and four. So phase three is kind of characterized by this progesterone remains low throughout that first half of the cycle and then it peaks and rises during phase three. And then both hormones decline, estrogen and progesterone because estrogen actually kind of rises again during phase three. And then phase four is the hormonal decline, the really cascade of inflammation that occurs.
Georgie Kovacs:
Would it be beneficial then and fair to talk about each of the phases then? We know that it's different for everyone and there's a lot of nuances in there, which I think again is what makes studying women's health such a challenge. But it would be great to be able to break that down. So why don't we start with number one, which is the bleed phase, and what are some of the considerations that come into play and that people can take into account?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, out of all the research there, we do sort of have some high level things that we like. For instance, part of what we do is really educate our athletes before we even kind of work with them. Right. We want everyone to have the same level of education about their own bodies. This is how I would actually explain it to an athlete. So phase one is when you're bleeding. So you're going to have typically more inflammation in the body because what happens? So a lot of people don't realize that the menstrual cycle is an inflammatory process. Right. That shedding of the uterine lining means that it's a cascade of inflammatory markers. And in that hormonal decline. When estrogen and progesterone actually do decline, then you have also this release of prostaglandins. Right. And inflammation circulating around. So of course, that is a big reason why we get symptoms. And so, again, in this phase, symptoms are common as well. And because of all of this, the recovery window might be elongated for some people. And so we often say that estrogen actually really affects the way we store glycogen and maybe utilize carbohydrates. And so we say that it's really good to hone in on carbohydrate utilization during this phase because estrogen is low, and so your body really will be able to harness carbohydrates really well for exercise during this time. But then we always caveat, like all very individual response in this phase.
Georgie Kovacs:
Are there people who decide to just take either a birth control pill or any other form of birth control to control their body such they don't get a menstrual cycle, so they can avoid this?
Jess Freemas:
Yes. A big reason for a lot of people, and especially interestingly as you age, is to avoid cycles completely, but athletes actually tend to be more likely to take the pill back to back to sort of manipulate their cycles around competition more than the average population. So, yes, that definitely happens. We would never recommend to do that, but absolutely people have done that and do that well.
Georgie Kovacs:
I interviewed Dr. Sarah Hill. Do you know her? She wrote, this is your brain on birth control. So I interviewed her and that episode is also going live around the same time. So I encourage people who have lots of questions about the impact of that to listen to that, because that was like her jam.
Jess Freemas:
Yeah. Wow, that sounds great. Yeah. And let me say that it's really important that we let every athlete and woman know that races have been won and competitions have been won at every single phase and day of the menstrual cycle. Right. And so this is why it's just really like, how can you sort of harness your best at each phase regardless of what effects you might feel.
Georgie Kovacs:
No, absolutely. Okay, so carbs are good when you have your menstrual cycles, when you have your period.
Jess Freemas:
Yes. And we'll get into it. Carbs are good at every phase, really, especially if you're an athlete. And this is with an athlete view lens, they're going to need more carbs and protein and fat than the average person because of the high level of training that they're doing. But on a performance view lens yeah, we're like increase the carbs in this phase for sure.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay. And what about just general an anti inflammatory diet during that time? Like really concentrating on the turmerics and the gingers and things like that as well?
Jess Freemas:
Okay, yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially if you're having a lot of symptoms. There actually are some studies that looked at like, curcumin with menstrual cycle specific symptoms. And there are certain vitamins that are really good to have just in general for menstrual cycle female health function, but also that can really impact symptoms. And an omega three fatty acid supplement like a fish oil has actually been shown to kind of be correlated with reducing lower back pain as a menstrual cycle symptom. And so definitely honing in on nutrition is everything. Yeah.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay, so now let's go to phase two, which is the peak estrogen. So talk to us about that phase and what we should consider.
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, so as I mentioned before, so estrogen actually acts on the serotonin dopamine pathway to increase sort of that pathway and make you hopefully you might feel a little bit happier during this phase. You might have more energy. Actually, one study that I did showed that you sort of do have a greater motivation level in this phase and might affect performance for the better compared to sort of phase three, phase four. And so we often say go on and push forward if you're feeling good. Your hormones are meant to do that in this time. So often, yeah, mood and readiness are increased. We say that this is a really good time to also increase carbs, but it's a little bit different. Mechanistically. So estrogen actually is glycogen storing. So that means that you're going to be more in a stored state, which is really interesting. And I think it's right because of ovulation. Ovulation is the main reproductive process that's going on. And let's say your body is actually preparing to get pregnant if you're not on anything, right? And it's the natural process of ovulation. And so, of course it makes sense that in that time, or maybe estrogen is to store up those carbohydrates because you need your energy. You need more energy at those reproductive times. Right. You're more metabolically active in that. So I think it's really interesting. But because of that, then we say increase the carbs because you're less likely to utilize carbs, maybe for the same given intensity, maybe during phase one when it's low. And so you can still increase those carbohydrates, especially as an athlete, because carbs really fuels high intensity and long duration exercise. Interesting that it's sort of like we say, still eat more carbs, but it's just kind of different on how your body responds.
Georgie Kovacs:
Right. Anything else that people should consider?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, so some research has shown that muscle laxity changes sort of mid cycle maybe around this time as well. So there could be sort of altered biomechanics and possibly an increased risk of soft tissue injury. But we really need more research in this area so I can't say everything definitively. And then there is sort of because again, that increase in estrogen and it's really good in acting on nitric oxide in the blood to sort of stimulate blood flow vasodilate. And so it could be that you have an accelerated adaptation to training stimulus.
Georgie Kovacs:
What about the phase three now beginning of the luteal phase?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, phase three is really like we go back to progesterone characterized by that really increase in progesterone. And because of that it's correlated with an increase and affects body temperature. So you have an increase in body temperature at baseline and resting heart rate and breathing rate potentially. And again, you kind of probably need more calories and you need to fuel more regularly in this phase because your metabolism is going to be higher because of all those processes increasing based off this increase in progesterone. You can have mood, could be affected in sleep just because of this. Maybe you do feel hotter, maybe you're more uncomfortable, maybe night sweats occur. This could also happen in phase four, but essentially it really alters your metabolism. So glycogen can be less stable at this time. And because of that, that's why we say especially to athletes, make sure that you're eating and you're fueling every two to 3 hours because if you have these big dips or gaps in energy intake, that's probably going to increase cortisol and then maybe suppress your endogenous ovarian hormones. And so it's really important to keep up the regular fueling in this phase. And then oftentimes, especially with athletes, we recommend more protein like pre and post workout just because there is an increase in amino acid catabolism. And so there could be a greater need for protein as well. And there could be also a shorter recovery window. Yeah, interesting.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay, and then what about because progesterone is starting to increase at this phase? Correct. And I guess I would just think that with the weight helps with mood, et cetera, and sleep, does it make more of an impact when you get to phase four in the way you guys break this out?
Jess Freemas:
It's so individualized based off of, I think each woman's kind of sensitivity to progesterone and then possibly even the ratio between estrogen and progesterone at these times. Right. Personally, I think of me. So I have PMDD. And so phase three hits me hard with this progesterone increase.
Georgie Kovacs:
Right.
Jess Freemas:
And the change, but then the change. So as it's increasing, I'm really sensitive to that change. But then as it's decreasing, I'm also really sensitive to that change, which is why PMDD exists. Well, we don't really know. Their etiology is unknown, but because of the changing hormones. And so I would say that it really is just individualized. Like, some women might feel worse during phase three, some might feel, maybe the majority, I would say feel worse during phase four, because then probably most women don't have such a greater sensitivity to those hormonal changes, and so they're going to really feel the effects of that inflammatory cascade that's occurring in those hormonal decline. So phase four. Yeah.
Georgie Kovacs:
So how does one treat their body during phase four? When it comes to dieter considerations around exercise and things like that, what should they expect?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, so I would say that especially if you're getting a lot of inflammation in the body, you're going to have a lot of symptoms potentially in this phase. I would say this is the most heavily recorded symptom phase, which, again, really makes sense with what your hormones are doing as they're declining. And so there's increased inflammation as well as oxidative stress. Sleep disruption is really common during this time. And mood changes such as anxiety, irritability, sadness, these are really affected by this hormonal decline as well. And then, interestingly, you might have a more unstable blood glucose. And this is the phase that we tell our athletes, you really need to care for yourself or be proactive leading up to it, because it could be just the perfect storm, right, because you're already maybe having these effects from these endogenous hormones, psychologically and physiologically and physically. And then you might also fail a test, and you might break up with your boyfriend, and then you also might have a bad training session. And then it's just like, boom. It just kind of explode in that phase. And so it's really sensitive to just behavioral changes. Yeah.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay, so how does someone know where they are exactly? How are people tracking this data? Because there is such variability, especially at stages of life as well.
Jess Freemas:
So, yeah, our app is free to download and use, and actually we just were just about to launch it sort of like the next version of it. And tracking the cycle, really, it enables you to hone in on where you're at in your cycle and sort of just notice. So, for instance, so you go into the app and you just log when you're bleeding. And you can also log any symptoms positive and negative, because, again, we want the menstrual cycle not just to be seen as a burden, but maybe you might feel better at certain times. So you should log it and you should know it when you're feeling good and when you might be feeling worse. And so it's just a tool to really figure out your own individual patterns so that you can sort of optimize really your health that way. It can also eventually female health is just so underlying and underpinning because it can be affected by travel and lifestyle stress and lack of fueling or differences in fueling if you change diets or whatever and altitude and environment. So this is sort of just like, you know where you're at and you know whether you're going to be regular irregular and you can sort of plan ahead. And so the athletes track and then we actually have a separate coach platform where with our athletes specifically, we actually can monitor them as well. So if I know I have an athlete who sort of has a problem in phase three, I'll give her a heads up a few days and be like, hey, remember this checklist to do during this time and leading up to it because you have a lot of fatigue during this phase. So that's really how we use it and monitor it in that purpose. Yeah, okay.
Georgie Kovacs:
And I was wondering because I know there's so many apps out there now for women's health and I was curious how much people truly enter in their data so that you all are able to evaluate from just a more holistic perspective what's going on with women's health. Are you finding that people are fairly compliant in entering their data? Because I know we all love to track stuff, but it can be a lot in our busy lives. So I was curious realistically, I would.
Jess Freemas:
Say general average exercise woman using the app, probably not logging everything and maybe you just start logging for a few months or a few cycles and then you're like, oh, I'm done with this. Or I, for instance, even a while back, was just I have so many symptoms, and I was logging them all, and then I just got tired of that and just started logging the first day of my bleed. So that I could prepare for when my so I am absolutely sure with anything subjective. People probably aren't adhering. Or maybe they have ebbs and flows with our athletes. I will say it's maybe a little bit similar, but I think they're more honed in because all they really have to do is log a bleed and we can take care of the rest of letting them know or being proactive and coming up with strategies around everything for that individual. And we also get full ideally we'll get full blood panels on these athletes. That way we can have a full picture so it's not just looking at the menstrual cycle, even though we do think it's sort of like our extra easy biomarker to sort of know. Like if something's irregular, we know probably let's look into the consideration of nutrition and hydration or environment or stress. What can we hone in to kind of help the menstrual cycle be regular? But we also want to look at actual other biomarkers. In the blood, like thyroid function, metabolic function, oxygen transport, immune function. And so that ideally is what we do to sort of get that full picture.
Georgie Kovacs:
What feedback are you getting from the non athletes about leveraging this app and are they finding it helpful to make adjustments? Do they notice it as much? Or maybe there's like a certain type of woman who finds this extremely helpful. Like I'm almost thinking people who have extreme PMDD are probably like how in the world do I live my life? So what are you finding with the women using it who find it most helpful and how does it work for them?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, I think it's generally great feedback, especially if you do really kind of use it for what it's intended and access it because we offer so many resources. Like all of the evidence from the research is there in the app for them to access. For instance, and especially in the new app if I log Bloating, for instance, it's going to send me nutritional recipes that are good for Bloating. It's going to send me resources on maybe what affects Bloating and here's the evidence for it. And so I think from that standpoint, yes, it can be very helpful. Especially like you said, if you have a disorder and again, if you're really honed in and in tune with your body, especially if you're really honed in on your training right then those women are probably more likely to get a lot more out of the app. But I would say general user journey seems to be positive.
Georgie Kovacs:
Okay, that's great. What are some of the things that surprised you most since you've been working at Orreco and just studying this space?
Jess Freemas:
Oh man. Well the first thing was that I started my PhD in 2016 and the lab I was started at, they were doing no women research, but not even that. They weren't even including women in their studies. So that was the biggest thing for me coming in because I was like and then I was like, why aren't we studying women, let's do this. And now they are always including women or they're justifying if they don't, whatever. So I think that I was just most surprised that it was like we were completely ignored and that was recently and we still are probably in some labs. And I think again it's really been blowing up lately this topic and I think it's a really great thing. So that's really just been the biggest surprise. And then I think maybe the other surprise and I'm not so surprised as much, but is kind of all of the stories that each women have had are similar and that they haven't been cared for properly in this female health space. And not only that, I guess my biggest really surprise is that how the lack of education exists in all of these women and these environments. I didn't think about it because I studied it so in depth. But then you come out and you're like my friends don't even know anything about their hormones. And also these athletes and just general women and you end up talking about it and you realize how little women actually know about themselves and their bodies. And I think that was the biggest shock, to be honest.
Georgie Kovacs:
Once we start to understand these things. And I bet the people that are using the app, they probably also don't track as much. Because I have found once you track yourself for like three months, obviously if there's a major change in your life, like pregnancy or getting into the stage of perimenopause or menopause, you have to track again. But it does seem like you both get to know your body from a statistical perspective, having the app, but then you're probably able to with your intuition listen to your body better because now you actually know what to look for.
Jess Freemas:
Exactly. And that is the whole point. And so I think again, bringing that body awareness, making you the CEO of your own body and especially in those cases, it's really sad that women, they don't even think about their female health because it's not discussed and they're not educated on it. And so then they get to the point of oh, I think I could just get pregnant and it doesn't happen or perimenopause and menopause is really tough to go through and yet nobody actually prepares you for it. And this is just such an issue, like this all should be so discussed. And so it's amazing that you're doing this podcast to talk about all of these different things. The tracking creates historical data. So not only for you to sort of maybe if you are starting to notice differences or irregularities or more symptoms, you can bring it to your doctor and say look, I have this data on myself and that can sort of help make more informed decisions, right? And that's the whole goal is treating individuals, each woman as an individual and this just helps with that. And so the new app will bring that. So like trends and reports and how many times you blog this symptom and usually when it is in your cycle or how long your cycle length is typically on average and if it deviates much and sort of cycle lengths and longer. So that is really an aspect to hone in on. That's really cool. Again, for that sort of historical health data on yourself that you have tracked and logged. And so again, with that subjectivity of it, hopefully women are thinking about themselves and just like I'm doing this for me, it's not for anyone else to see this data, but you might need it later on. And so that brings that. But it also sort of brings again, the positive symptoms are something we really, really want to hone in on because we want the menstrual cycle to be used as a superpower, it's not a burden. And so maybe you feel more productive at that time or you feel happier or you feel more coordinated. And so we input those sort of positive symptoms as well based off, of course, the research and what we've shown or what we've seen. And then we also have so our old app did have recipes, but now we sort of have recipes that will pop up tailored to you for you based off of what you're actually logging in those symptoms. And I think that's really helped because if you are having trouble with a symptom, you have evidence right there to show you that's, like, this might help with what you're going through. Try it and it's so personalized. And then not only that, but you can sort of say if you're vegan or vegetarian or pescatarian or you're gluten intolerant and it will send you those specific recipes. So again, very much personalized suggestions. And then we've always had this coach platform, but now if you are using our sort of like remote desktop and monitoring, let's say a team or an athlete, or this is what we do, you can send actual resources to the athlete's phone. And so I can see, oh, this athlete has logged Bloating. I'm going to send this resource on Bloating to her phone and it will pop up right there to say, here's a resource your coach sent you. And so it also kind of streamlines that communication between staff and athletes, which can be a really uncomfortable topic and not everyone is yet comfortable talking about it. And so this kind of helps.
Georgie Kovacs:
That okay, that's awesome. And then should I assume that this app is most relevant for menstruating, women? I don't know how much it would work for perimenopause, but it seems like menopause might not be as relevant. I don't know if you guys have studied it. What do you think?
Jess Freemas:
Yeah, it depends. I think you're right. This is more maybe tailored to the sort of reproductive stages, I guess, of life. But I would say that if you're having symptoms, it is still something really good to log and monitor and keep up with. And if you do end up having spotting ever, you can look back and I think it's not necessarily specifically for menopause, but you bring me to a good point that I forgot. And what's really novel about this app is that we want every user journey who might be in that reproductive stage of life. So like, if you're on an IUD, you can log that and it will sort of tailor your user journey to you as an IUD user, versus an OCP user versus an implant, versus not on anything.So just be eumenorrhoeic. Or if it's your oligomenorrheic or polymenorrheic, it's going to sort of flag those and say you might be irregular because you have like 50 day cycle lengths. And that's out of the literature defined range of 21 to 35 days. So maybe you want to get this checked out. It might mean that it's oligomenorrheic. And again, we try to educate through that too specifically. So not as to diagnose or flag, it's just more like if you are a regular, you should know because that actually might affect you if you want your long term female health, right. And if you want to get pregnant or even maybe it affects menopause later down the road. And so I think that just tailored journey to whatever you're on or whatever you're taking or not or in however your cycle links sort of come out to be. We're going to educate through the app. Yeah. Awesome.
Georgie Kovacs:
I find that I feel like such an empowered patient when I go talk to my doctor and I can have actual dialogue and push them a little bit on certain things when needed. And it's been so, so helpful and so I can only imagine how one can leverage this as well.
Related to this episode:
Related episode: Why Women Should Sweat in Sync With Their Cycle | Jenni Hulburt
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