Astrology 101: How To Sync Your Monthly Cycle With The Phases Of The Moon

Just like the moon, women’s cycles have four phases each month. And it turns out that understanding both lunar cycles and menstrual cycles can be the ultimate ladies’ life hack. We recently sat down with Alisa Vitti, hormone expert, functional nutritionist, and menstrual maven, to talk about living in sync with your cycle.

If you’re a woman who gets a period, you need this info.

Here’s some hormone science I learned from my conversation with Alisa: Men and women operate on completely different schedules. (She wrote about this in her best-selling book, WomanCode, and this has been a key part of the FLO Living system for years.)

Did you know that men’s bodies were designed to be most productive on a 24-hour cycle? Women, on the other hand, operate on a 28-day cycle, with four unique phases.

Because men make most of their testosterone while they sleep, they wake up in the morning ready for "power breakfasts" or intense workouts that fuel them to go "crush it" in the world. Then by about four or five o’clock, their T-stash is depleted and they’re done for the day. (Lather, rest, repeat.)

Women, on the other hand, go through four distinct hormonal trends every month. (Yup—just like the moon, which also has four phases!) Each phase makes us especially good at a different kind of productivity. Some weeks we’re more creative; others are best for planning. Depending on the phase, we’re in the mood for different kinds of love and sex, and we can even optimize our health by eating specific foods.

Women make up 57 percent of the workforce, and most of us are forced to adapt to a testosterone-dictated model in order to stay gainfully employed. Now that we’ve learned these secrets from MyFLO, we’ve started shifting our own schedules, working on strategy during the follicular phase and doing more of our writing during the ovulatory phase, when high estrogen levels grant us improved verbal ability. Hello, lady-powered life-hack!

The quality of each menstrual phase corresponds with the energy of a moon phase. Although they don’t always sync up, knowing which phase you’re in can help you with everything from which foods to eat to what kind of romance and sex you’ll crave and how productive you’ll be.

1. The menstrual or new moon phase:

This phase is when you should take initiative and prepare for action.

2. The follicular or waxing moon phase:

Begin taking the action you planned, and initiate creative projects you've had on the horizon.

3. The ovulation or full moon phase:

Put it out all out there! Speak up, pitch, collaborate, and shine. Show the world what you've been working on.

4. The luteal or waning moon phase.

During this phase, you should wrap up tasks you've started, put your energy toward staying focused, and finish projects you've started.

While your period may not necessarily sync with the corresponding phase, there are things you can do if you want to start your cycle at the new moon (called the White Moon Cycle) or the full moon (Red Moon Cycle). Read Alisa’s explanation here!

Want more insights on how to level up your life? Check out your love horoscope, then find out why holding on to past relationships is the worst thing you can do for yourself.