The Thing About Cycle Syncing with ADHD…

There is such a strong link between the hormones that are released throughout different phases of the menstrual cycle and the severity of our ADHD symptoms (1).

In a nutshell this comes down to the relationship between estrogen and dopamine - towards the end of a period estrogen levels begin to rise, and along with estrogen the neurotransmitter dopamine also becomes more available.

Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter involved in ADHD regulation - dopamine helps us focus, keeps us on task, allows us to stay motivated, is involved in impulse control as well as emotional regulation around our moods.

During the second half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation, estrogen levels drop significantly, rise again slightly then about a week or so before our period drops significantly.

Since estrogen and dopamine are so closely linked, when estrogen levels drop during the second half of our cycle, so do dopamine levels, which ultimately makes ADHD a lot harder to manage the days leading up to our period.

So many people with ADHD and menstrual cycles really struggle the days leading up to their periods because of this lack of dopamine available, and are forced to navigate this as well as any PMS or even PMDD symptoms they may also be experiencing.

There are so many other hormones and neurotransmitters at play throughout the menstrual cycle that also can have a huge impact on ADHD symptoms, as well as lots of other aspects of our mental and emotional health - like progesterone, cortisol, thyroid hormone, melatonin, serotonin, GABA and norepinephrine to name a few are also very much impacting our experience and ADHD throughout our menstrual cycle.

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So - can eating in ways that support our hormone health and menstrual cycle be an effective way of overall better supporting and managing our ADHD?

When we take into consideration the connections and patterns between the fluctuations of hormones and neurotransmitters that impact ADHD throughout the menstrual cycle, supporting your hormone health through nutrition would be one great way to long-term better support and manage your ADHD!

I feel its also important to note that due to the reality around how little attention and funding conditions that affect women, trans and non-binary people receive in comparison to conditions that predominantly impact cis men, there’s still so much we don’t know about menstrual health and how it impacts our mental health, specifically ADHD.

But! We know that our hormones really impact every aspect of our health - everything from metabolism and energy, to how well we’re able to sleep, how well we’re digesting our food.

Hormones directly impact our immunity, our skin, our brain and entire nervous system, our muscle and joint integrity, our mental health and our moods, our sense of vitality, our heart, liver, kidneys… (2)

So it’s never a bad idea to learn more about your hormones and ways you can support them through nutrition and eating, something you have to do everyday for the rest of your life.

When it comes to the premise of cycle syncing nutrition - eating specific types of foods with certain nutrients throughout the different phases of your menstrual cycle as a way of supporting your menstrual cycle through these nutrients - is this actually effective, realistic and worth it for people with ADHD?

I’ve had many experiences with clients who have tried cycle syncing their nutrition as a way of trying to improve both their hormonal and ADHD symptoms, but have really struggled with this and as a result become frustrated and given up.

I think the way cycle syncing is presented through social media is a huge factor in this pattern. 

What is cycle syncing? Cycle syncing basically just means making changes to how you’re living, exercising, moving, resting and eating based on what phase you are at in your menstrual cycle as a way of supporting hormone health to gradually reduce hormone-related symptoms and conditions.

Some of the most common things that people use cycle syncing for are cycle syncing workouts, cycle syncing diets, cycle exercise, cycle syncing meal plan…

If you search ‘cycle syncing nutrition’ in tiktok, instagram, youtube, pintrest, whatever, you’ll typically see videos like ‘what I eat in a day on my period’ or ‘what I eat in a day in the luteal phase’, etc.

The idea here is to introduce different types of foods to eat throughout different phases of your cycle so you’re giving your body nutrients to support it while it's in the menstrual phase, follicular phase, ovulation and luteal phase.

Something to remember is that not all but a lot of these videos are created by people who have a lot more time and resources than the average person does to grocery shop, ingredient prep, cook, meal prep, eat in a calm environment, and clean.

This could be because their income is partially based on showing the internet what they’re eating, so they’re being compensated for eating this way which ultimately frees up a lot of time to be able to actually eat like this everyday, and take the time to plan out, buy, organize, prepare, cook and ultimately eat based on what phase of the menstrual cycle they’re in.

I really think this can create unrealistic and overall unattainable expectations for what we (people with ADHD and menstrual cycles) feel like we ‘should’ be eating to best take care of ourselves…

Spending hours everyday preparing, cooking and cleaning up isn’t something that the average person, especially with ADHD, has the privilege of doing.

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Eating with ADHD can be so challenging as it is. We often struggle with just being able to eat regularly and not go the whole day without eating, which can be a huge contributing factor to binge eating later in the day - a pattern that directly impacts our hormones as well as ADHD symptoms through its impacts on blood sugar spikes and drops.

With ADHD it can also be very challenging to create the conditions where you have regular access to foods that make you feel good and keep your blood sugar levels balanced throughout the day - an essential for managing ADHD and any hormonal condition.

This would look like foods, meals and snacks that contain enough protein, carbohydrates higher in fibre, and healthy fats.

Because of the way our food system is set up it’s way easier to access foods that are more highly processed and higher in carbohydrates and sugar, and lower in protein and fibre.

So if you’re someone with ADHD who struggles with just eating enough in general, as well as eating protein, fibre and healthy fats like omega 3s everyday, then trying to change your diet by dividing what you eat into 4 different phases based on your menstrual cycle without having a solid foundation of being able to access adequate protein, fibre and healthy fats everyday - in my clinical experience this more often than not can result in frustration and falling back into old eating patterns you’ve been trying to move away from.

Also the way cycle syncing nutrition is presented on social media I find usually doesn’t acknowledge that so many of these foods are helpful throughout multiple phases of your cycle, and should be consumed throughout your entire menstrual cycle and not limited to certain phases.

In a lot ways this presentation of cycle syncing feels more restrictive than a tool that can actually help nourish our bodies and ADHD brains.

SO. I’m not saying cycle syncing your nutrition is bad or wrong or a waste of time.

I’m more so advocating (for folks with ADHD, especially) to start by building a solid foundation to nutrition by improving access to foods that contain protein, fibre, healthy fats and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals as a precursor to changing your diet to reflect the four phases of your menstrual cycle.

Please remember that this does take time and should be done gradually through introducing these foods into your diet. 

Focus on what you can be adding to your diet to increase protein, fibre and healthy fats. 

Do your best to avoid a restrictive mindset whenever possible, and if you do get stuck in a restrictive mindset try to come back to a place where you’re more focused on what foods you can add to your meals to improve protein, fibre and healthy fat content.

From here, gradually adding in foods that help support the phase you’re in throughout your menstrual cycle can be a great thing to do for both hormones and ADHD!

For many people with ADHD who struggle with eating regularly everyday, trying to cycle sync your nutrition without having that solid foundation of being able to access foods with protein, fiber and healthy fats regularly is often not helpful, effective, sustainable or realistic.

If you feel like you’d benefit from support around how to do this, I’m currently taking on more clients for April.

You can book a free intro call with me to chat more about your challenges with food, ADHD, hormones and eating and learn more about my ADHD friendly approach to hormone health through nutrition and intuitive eating.

Thanks for reading!

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Sources:

(1) Eng et al. (2024). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and the Menstrual Cycle: Theory and Evidence. Horm Behav. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10872410/

(2) Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Endocrine System. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/21201-endocrine-system