Working Well
What does it mean to truly work “well” in modern society – in a way that is both effective and supportive of our physical, mental and emotional health? Are “success” and “health” mutually exclusive and why is it that women are burning out (globally) at a rate 60% faster than men?
The truth is that most of us push the boundaries of our health when we want to see results and – when it comes to being more “productive” or enhancing our performance – traditional working styles, time management strategies, success coaching, health and fitness routines just don’t work for women (or don’t always work for women).
In fact, the best way for both men and women to enhance their health and thrive in their personal and professional lives is to start to recognise and celebrate our differences at a biochemical and chronobiological level – especially when it comes to hormones.
Women have about a thirteenth of the amount of testosterone (varying according to the time in her menstrual cycle) possessed by a healthy man. Testosterone is a hormone associated with the drive to compete, energy, libido, the will to “get it done!” and is widely studied for its positive effects on physical and physiological performance.
This does not mean that women can’t compete at the same level, but it does mean that if they seek to operate in exactly the same way as men – physically, mentally and emotionally – then the fall back (from lack of equivalent testosterone) is an overreliance on hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, our stress hormones, which can produce effects similar to testosterone in the short term.
The result? A more direct and faster road to burnout.
What’s more, a woman’s energy levels, perspective, disposition, creativity and skills are designed to shift naturally and periodically in a way that doesn’t fit a 24-hour clock or “circadian” cycle – a system that demands the same daily rhythm, day in and day out.
When women ignore the fundamentals of what makes them biologically unique – by ignoring the natural fluctuations of their second “infradian” rhythm or by switching it off all together – they miss out on a natural strength they stand to gain.
As a woman, you may start to feel exhausted or stressed, developing worrying symptoms like missing periods*, brain fog, low mood, aches and pains, weight changes as well as a lack of performance in the boardroom – and the bedroom!
Overtime, persistent low levels of stress may cause further hormonal imbalances, damaging your reproductive, brain, gut and bone health, your microbiome, immune system and stress response – and (yes, you guessed it) provides yet another short-cut route to burnout.
So, what’s the answer? That, when it comes to your health, energy, creativity, fitness and productivity, there is no ““one-size-fits-all” solution. In fact, streamlining your ways of eating, moving, working, resting and living to your inborn biology is essential to your energy, happiness, creativity and performance.
We know we are all genetically unique. In fact, despite being 99.9% identical, the remaining 0.1% of our genome accounts for 3 million individual traits of “difference”. However, traditional medical, nutrition and fitness research has naturally and unavoidably excluded women leaving a blind spot to another layer and level of “differences” that are essential to understanding how each of us operate.
By tuning into a different paradigm (your unique health system) and understanding that there is a different way of working and living that works for your unique body, genome, biological sex, age, life stage, circadian, infradian and natural hormone cycles and lifestyle – you can feel and look healthier, be brighter, happier and accomplish more – without needless stress and eventual burnout.
*As a result of hypothalamic amenorrhoea, conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome and early onset menopause.