But there’s another biological buzzword experts are beginning to talk about, and it’s called the infradian rhythm. According to Alisa Vitti, women’s hormone and functional nutrition expert and founder of The FLO Living Hormone Center, our infradian rhythm is just as—if not more—important to optimize as our circadian clocks. Here’s why. “Women from their first period to their very last have a second biological clock at play,” Vitti explains. “And it affects their brain, metabolism, immune system, microbiome, stress response, and reproduction.” Just as how it’s important to optimize our circadian rhythms each day to optimize our well-being, women’s infradian rhythms similarly affect those aspects of health. That said, women have one more biological clock than men to take into account. “The infradian rhythm creates a 25% change in women’s brain chemistry over the course of the month,” Vitti adds. We knew a woman’s menstrual cycle can affect how certain eating plans work, but according to Vitti, there’s a host of other differences women should look out for: not just what and when they eat, but also how they exercise, work productively, and cope with stress. In other words, “We need a radical new approach for women to eat, exercise, work, and live in a way that actually supports their female biology,” Vitti says, who speaks to this process in her most recent book. Although more research is needed (and not just on men and postmenopausal women!), it’s exciting that people have already started to pay more attention to their infradian rhythms. The U.S. women’s soccer team, for example, has trained according to their cycle in order to optimize their athletic performance. In terms of what this means for the next up-and-coming eating plans and fitness regimens, we can expect some emphasis on how our biological clocks can alter our personal routines. Take it from Vitti, who says, “The future of wellness is biological rhythm specific,” (and has pioneered a solution for how we can address it!). To learn more, check out today’s episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, where we sit down with Alisa Vitti and discuss exactly how to hack our infradian rhythms (and much more)!
