Menstrual Health 101: What Your Period Needs This Summer
I used to burn out in summer, but not any more. These protocols made the difference.
The menstrual cycle is a vital sign of a woman’s health. When we learn to listen to its messages, we become the authority in our own lives.— Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Before we dive into your unique blueprint, know this: summer can reveal your imbalances.
Spring is already in the rearview mirror, but it's important to understand that every seasonal transition takes time.
And for everyone, this looks different.
Your period is often the first place that imbalance shows up. More cramps. More fatigue. More mood swings. Or maybe just that feeling of being off, like your body’s not quite syncing with your life.
As a Vata-Pitta, summer can turn me into an overheated hummingbird so I’ve learned to chill the hell out, sip mint or fennel tea, and move like honey instead of fire.
If I had it my way, I’d float in the ocean all day and call it a spiritual practice (which let be honest, it is).
How seasonal transitions work in Ayurveda (a.k.a. ritucharya):
“As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.” — Ayurvedic teaching
The Transition Reality: Your body doesn't flip a switch from spring to summer on June 21st. She's been slowly shifting for weeks, maybe months. Spring's building energy (that "get shit done" vibe) doesn't just disappear overnight.
Your nervous system, your hormones, your digestion, they're all still processing the intensity you've been carrying.
Why This Matters: Maybe you pushed hard through spring, new projects, social commitments, that yay the ‘‘sun is back’’ "fresh start" energy that had you saying yes to everything. Or maybe you're still carrying the depletion from winter, the stress from life transitions, the accumulated "doing" that modern life demands.
Summer heat simply turns up the volume on whatever's already singing (or screaming) in your system. It's like putting a magnifying glass on your internal state. That low-level anxiety? Now it's panic. That simmering irritation? Now it's rage. That gentle fatigue? Now it's complete exhaustion.
Your Body's Wisdom: Here's what your body knows that your mind probably doesn't: She's not weak when she needs more rest in summer. She's actually being incredibly intelligent and revealing what needs attention, what needs healing, what needs to shift.
Your job isn't to fight the season or force your way through the heat. It's to work with your body's wisdom, to listen to what she's telling you, and to give her what she actually needs to thrive in summer's fire.
And summer is the only season in Ayurveda where naps are seen as healing, because even nature slows down when the fire rises. To balance heat, we need cool. To balance pitta, we need kapha: slow, soft, still.
I know it’s hard. It’s taken me three years to even begin to trust this. And I still forget every other week. Luckily, I have a very yin partner who slows me down when I start sprinting again.
If you don’t have someone like that in your life, go find one. And if not, I’ll be that reminder here.
The Gift of Seasonal Awareness: When you understand that summer is simply amplifying what's already there, you can stop judging yourself for "falling apart" and start seeing this as valuable information.
Quick Quiz: What's Your Summer Imbalance Type?
Choose the statement that sounds most like you right now:
TYPE A: The Scattered Hummingbird (VATA Imbalance)
I feel anxious and can't sit still
My skin and hair are dry and brittle
I'm cold in AC but hot in the sun
I crave crunchy, salty foods
My mind races but I can't focus
I feel ungrounded and spacey
My poops are dry, hard, or irregular
My period is irregular, light, or disappears when I’m stressed
I get PMS anxiety, insomnia, and bloating
My cramps are sharp or spasmodic, worse with cold
TYPE B: The Burning Volcano (PITTA Imbalance)
I snap at everyone over small things
I feel hot and irritated constantly
I crave ice cream and cold drinks
I wake up between 2-4 AM overthinking
I'm critical of myself and others
I feel angry for no clear reason
My poops are loose, frequent, or urgent
My period is early, heavy, and intense
I get PMS rage, headaches, and sore breasts
My cramps feel hot, burning, or throbbing
TYPE C: The Heavy Earth (KAPHA Imbalance)
I feel sluggish and unmotivated
I'm emotional and want to withdraw
I crave heavy, sweet comfort foods
I feel stuck and can't get moving
I retain water and feel puffy
I sleep too much but still feel tired
My poops are heavy, sticky, or mucousy
My period is slow, thick, and clotted
I get PMS sadness, breast swelling, and fatigue
My cramps are dull, achy, and long-lasting
Mostly A's? You're Vata imbalanced → follow the Anxious Hummingbird protocol. 🌀
Mostly B's? You're Pitta imbalanced → follow the Burning Volcano protocol. 🌋
Mostly C's? You're Kapha imbalanced → follow the Heavy Earth protocol. 🌍
Mixed results? Start with whichever has the most checkmarks, then blend approaches.
The Goal? It’s about experimenting, listening, and learning as you go. 💫
VATA: The Anxious Hummingbird in Summer Heat
"I'm scattered, my skin is crispy, and I can't decide if I'm hot or cold."
When Your Nervous System Is Overheating:
Your Summer Shadow: You might actually feel cold in air conditioning while simultaneously burning out internally. Summer's intensity can send your already-mobile nervous system into overdrive, leaving you feeling like a dried leaf in a windstorm.
Sign #1: You're One Text Away From Losing It That hypersensitivity is your delicate nervous system on fire. Your mobile Vata nature means you absorb everyone's energy, and summer heat amplifies this until you're buzzing with anxiety you didn't even create.
Sign #2: Your Cravings Are Louder Than Your Logic You're reaching for anything that feels grounding, usually crunchy, salty things, because your system is desperately trying to anchor itself.
Sign #3: Your Brain Won't Shut Up at 2 AM Your airy mind gets trapped in thought loops when overheated. You're exhausted but can't land in your body because your nervous system is scattered to the wind.
Your Cooling Strategy:
Transition Slowly: Give yourself 3 weeks, not 1-2. Your nervous system needs extra time to process any change. Gradually shift to room-temperature foods before going cold. And also, avoid very cold foods. Shock your system and you'll pay with anxiety spikes.
Rest Like Your Life Depends On It: 30-45 minute naps are your medicine. Your nervous system runs on empty faster than other types. Sleep by 9:30 PM if possible, your cortisol peaks earlier and crashes harder.
Cool Your Internal Fire: Gentle Anulom Vilom (alternate nostril breathing). Your system is sensitive so think silk, not ice.
Ground Your Energy: Daily abhyanga full body massage with sesame (=warming) oil mixed with a drop of lavender. Massage in slow, loving circles. Your skin is your nervous system's outer layer.
🫐 Vata-Supporting Summer Foods:
Stewed fruits like apples, pears, and blueberries
Cooked grains: white rice, quinoa, oats
Light but oily dishes: mung dal, veggie stews with ghee
Cooling spices: fennel, coriander, cumin
Avoid: raw salads, dry crackers, popcorn, and cold smoothies, they scatter you further.
Vata Summer Bonus: Eat warm foods on cool days, cool foods on warm days. You need flexibility, not rigid rules.
PITTA: The Volcano That Thinks It Can Handle Everything
"I'm fine, I'm FINE, I'm... why is everyone so incompetent?!"
Your Summer Shadow: You're the dosha most likely to combust in summer. That sharp intellect becomes cutting criticism. Your natural leadership becomes controlling perfectionism. Summer amplifies your inner fire until you're basically a walking furnace of intensity.
When Your Nervous System Is Overheating:
Sign #1: You're One Text Away From Losing It This is your signature move, Pitta. That rage is generational fire. Every "be nice," every swallowed boundary, every time you held it together when you wanted to scream. Your liver is processing both anger AND summer heat, and she's DONE.
Sign #2: Your Cravings Are Louder Than Your Logic You want ice cream, cold beer, anything to cool the internal furnace. But you're also the type to white-knuckle through cravings, which only builds more heat and inflammation.
Sign #3: Your Brain Won't Shut Up at 2 AM Your sharp mind becomes a weapon against yourself. You're replaying every conversation, strategizing, problem-solving when you should be sleeping. Your internal fire is literally burning away your melatonin.
Your Cooling Strategy:
Transition Slowly: 1 week is enough, you adapt quickly. But you need to actually DO the transition instead of pushing through. Stop working out at noon in July. Seriously. If you crave movement, do it between 6 and 10 am, when the heat is still gentle and your body can handle the fire without frying your nervous system.
Rest Like It's Rebellion: This is your hardest lesson. 20-30 minute naps feel "unproductive" to you, but they're actually the most productive thing you can do for your hormones. Your liver does its detox work during rest, and your liver is working overtime in summer.
Cool Your Internal Fire: Sheetali breath (breathe through a rolled tongue) is YOUR practice. 5-10 rounds when you feel that familiar rise of irritation. When PMS meets summer heat, this becomes your emergency tool to cool down.
Ground Your Energy: Coconut (=cooling) oil foot massage, but add this: Before bed, place a cool, damp cloth on your third eye for 5 minutes. Your head runs hot, and cooling your forehead cools your entire system.
🥒 Pitta-Pacifying Summer Foods:
Cooling veggies: cucumber, zucchini, asparagus, leafy greens
Fresh herbs: cilantro, mint, dill
Sweet fruits: watermelon, cherries, peaches (room temp)
Coconut water, aloe juice, herbal infusions (hibiscus, rose)
Avoid: spicy foods, tomatoes, vinegar, fried or fermented things, they fuel the fire.
Pitta Summer Bonus: Moon gazing. Step outside and look at the moon for 5 minutes. It's cooling energy medicine for your overheated system.
KAPHA: The Earth Goddess Who Melts in the Heat
"I feel heavy, sluggish, and like I'm moving through honey."
Your Summer Shadow: While everyone else is burning up, you're feeling waterlogged and slow. Summer's heat can make you feel even more sluggish, and the humidity feels like a weighted blanket you can't remove.
When Your Nervous System Is Overheating:
Sign #1: You're One Text Away From Losing It For you, this shows up as withdrawal and overwhelm. Instead of sharp anger, you feel heavy with everyone else's emotions. You absorb it all and have nowhere for it to go.
Sign #2: Your Cravings Are Louder Than Your Logic You're reaching for heavy, sweet comfort foods when your system actually needs lightness and movement. Emotional eating becomes your way to self-soothe the summer overwhelm.
Sign #3: Your Brain Won't Shut Up at 2 AM Your usually calm mind gets sticky and obsessive. You're replaying emotional conversations, feeling everything too deeply, unable to find your natural groundedness.
Your Cooling Strategy:
Transition Slowly: 1-2 weeks, but focus on gentle activation, not cooling. You actually need some internal heat to move stagnation. Think warm water with lemon in the morning, not ice water.
Rest Like It's Efficient: 15-20 minute power naps maximum. Longer and you'll feel more sluggish. Your rest should be restorative, not depleting. Sleep by 10 PM to avoid the late-night munchies that mess with your already-slow metabolism.
Cool Your Internal Fire: Skip Sheetali (breathing through a rolled tongue, cools the system) it'll make you more sluggish. Try Bhastrika (bellows breath) in the early morning: sit tall, breathe in forcefully through your nose expanding your belly, then exhale forcefully through your nose pulling your navel in.
Do 10-20 rounds to build internal fire and move stagnation, then switch to gentle breathing the rest of the day.
Ground Your Energy: Dry brush your skin before your coconut oil massage. You need stimulation before lubrication. Massage upward toward your heart to move lymph, then focus on your feet with grounding strokes.
🍋 Kapha-Balancing Summer Foods:
Light, bitter, and astringent veggies: dandelion greens, arugula, radish, broccoli
Spices to spark digestion: ginger, black pepper, mustard seed
Lemon water, herbal teas with tulsi, cinnamon, or clove
Grilled or lightly sautéed foods over creamy or oily ones
Avoid: dairy, sweet-heavy snacks, and cold, soggy foods, they increase heaviness.
Kapha Summer Bonus: Cold showers in the morning (even 30 seconds counts). You're the only dosha that benefits from thermal shock in summer.
The PMS-Summer Heat Survival Guide 🪭
When your cycle meets the season's intensity:
Vata PMS + Summer: Warm baths with lavender, and absolutely no cold foods during your luteal phase, even in July.
Pitta PMS + Summer: This is code red. Rose water spritzer on your face. Avoid all spicy foods and heated conversations. Your liver is processing both hormones AND heat.
Kapha PMS + Summer: Light movement is your friend. Gentle morning walks, restorative yoga with a fan on you. Avoid heavy, cooling foods that increase congestion.
The Deeper Medicine
Your body is always, always working to bring you back to balance.
Your dosha tells you that your body has its own intelligence, its own rhythm, its own way of finding balance.
Summer teaches us about the sacred feminine principle of receptivity, how to receive the season's gifts without losing ourselves in its intensity.
And if you're wondering what all this has to do with your period? Everything.
Your menstrual cycle is the most honest mirror of how your body is adapting (or struggling) to stay in rhythm. Every habit, every skipped rest, every food choice, every way you override or honor your needs... it shows up in your bleed.
Let this summer be about coming home to your body's truth, honoring its needs, and remembering that you are both the garden and the gardener.
What does summer feel like for you? And what is your favorite summer practice? Drop me a comment below!
I write because we've forgotten how to live with our bodies and nature instead of against them. Because productivity culture taught us our cycles are inconveniences when they're actually our compass.
This work isn't just mine, it's ancient knowing I'm just keeping alive. From Ayurvedic lineages, yoga teachers, and women who never forgot that rest is resistance.
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What I share comes from lived experience, Ayurvedic Womb Health training, Hatha Yoga, and science that's finally catching up to ancient wisdom. I write for women first, but everyone's welcome. When I say "womb," think intuition and cyclical knowing we all carry.
Nothing here is absolute truth. Take what works, leave the rest.
Thanks for reading this far. Your attention matters.
Deep bow to every teacher who lit this path.