Slowing down during your period: the bold self-care move you didn’t know you needed

You know that strange weekly theatre where everyone pretends to be a machine? That script gets even harsher when periods arrive: the inbox still swarms, the commute still demands, the smile still holds. And yet, right when the body calls for softness, the culture screams “keep moving”. Slowing down looks like a luxury from the outside. Up close, it can be the most muscular decision you make all month.

The alarm blinked 06:42 in a blue London dawn, and the cramps had already pulled up a chair. I lay there listening to the city breathe, buses sighing on wet tarmac, a kettle somewhere starting to hum, my calendar flashing a day built for someone else’s body. I shuffled to the window, pushed it open, and felt that cool air on my face like a mercy. I texted one line to my team: “I’ll be working quietly today.” The world kept spinning. Nothing exploded. Something in me exhaled. And that tiny act of refusal felt oddly electric. A signal flickered.

Power looks different when you stop sprinting

On paper, pushing through sounds heroic; in reality, it often looks like gritted teeth and half-finished thoughts. The week your period starts is biologically a time of lower inflammatory thresholds and shifting energy. That isn’t fragility. That’s data. Respecting it can turn noise into signal, and panic into pace. The strange thing is how much courage it takes to do less. To choose slow as a strategy, not a failure.

In a large Dutch survey, about one in seven participants reported missing work or school due to menstrual symptoms, while more than four in five showed up but performed under par. The gap between presence and power is real. Picture Maya, a project manager in Manchester, who moved her toughest presentations away from day one or two and started blocking “deep work, zero meetings” instead. Her team noticed fewer mistakes and cleaner decisions. Her output didn’t shrink. It sharpened.

There’s a reason elite athletes periodise training: peaks and deloads create progress. Our offices rarely do. When you slow down at the start of your cycle, you’re not surrendering speed; you’re investing in a cleaner acceleration later. **Rest restores executive function, dampens stress hormones, and frees up attention for the work that actually matters.** The cost of pretending is higher than the cost of pausing. So the question flips: what if pushing through is the riskier bet?

How to slow down without dropping the ball

Start with a micro-ritual that signals “different mode”. Light a lamp at your desk, put on a jumper, swap bright screens for paper notes for the first hour. Then triage your day into three columns: vital, movable, unnecessary. Do the single vital thing first, in short bursts with long breaths in between. Use a gentler commute, a quiet room, or noise-cancelling to lower friction. **Slowing down isn’t stopping; it’s choosing a cleaner line through the day.**

Common trap: trying to earn rest by working faster. That race only tightens the knot. Another trap is ghosting without context, which breeds anxiety. Offer one sentence of framing—“low-energy day, focusing on X, replies later”—and protect a couple of recovery windows like they’re meetings. We’ve all had that moment when the body whispers “not like this” and the calendar laughs. Let the body win, once. Soyons honnêtes : nobody genuinely does this perfectly every month.

Design the environment so your body doesn’t have to shout. Keep a warm drink within reach. Lower the lights by one notch. Swap high-intensity workouts for walks or gentle stretching that keeps blood moving. Rest is not a lack of ambition; it is how ambition survives the long run.

“I stopped trying to be a hero during my period and started being a strategist. My work didn’t get smaller. My self-respect got bigger.” — Senior editor, Bristol

• Set an autoresponder for 24 hours with a calm boundary.
• Batch replies at two set times to avoid constant switching.
• Schedule complex thinking for late morning, admin for late afternoon.
• Ask for warmth: heat pad, blanket, soft socks, zero shame.
• Keep protein and salty snacks nearby to steady energy.

Rethink the story you tell yourself about “toughness”

Power often arrives dressed as gentleness. When you allow day one or two to be quieter—fewer meetings, slower emails, kinder workouts—you create bandwidth for bolder moves in the days that follow. You also teach your team something subversive: humans aren’t spreadsheets. The culture doesn’t change with a manifesto. It shifts when one person decides to work with their cycle instead of against it, and another person sees that the sky stays up.

FAQ :

• Isn’t slowing down just giving in to discomfort?It’s responding to real physiological shifts, the same way athletes taper. That response lets you keep quality high without burning through reserves.
• What if my job won’t allow me to change my schedule?Even tiny levers help: swap one meeting, cluster emails, add a 15‑minute quiet break, or shift one complex task to later in the week.
• How do I tell my manager without oversharing?Use neutral language: “Low-energy day—focusing on priority tasks, slower on replies.” No apology, just clarity.
• Will I lose momentum if I rest on day one or two?Most people find the opposite. Slower starts often lead to stronger mid‑cycle momentum and cleaner decisions.
• What if I don’t have painful periods—does this still apply?Yes. Even without pain, energy can fluctuate. Respecting the low days still pays off in sharper highs.