How to work with your body through the menstrual, follicular, ovulatory and luteal phases without turning cycle syncing into another wellness rulebook.

Your menstrual cycle is not one static hormonal state. Estrogen and progesterone shift throughout the month, and with them, some people notice changes in energy, appetite, sleep, mood and the way exercise feels.

That is the basic idea behind cycle syncing: adjusting certain habits according to where you are in your menstrual cycle. Research on cycle syncing as a complete lifestyle program is still limited, so a more useful approach is to understand what is happening during each phase, notice your own patterns and make adjustments when they actually feel helpful.

Herbalism has long taken a similarly phase aware approach to the menstrual cycle. Anima Mundi applies that idea through its Menstrual CycleTea Kit, with four loose leaf blends for the menstrual, follicular, ovulatory and luteal phases. We wanted to look more closely at why certain herbs appear in each formula, where traditional use comes in and what modern research can actually tell us.

What Are the Four Phases of the Menstrual Cycle?

A menstrual cycle begins on the first day of your period and continues until the next period begins. Although 28 days is often used as the textbook example, real cycles vary, and ovulation does not automatically happen on day 14.

There are four commonly discussed phases in cycle syncing: menstrual, follicular, ovulatory and luteal. Estrogen is relatively low around menstruation, then rises as the body approaches ovulation. After an egg is released, progesterone increases during the luteal phase before both hormones eventually fall if pregnancy does not occur.

Those hormonal shifts are real. What they mean for your energy, appetite or mood is much more individual, which is why paying attention to your own cycle matters more than following an exact calendar.

Menstrual Phase: Focus on Restoration

During menstruation, estrogen and progesterone are relatively low and the uterine lining is being shed. Some people feel completely normal, while others experience lower energy or simply feel better scaling things back.

There is no reason to automatically stop exercising during your period. A large systematic review of menstrual cycle phases and exercise performance found only small average differences across phases and emphasized the importance of an individualized approach. If movement feels good, keep moving. If your body is asking for less intensity, walking, stretching or a gentler workout may make more sense.

For this phase, Anima Mundi uses Moon Blend | Rest + Restore, made with nettle, motherwort, rose, orange peel, cinnamon and clove. Nettle has a long reputation as a nutritive herb, while cinnamon and clove bring warmth to the blend.

Cinnamon is particularly interesting because it has also been studied for primary dysmenorrhea. A systematic review of cinnamon and ginger for menstrual discomfort found promising evidence for reducing pain compared with placebo. Those studies tested specific cinnamon preparations rather than this tea, but they help explain why the spice continues to appear in traditional menstrual formulas.

Follicular Phase: Think Nourishment and Returning Energy

After menstruation, estrogen generally rises as the body moves toward ovulation. Some people notice energy, motivation or exercise capacity beginning to pick back up, while others feel little difference.

The research does not support prescribing a universal follicular phase workout, so this is less about forcing yourself to become more active and more about noticing whether you naturally feel ready for greater intensity. Balanced meals with protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and plenty of plants remain more useful than a complicated phase specific diet.

Anima Mundi pairs this stage with Follicular Tea | Rise + Renew, a blend of raspberry leaf, moringa leaf, chamomile, ginger, burdock root and rosehips. The formula leans heavily into nutritive and digestive herbs. Moringa is particularly interesting because its leaves contain a broad mix of vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, and a 2025 review of moringa leaf describes it as a nutrient dense botanical while noting that stronger human research is still needed for many of its broader health claims.

Ginger and chamomile also have long histories of digestive use, while raspberry leaf has been used traditionally in women’s herbalism. Taken together, the blend fits naturally into a phase often associated with returning energy and nourishment without asking the tea to do more than the evidence supports.

Ovulatory Phase: Work With the Energy You Actually Have

Ovulation happens when an ovary releases an egg after a rise in luteinizing hormone. Estrogen is generally high leading into this point, and cycle syncing advice often describes ovulation as the most energetic and social part of the month.

That may be true for you, but it is not a guarantee. Sleep, stress and everything else happening in your life still influence how you feel. If you consistently notice more energy around ovulation, it may be a great time for a harder workout, social plans or a demanding workday. If you do not, there is no reason to force it.

Anima Mundi’s Ovulatory Tea | Radiance + Bloom combines damiana, lemon balm, oatstraw, rose and lavender, a group of herbs that leans more toward calm and nervous system support than anything intended to influence ovulation itself.

Lemon balm has some of the stronger human research in the blend. A systematic review and meta analysis of lemon balm found improvements in anxiety and depression measures across clinical trials, although preparations, doses and study populations varied. Lavender has also been studied extensively for relaxation, while modern human evidence for damiana remains more limited.

That calming profile makes the blend an interesting counterpoint during a phase some people already experience as more social, energetic or outward facing.

Luteal Phase: Pay Attention to Appetite, Stress and Recovery

The luteal phase begins after ovulation. Progesterone rises, then both progesterone and estrogen eventually decline as the next period approaches. For many people, this is where shifts in appetite and energy become easier to notice.

There is good reason to pay attention to hunger here. A 2025 systematic review and meta analysis found that energy intake was higher on average during the luteal phase than during the follicular phase. There was considerable variation between studies, so this does not mean everyone will suddenly become hungrier, but it does suggest that an increase in appetite before your period can be a real physiological pattern.

This is a good time to make sure meals contain enough protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats to actually satisfy you. If you also notice that intense exercise feels harder as your period approaches, adjusting intensity or prioritizing recovery may feel more supportive than forcing yourself through the exact same schedule.

Anima Mundi’s Luteal Tea | Soften + Settle combines tulsi, linden, schisandra berry, calendula and blue cornflower, botanicals traditionally associated with calm and resilience. Tulsi has particularly interesting research around stress. In an eight week randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial, adults experiencing stress who took a standardized tulsi extract showed improvements in perceived stress and sleep measures compared with placebo.

A standardized extract is different from a cup of tea, but the research offers useful context for why tulsi appears so often in formulas centered around stress support. Schisandra also has a long history as a tonic in Traditional Chinese Medicine, while linden has traditionally been used as a calming herb.

Where Herbal Tea Fits Into Cycle Syncing

You do not need a different supplement routine, workout plan and grocery list for every phase of your cycle. That kind of complexity starts to defeat the purpose.

What works well about Anima Mundi’s Menstrual Cycle Tea Kit is the simplicity of the format. The ritual stays the same while the herbs change. The kit contains all four loose leaf blends along with the brand’s 80 plus page digital A Woman’s Herbal Guide to Cyclical Living, with additional phase specific herbal guidance, recipes and rituals.

The evidence behind the ingredients varies. Some, including cinnamon, lemon balm and tulsi, have human research behind them, while others are supported more heavily by traditional herbal practice. Rather than expecting a botanical to change the course of each phase, the tea can simply become a cue to check in with yourself. How is your energy? Are you hungrier? Do you need more intensity or more recovery? Over several cycles, those observations can become far more useful than blindly following a generic 28 day schedule.

So, Does Cycle Syncing Work?

The biology behind the menstrual cycle is established. The idea that everyone needs a completely different lifestyle for each phase is not.

Cycle syncing makes the most sense as a tool for body awareness. Your appetite may change. Your workouts may feel different. Your energy or mood may shift, or they may barely change at all. Understanding those patterns gives you the option to respond instead of expecting your body to feel exactly the same every day.

The goal is not perfect synchronization. It is knowing your own patterns well enough to work with them.

SHOP: The Menstrual Cycle Tea Kit by Anima Mundi

All material on The Chalkboard Mag is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider for any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise or other health-related programs. The Menstrual Cycle Tea Kit is not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Herbal ingredients can interact with medications and may not be appropriate for everyone, so speak with a qualified healthcare professional if you have questions about regular use.