11 How to harness your cycle, Le'Nise Brothers

0:00We are now a few days into the new year and you're probably starting to kind of dread going back to work in some ways but also really excited to be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit. that you have, there is a reason behind it. So keep listening to hear all of Laniece's wonderful advice about owning it as a female founder. And tune in tomorrow to hear Emily Austin and all things productivity. Hi Laniece, thank you so much for joining How to Start Up today. It's great to have you on. It would be wonderful if you could just kick off with an introduction as to who you are and a bit about the business that you founded.

0:54My name is Laniece Brothers and I am a nutritionist specialising in women's health hormones and the menstrual cycle. And I'm also the author of the book, You Can Have a Better Period. And this is actually a really interesting subject for me because being a founder myself, I have to practice a lot of what I preach. So things that I talk about today, I actually do myself. It's really interesting being a founder because I've spent about 15 years working in advertising communications. And so having to switch gears and realize that the buck literally stops with me. Once I kind of got that, I then realized that actually, you know, if the buck does indeed stop with me, that means that I really have to take care of myself because if I get sick, then I can't work.

1:49And then if I'm not working, I'm not bringing in any income. But you're completely right, because there are so many hours in the day, we do need to sleep, we do need to eat, we do need to look after ourselves. And I think in this day and age, there's so many elements of you must meditate, you must eat 30 different plants a week, you must go and practice yoga. What is the baseline basically of self-care when it comes to looking after yourself? So I think what's really important as a female founder to really understand that you need to work differently to a male founder. You can't work in this kind of 24-7 kind of hustle mindset because our bodies, they work differently.

2:34We have a different sort of cycle. And if you work like that, you're going to end up being burnt out. And it means that you're not taking advantage of the natural peaks and troughs that happen across a wider cycle that is inherent to the way that our bodies operate. So that's the kind of very kind of basic that I really encourage any female founder, even if you are on hormonal contraception, I really encourage you to just start to bring that in. You won't be having a period, like a kind of natural period, but it is something to bring in because you're not necessarily going to be on hormonal contraception forever.

3:19And when you say burnout, do you have like a brief definition? Because again, it's a trending topic and everyone's saying I'm so burnt out. But what really qualifies as burnout? Yeah. So burnout is you wake up and you're exhausted. by the end of it you've been using sugar and caffeine to prop up your energy throughout the day and by the end of the day you have this feeling of being tired but really wired because of all the different things that you've been doing to artificially prop up your energy then you get to there I think there are different stages of burnout you know you're you get to a point where you just you don't feel the same passion that you feel like you should feel for your business because you have no energy your weekends you feel like you have to catch up you have to catch up on sleep because you've just been like pushing and pushing and pushing you go on holiday because you think that will make you feel better but you get sick straight away and it's just I use this analogy of a bank account you can't keep taking energetic withdrawals you know you have to deposit because you're gonna go into energetic overdraft that's a really good way of thinking about it but what were things that people can do to sort of build that store back up again.

4:47Yeah. So I think you really need to, it's really important for you to respect, respect your body and respect your energy and know that actually it's okay not to work flat out 12 hours a day. You need to give yourself breaks. You know, you were out of the eighties kind of wall street mindset, you know, lunches for wimps, that sort of thing. Take your lunch breaks, take breaks throughout the day because what you'll find is actually you might get some amazing ideas when you're just staring out the window or you're taking your dog for a walk or you're taking yourself for a walk that's when your best ideas might come when you're away from your screen it's so true but everyone says you never go to walk you go around for a walk around the block you'll never ever regret it but it's that need of a screen isn't it that draws you back in and it's it's laptop guilt, which a lot of people have talked about, breaking that habit.

5:47And do you find women are particularly bad at this? Or is it just the fact that we have a different cycle that we need to be a bit more aware about it? I think it's both. So women can be particularly bad at it, especially if you're a mum, because there's that added layer of you only have a certain number of hours a day. And so you feel like you need to pack it all in. And if you do take a break during the day there's a little bit of a guilt like I actually should be working but there's always something else to do yeah yeah and so there's this kind of you know girl boss and I've hustle mentality of like I just need to be working but you as I say you you find that when you take those breaks you give your brain a bit of space and the best ideas come or you just feel a little bit more revived And then when you layer on the kind of, if you look at the menstrual cycle and how there are times in our menstrual cycle where we'll naturally have a lot of energy.

6:50So around the middle, around ovulation, that's kind of classically the peak of our energy. And this is where we can really take advantage because that also correlates with changes in the way we kind of relate to the work that we do, communication, socializing versus when you have your period. that's a time where you're wanting to kind of dial it down a little bit even if it's just by one percent take it a bit slower and you find that actually during that time again the kind of work that you're tuned to is different so that's a time where you might be diving into things that are a little bit more analytical so maybe this is a time where and you know just hear me out because this is kind of contradictory to what we hear in the culture like you're supposed to be in agony when you have your period but like your brain is so functioning but I've had some women run their best marathon times when they have their periods yeah exactly I mean when marathon inherently you have to pace yourself it's not about going flat out you kind of think about the menstrual cycle as a way of pacing yourself in life you know you're in your period you go slower that's a time where you're more analytical, you can actually, you're more insightful because you're willing to dig a little bit deeper versus when you're in your midway point around ovulation.

8:19That's where you have all this busy kind of very social energy. You want to be out in the world. This is where if negotiation and communication is part of your job, you will find that you can negotiate your best deals around this time. Is that because you're buzzing and ovulating, therefore you're meant to be attracting a mate and procreating? Is that when you sort of your best self, as it were? Yeah, but classically it's your best self. You know, your estrogen, which is your feminizing hormone, is at its peak. But you also have this peak of testosterone, which is connected with confidence, you know, better communication.

8:58So this is where when we understand our menstrual cycles, it can give us a real advantage at work. It doesn't always work. Sometimes you have to give a presentation when you have your period but even you know you know that and you can pace yourself during when you have to do that because you know that okay actually I just need to take a little bit more time over this because maybe I'm a little bit more tired but I can do this. That is fascinating so if you had your own month end as it were you could do mapping when you're going to be doing your accounts mapping when you're doing your business in the world of a startup and starting a company obviously you don't have that much control over your diary and as much as I'd say my biggest failing is my diary management and overbooking it or accepting too many meetings I try to bring in no meeting Monday work from home Wednesday free for all Friday but trying to have like some rules and structure in place in my calendar but that was just week by week but I didn't think about it in terms of the cycle is there anything else around that that female founders in particular should be aware of or any sort of other golden nuggets that you've unearthed in your research?

10:07Yeah so if you kind of look at your calendar week by week but if you take a wider view and if you're looking at it across however many days your cycle is so that might be 28 days for some other women it might be 27, 20, 30 you know whatever it is if you kind of are able to say okay you know maybe early on in my menstrual cycle when I have my period this is where I can I'm not gonna if it's possible I'm not gonna schedule any big meetings during this time but equally what I find is that around ovulation because you feel great and you start to kind of pack your calendar because you're like oh yeah I can do it it's fine and then you get like a couple weeks later and you're like why why why did I do this yeah yeah I had a colleague once on a Friday she's like I said what what are you thinking about Hannah and she's like I'm wondering how Monday Hannah is going to feel about Friday Hannah leaving this not done I think I'm going to do it now so Monday Hannah's grateful but it's the same thing it's like with those weeks apart like who was this person that built my calendar like oh it was me great well done it was when I was on a high yeah I thought I could do it all so just be really aware so obviously tracking your period is super important yeah being aware of your cycle Yeah, yeah.

11:26Just being really aware of your cycle. There's lots of different ways you can track it these days. So, you know, you can use, there's lots of apps. So Moody is a great, it's a great British startup. That's a great app to track your period, but then also look at everything beyond your period in the rest of the menstrual cycle. you can use your I use an app watch to track mine you can use the notes app in your phone you can use pen and paper I think the main thing is that if you're not tracking just see how you can build that in even if it's just when does your period start when does it end and then when are you ovulating like that's the kind of very basic that I would encourage anyone with a period to do and in terms of as we said time is the most precious resource when you're starting a company Are there other factors in terms of nutrition, sleep, any other areas around that?

12:21Should you factor in more sleep around certain times of your cycle? Or I know you said to go a bit slower or kind of give yourself a bit more bandwidth over the time when you have your period, but anything else that we should learn about the cycle? Yeah, I think really when it comes to sleep, you know, sleep is the foundation of our health. And again, this is another thing that I see a lot, this idea of, okay, well, I can just kind of skimp on sleep during the week and then I can catch up at the weekend. But really our bodies, they love a routine. They love a rhythm. They love, we're very cyclical beings in lots of different aspects.

13:03And sleep is one of the fundamentals. So just something like going to bed around the same time every evening and waking up around the same time. It honestly, it feels like such a drag, but it makes such a difference because your body, it's such a tune to, okay, I know I'm going to be going to bed around 1030. It gives your brain the opportunity to wind down, which is so important as a founder, because you literally could work every hour of the day. But if you say to yourself, I'm going to have these boundaries. And boundaries are really important in lots of aspects of our lives. But when it comes to sleep, being really boundaried about that wind down time, screen time, and then the time that you actually go to sleep and the time that you wake up.

14:01And then of course, then you layer in the cycle where there are going to be times where you might need a bit more sleep. So during your period, you might feel like, oh, actually, maybe I should go to bed a little bit earlier because I just feel quite tired. I feel quite drained because having a period and what is actually happening physiologically is quite an energetic process. So that time when we sleep is not only rebuilding our bodies, but it's also rebuilding our brains. You know, our brains go through this process. It's called glymphatic cleaning. It's like our brain is washing itself overnight.

14:42Yeah. But it can only do it whilst you sleep. Exactly. So sleep is a fundamental. And I know everyone knows that, but I think really trying to implement that, it can make such a difference. One question I wanted to ask is obviously, as you said, the period itself is an energetic release and your body is going through a change. Are there any tips that you could give female founders that could support them through that? Are there sort of dietary recommendations or particular exercises that you would suggest that they incorporate during that time? Yeah. So when you have your period, I think it's really important to think how are you supporting yourself through nutrition?

15:21So really listening to what your body is telling you that it wants. So when we have a period, we lose iron through that process. And iron is really important, not only for making blood and kind of rebuilding that lining, but also for energy. It's what I see a lot in female founders and my other female clients is that there's this kind of push at the moment to veganism and vegetarianism, but then you layer on eating on the go and just eating kind of maybe in an unplanned way, not getting enough iron, that has a knock on effect on energy. It has a knock on effect on periods. It can make them heavier.

16:04So just really looking at how much iron you're eating in your meal. So you might find that actually during your period, and I hear this a lot, you crave red meat. There's a reason for that. The iron is a really, really easily absorbed in red meat. Sadly, I don't crave spinach. If only it was the same craving. It's like, oh, I really want a bar of spinach, not chocolate. Yeah. But if you're vegan or vegetarian, just try to be more planned about the types of iron that you include in your meals, especially around your period, adding in vitamin C foods, because that makes that plant-based form of iron easy to absorb in the body.

16:51And then also just making sure that you're doing things like eating foods with magnesium because thinking about being a founder, being a founder, and all the kind of stress, this kind of low-lying stress that we operate under. When we're stressed, we just use so much magnesium. magnesium is like a if you think about a car it's like a spark plug in the body and it's so important 75 of us are deficient in magnesium and so and then you add the stress it's just you're just some similar and i'm guilty of this operate on like stress and adrenaline and it's a kind of driving factor but when you're feeling like that you're reducing you're kind of have increased that levels of cortisol, which is our primary stress hormone, you're using a lot of magnesium, you're losing a lot of sodium, potassium, all of these minerals that are so important for lots of different processes in the body.

17:53So that's one of the reasons why during your period or before you might crave chocolate because dark chocolate specifically is a really good source of magnesium. Oh, I think you've just answered the question of my entire life. Okay. Amazing. I had no idea. So it's actually quite a good thing to have. I mean, you know, in not like huge amounts, but every craving that you have, there's a reason behind it. You know, we don't, the body is very smart, very clever. And it's those cravings are a sign for the body. Like, for example, if you have a lot of salt cravings, that could be a sign that you need more sodium.

18:33You need more potassium because we use a lot of them when those minerals, when we're stressed. So eating something like a banana could be really interesting because that's a really good source of potassium or drinking some coconut water because that's also a really good source of potassium. So yeah, just, but this is really kind of, again, tuning into what's going on into your body, because when you're running a business, you can be very externally focused. But this is just asking you to just take a moment and say, well, how am I feeling today? What do I need? What's going on in my body? Because, you know, your health, it's such a cliche, but health is wealth.

19:19and if you're sick you can't run your business properly so really invest in yourself that's so funny because we were talking about this season being all around health and wellness and for some reason i kept calling it wealth health and wellness well it kind of rolled into one and i was like no it's health and wellness it's nothing to do with revenue but actually you're right if you don't look after yourself the revenue is not going to be coming and we've talked about supporting yourself during when you're sort of planning and tracking your periods but if you have external stress put upon you, can that impact your hormones and your menstrual cycle as well?

19:53Can it do some damage? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We have these different vital signs in our body. So heart rate, breathing rate, temperature, our period and our menstrual cycle are another vital sign. They call it the fifth vital sign. And when you're under a lot of stress, the body then says, okay, well, actually there's it's not safe to have a period or ovulate in the way that it had been previously when everything was kind of everything was copacetic everything was fine so stress can have a massive impact and like there's different types of stress there's having a lot of work and feeling the pressure but there's also not eating enough and then that leading to nutritional deficiencies, exercising excessively.

20:47So just feeling like when you exercise, you have time to exercise, you just need to go flat out and just doing cardio all the time. That is another stressor on the body. And all of those different stressors can have an impact on the period because the body just doesn't feel safe. And that can change a period in it being shorter, longer, heavier going missing lighter so you know knowing what your baseline is and then really being honest about the stress you're under and seeing if that's affecting your period in any way is really important goodness that's really really interesting i mean gender is such a big question right now and we know from the alice and rose review that there's i think it's 250 billion missing from the UK economy because women are not encouraged to start businesses at the same rate as men.

21:41But that's a lot of pressure as well. But should we highlight that female founders are indeed managing different stresses than, say, male founders? Is it something that we should be more sympathetic to, do you think, in this startup world? I think, you know, there's two ways of looking at that. There's an inherent disadvantage that we do have where we might not be encouraged to start our own business or we feel unable to start our own businesses because we feel like we're coming from the back foot. But then once you layer in what you know about your menstrual cycle, that can give you a real advantage because you know that you need to work differently.

22:23You can't work in a 24-hour cycle. For example, with men, they have a 24-hour testosterone cycle. So the peak's in the morning and then it starts to decline throughout the day. So if you're looking for investment and you're going to pitch to male VCs, schedule that meeting in the afternoon, not the morning. Interesting. And given that most investors at VCs are still male, that is a very useful thing to find out. Yeah, you definitely can play the game with this and not think of it as something that is a handicap. Think of it as something that can actually bring you a lot of power. Understanding yourself better, understanding how you can work better is really powerful.

23:12And then applying those general insights into your work specifically, and then how you move your body, how you eat, how you rest is so powerful. So our previous podcast guest had a question for you and it is, how do you narrow down the possibilities given in your line of work? There's so many things that you could do. How did you as a founder decide what to focus in on? That's such a great question because you're right. There are so many things that you can do and don't feel like you have to do everything at once. I'd say, yeah, with your business, you have your core capabilities. The reason you started your business, the thing that you want to do or the product that you want to sell, get that right and then build because it is nice to have lots of different options.

24:04And as a service-based business, it's nice to know that I'm not relying on one income stream. You've diversified revenue portfolio, which lots of people tell me about. exactly exactly yeah amazing thank you and what question would you like to ask the next guest what is the biggest mistake that you've made and how has that mistake helped your business what have you learned from that mistake and is there anything else you'd like to add because I think I mean I've learned so much in half an hour but I'm sure we could cover so much more but is anything else you particularly like to share? Yeah, I would just say that understanding your body, understanding your menstrual cycle can give you a lot of power.

24:51It can feel complicated, but it doesn't have to be. You know, just those basics of when does your period start, when does it end, and when you ovulate, they're a really good starting point. And if you want to learn more about all of this, you can pick up my book, You Can Have a Better Period, which goes through all of this in so much detail. How to eat, how to move your body, how to reduce your stress. And yeah, it's a great resource. Amazing. Well, thank you for doing all the research and writing it because I'm sure it'll be a very useful tool to many and we'll link to it in the show notes, of course.

25:28But thank you so much for your time today. It's been wonderful chatting to you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for listening to our 12 Days of Christmas from How to Start Up. If you have enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show because it honestly makes a massive difference to the podcast being found by other people and to me as your host it's nice to know you're there our normal scheduling will resume in january 2026 and we wish you a very very merry festive season and hope you get some rest