Productivity hacks to focus through your menstrual cycle
Reviewed by Dr Jess Chadwick, Clinical Advisor, Neuroendocrinologist, Medical Consultant at Phase . Jess is also a member of the Society for Endocrinology.
There’s no doubt about it—staying focused in a world full of distractions is a challenge. Digital devices have become central to how we work, helping us stay informed, connected, and entertained. However, the constant pings and dings, combined with our natural tendency to seek distraction, make it harder than ever to maintain focus.
Attention spans are shrinking. Gloria Mark, one of the leading global experts on attention, found that in 2017, attention spans were, on average, 47 seconds per screen. This was down from 75 seconds in 2012. While the claim that average attention spans today are 8 seconds is likely a myth, there is growing agreement that focusing has become increasingly difficult. Research also shows that changes in hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle can impact focus and concentration.
It’s unrealistic to expect constant focus, and in fact, it wouldn’t be beneficial. Moments of distraction, boredom, and free thinking are essential for ideation, relaxation, and synthesizing thoughts. However, to make progress on meaningful tasks, concentration is key.
In this blog, we’ll explore how the brain controls focus, how female reproductive hormones influence concentration, and introduce some favorite productivity hacks. We’ll also recommend when these techniques might be most effective during the menstrual cycle.
As with everything at Phase, we believe that improved understanding leads to improved performance. By understanding your body and brain, you can enhance your productivity. Let’s get started!
How Your Brain Controls Focus
Before diving into how reproductive hormones impact focus, it’s helpful to understand the brain regions and neurotransmitters that help control focus, attention, and cognition. The brain is a complex organ, and much is still to be understood. However, here are some key systems involved:
Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)
General Role: Responsible for higher cognitive functions like reasoning, planning, and decision-making.
Focus Role: The brain's decision-making hub. It helps you set goals, plan, and make choices while filtering distractions and directing attention to relevant tasks.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)
General Role: Involved in emotional regulation, error detection, and managing cognitive and emotional conflicts.
Focus Role: Plays a crucial role in maintaining attention, especially during challenging or complex tasks. It detects internal conflicts (like distractions) and helps you stay on task despite interruptions.
Dopamine System
General Role: Regulates mood, motivation, reward processing, and reinforcement of behaviors.
Focus Role: Critical for motivation, reward, and reinforcement. It helps sustain focus by making goal pursuit rewarding, motivating you to continue focusing.
Norepinephrine System
General Role: Primarily involved in arousal, attention, and the fight-or-flight response.
Focus Role: Enhances alertness and prepares the brain to respond to important stimuli. It’s key in maintaining attention, especially when focusing on new or urgent information.
Hippocampus
General Role: Essential for memory formation, spatial navigation, and learning.
Focus Role: Supports focus by enabling the retrieval of relevant information when needed, helping you stay engaged in learning or problem-solving.
(See references 1–5)
How Female Reproductive Hormones Influence Focus
Hormones play a crucial role in shaping how our systems operate, and this includes our reproductive hormones that also influence many of the brain mechanisms involved in focus. Let’s take a look at four key reproductive hormones and how they impact concentration:
Estrogen: Is key to motivation as it increases serotonin levels critical in regulating mood and sleep. This can improve concentration, mental clarity, and working memory. It also boosts communication between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, enhancing learning and decision making. This is why you may feel your sharpest during the follicular phase and ovulation, when estrogen peaks.
Progesterone: Progesterone enhances GABA-ergic activity within neurons which can make a person more likely to experience mood fluctuations and a dip in motivation. It peaks in the luteal phase (days 15–28), often contributing to reduced mental energy, particularly when progesterone dominates over estrogen. However, progesterone boosts fronto-striatal activation during the luteal phase, the pathways which connect the frontal lobe of the brain to the striatum of the brain. These circuits are essential for goal-directed behaviour and will boost focus. As such, during this phase, try breaking tasks into smaller chunks and focusing on blocks of work to make solid progress.
Testosterone: While often associated with men, testosterone also boosts drive and motivation in women, helping to sustain attention and increase confidence. Peaking during ovulation, it amplifies the benefits of high estrogen levels.
Cortisol: Although not a reproductive hormone, cortisol works alongside them to regulate attention. High stress levels can impair focus by reducing prefrontal cortex function. Estrogen helps buffer cortisol, but in low-estrogen phases (like the early menstrual phase), stress can feel more overwhelming, making concentration more difficult.
Considering these hormone fluctuations, your ability to focus tends to improve during the follicular phase and peaks at ovulation. Many women experience a dip in focus immediately following ovulation, with a second peak during the middle of the luteal phase.
When focus is at its highest, use productivity hacks that require sustained concentration. During lower-focus periods, focus on shorter bursts, which are more effective throughout the day. It’s also important to minimize stress during these phases (e.g., menstruation) to prevent cortisol from impairing focus.
(See references 6–8)
Top Productivity Hacks and When to Use Them
Time Blocking: Structure Your Day for Maximum Efficiency
Ever feel like your day slips away without making real progress? Time blocking is a game-changer. Instead of jumping between tasks, allocate specific time slots for focused work, meetings, and even breaks. Importantly, each block has a clear goal, helping you feel like you’re ticking off chunks of output rather than frittering away time.
How it improves focus:
Eliminates distractions and procrastination.
Encourages deep work by dedicating time to one task at a time.
Reduces decision fatigue by pre-planning your schedule.
How to apply it to your menstrual cycle:
Time blocking works well when focus is high and you can sustain concentration for longer periods. For lower-focus times, consider shorter blocks or break larger blocks into Pomodoro sessions (see below).
Here’s an example from Zapier on how your calendar might look.
Task Batching: Cut Down on Context Switching
Switching between tasks drains mental energy. Task batching groups similar tasks together, allowing you to stay in the same flow state longer.
How it improves focus:
Saves time by reducing the mental effort of task transitions.
Boosts efficiency by focusing on related tasks at once.
Ideal for emails, content creation, and admin work.
How to apply it to your menstrual cycle: Batch your most mentally demanding tasks during peak energy times, typically during the follicular phase and ovulation.
Listening to Focus Music: Optimize Your Brainpower
Focus music, such as that offered by Brain.fm, includes instrumental tracks, binaural beats, or lo-fi music, which can help enhance concentration.
How it improves focus:
Blocks out background noise, helping you stay in the zone.
Stimulates brain activity for deeper focus and creativity.
Reduces stress and promotes a state of flow.
How to apply it to your menstrual cycle: Different types of music may resonate differently depending on where you are in your cycle. You can also use music to reduce stress, especially during the late luteal and menstrual phases.
The Pomodoro Technique: Work in Short Bursts
Struggling to stay focused for long periods? The Pomodoro Technique breaks work into 25-minute sessions, followed by short breaks.
How it improves focus:
Helps prevent burnout by working in short, focused bursts.
Enhances concentration by providing frequent mental resets.
How to apply it to your menstrual cycle: Pomodoro sessions are particularly useful during times when focus is lower, like the late luteal and menstrual phases, helping to engage your reward system.
Single-Tasking: Ditch Multitasking for Better Focus
Multitasking feels productive but actually reduces efficiency. Single-tasking means fully focusing on one task at a time—no distractions.You might consider using a distraction blocker to help you in your journey!
How it improves focus:
Improves concentration and deep work.
Reduces mistakes caused by task-switching.
Helps you complete tasks faster and with higher quality.
How to apply it to your menstrual cycle: This approach is effective throughout the cycle—helpful for staying in flow when focus is high and minimizing distractions when focus is low.
Find What Works Best for You
So there we have it! It turns out that the leading productivity hacks that have been pitched to us for years in flashy books, blogs and courses, may not be as effective throughout the month. Women are not the same every single day. Our brains are changing and it makes sense that the way that we work should change with them.
The key is to experiment and discover what helps you stay productive, focused, and balanced. Tools like Phase can help structure your workflow and optimize your time.
As a community of professional women, we have so much to learn from each other. Let us know—how is your concentration? Are you getting more done? What techniques do you use to stay focused?
The information provided on the site is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice.
Medical References:
Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167–202.
Bush, G., Luu, P., & Posner, M. I. (2000). Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(6), 215–222.
Wise, R. A. (2004). Dopamine, learning and motivation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(6), 483–494.
Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Toward a new understanding of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder pathophysiology: an important role for norepinephrine. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(7), 732-740.
Eichenbaum, H. (2004). Hippocampus: Cognitive processes and neural mechanisms. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(2), 182-187.
Symonds, C. S., Gallagher, P., Thompson, J. M., & Young, A. H. (2004). Effects of the menstrual cycle on mood, neurocognitive and neuroendocrine function in healthy premenopausal women. Psychological Medicine, 34(1)
Voytko, M. L., Murray, R., & Higgs, C. J. (2009). Executive function and attention are preserved in older surgically menopausal monkeys receiving estrogen or estrogen plus progesterone. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(33).
Pletzer, B., Harris, T. A., Scheuringer, A., & Hidalgo-Lopez, E. (2019). The cycling brain: menstrual cycle related fluctuations in hippocampal and fronto-striatal activation and connectivity during cognitive tasks. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44(11).
