Nicole Askwith Williams – a leading women’s health educator and coach – discusses how hormones, nutrition, and recovery impact productivity and wellbeing year-round.
For many women, their energy can feel like a rollercoaster with little predictability. Between work, family, and the demands of daily life, maintaining consistent focus and productivity can be challenging. But, the truth is, energy isn’t just about how much sleep we get vs how many coffees we drink. It can be deeply connected to our hormones, nutrition, and recovery practices. By understanding and supporting these foundations, women can create sustainable energy all year round.
Hormones and Energy
Hormones are like chemical messengers running through our bodies. They influence everything from mood and concentration to stamina and sleep. Fluctuations across our menstrual cycle, as well as other hormonal transitions like perimenopause, can affect energy levels in really noticeable ways. Rises in oestrogen around ovulation can enhance energy and motivation with its links to our neurotransmitter dopamine, while lower levels of oestrogen at the beginning of a cycle can contribute to fatigue. This is almost flipped on its head during the menopausal transition as all 3 sex hormones (oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone) are depleting and can have incredibly varied fluctuations, which is why women can feel so different day to day.
Some research shows that large proportions of women do report energy fluctuations linked to their cycle. For women in demanding careers, this can mean certain days naturally feeling more productive, while others feel more draining.
Practical tip: You should be tracking your energy alongside your cycle. Noticing when you feel naturally more energised (and when you don’t) can help you plan your diary with more important and demanding meetings at certain points, or needing to plan recovery time more effectively.
Nutrition that Sustains
The food we eat directly impacts our blood sugar balance that in turn does impact our energy, mood, and overall productivity. And as women have completely different hormonal fluctuations to men, it’s important we are fuelling our bodies for this, not working against it.
A lot of women rely on quick-fix snacks and several caffeine boosts throughout the day, but this does nothing for our hormone regulation and it leads to crashes. Instead, we need to flip the narrative and make sure that we are providing our bodies with consistent energy. This comes from nutrient dense meals that combine protein, fibre, healthy fats and of course carbohydrates.
Having stable blood sugar throughout the day has been shown to improve focus and reduce what I like to call the ‘Lunch Slump’. So many women experience afternoon fatigue when working because they aren’t having balanced meals to enable them to perform to the best of their ability, let alone any added extras like the gym or other activities. For business women, that could really be the difference between nailing a client presentation or losing out on the deal.
Practical tip: Please start the day with breakfast. Too many busy women skip breakfast and this makes things 100 times worse. Something balanced that has carbs, fats and protein such as eggs, yoghurt and nuts, some oats or a smoothie with protein powder.
Recovery and Rest
With everyone always being so busy, recovery is probably the most overlooked pillar of health. When we talk about recovery it isn’t just sleep (although quality sleep is essential); it’s also about how we manage stress and allow our bodies time to reset. When we are constantly in our sympathetic nervous system (flight or flight) rather than our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), our sleep is interrupted, our gut health and digestion doesn’t work properly, and that overall really impacts our energy.
The World Health Organization has identified ‘burnout as an occupational phenomenon’. For women who are balancing demanding careers with other responsibilities at home, recovery really needs to be taken seriously, it’s not a luxury. It needs to be looked at as a more of a performance strategy.
Practical tip: Our circadian rhythm (what helps us sleep and wake up) loves similarity and routine. Creating a routine that you can stick to when getting ready for bed can help your mind and body chill out. Really small actions like dimming your lights, giving your brain a break from devices, having a warm bath or shower, and only using your bedroom for sleep (no TV’s!) makes sleep deeper and more restorative.
Energy is not always about pushing harder but about creating the right conditions for your body to thrive. As women, by supporting our hormones, fuelling with balanced nutrition, and actually prioritising recovery, we can build sustainable productivity and wellbeing throughout the year. If you are an ambitious woman, maybe feeling like you’re balancing multiple demands, these foundations shouldn’t be an optional extra, you should be looking at them as essential for your performance and long-term health.
About the expert
Nicole Askwith Williams is a women’s health educator and coach. She supports women in understanding their bodies, through practical, evidence-based approaches and also educates other health professionals and organisations on supporting women’s health in and out of the workplace. She is the founder of The Women’s Wellbeing Club, a community and platform dedicated to empowering women through education, coaching, and community support.
