When we say there was "chemistry" between two people, we are describing a biological reality. What we call chemistry is, in part, a real chemical event — volatile compounds processed by receptors evolved for exactly this purpose, routed to the limbic system, translated into the subjective experience of attraction. Your nose has been running an immune compatibility algorithm since puberty. The pill reverses it. Nobody told you.

I was 17 when I was first prescribed the pill. The appointment lasted eight minutes. I was not told about SHBG. I was not told which synthetic progestin I was being given or what else it binds beyond the progesterone receptor. I was not told about the cortisol profile changes, the depression association documented in over a million women, or the preference reversal. The information existed. It was published. It was not passed on.

You're mid-sentence, four hours since your last meal, and your brain just — stops. Not dramatically. You lose the thread. Then someone puts food in front of you and you're back, embarrassingly quickly. Here's what is actually happening in your prefrontal cortex. And here's the part that matters even more: the myth that the luteal phase makes you cognitively impaired is not supported by a 2025 meta-analysis of 102 studies and 3,943 women. The fog is real. The explanation isn't what you've been told.

I spent the better part of my twenties thinking my body was unpredictable. One week sharp and focused, the next week foggy and tender — craving different food, needing more sleep, finding the same social situation that felt easy a fortnight ago now unexpectedly exhausting. It took years before I understood that what I was experiencing was not randomness. It was a programme. A 28-day biological programme that was running, flawlessly, every single month. Nobody gave me a map. So I built one.

Ever had a week at work where everything felt harder than it should?
Same workload. Same competence. Completely different internal experience.

If that week happened during your late luteal phase, it wasn’t weakness — it was biochemistry.

Here’s what’s actually happening in your brain during PMS, and how to work with your cycle instead of fighting it.

Human fertility isn’t random—it follows seasonal rhythms. Spring, especially March, is when hormones, ovulation, and libido naturally ramp up. Here’s why your body feels different this time of year, and how to work with—or around—it.