28 Days: What Your Cycle Reveals About Your Love Life, Moods, And Potential

by Gabrielle Lichterman

The first book to look at the monthly hormonal cycle of women as it applies to all aspects of life. Who knew that hormones could be so helpful? 28 Days is a fun, factual book for women that helps them forecast their day with one very important tool—their hormonal cycle. 28 Days reads with the ease of a horoscope but is rooted in scientific fact. This breakthrough book helps women tune in to their internal monthly calendar and learn how to maximize each day—from moods to relationships to career decisions to how hot—or not—their sex lives will be. Women’s health writer Gabrielle Lichterman also provides quick tips so women can counteract the effects of hormones on “blah” days of their cycle—like boosting the intake of iron-rich foods on low energy days.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Health

281 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

For more than 20 years, I've been a health and personal finance journalist with articles published in dozens of major publications around the globe, including First For Women, Glamour, Marie Claire, New York Daily News, Self, Woman’s World and Working Mother. I’ve also served as an editor at WebMD. My goal has been to help readers with two of the most pressing issues in their lives: health and money.

In 2005, my groundbreaking self-help health book, 28 Days: What Your Cycle Reveals About Your Moods, Health and Potential, pioneered a new way for women to manage their lives by syncing their activities and health treatments with the hormonal ups and downs in their menstrual cycle. My popular Hormonology method is currently followed by millions worldwide.

In 2021, I launched an independent publishing company, Happiness Upgrade Press, to publish uplifting self-help health and personal finance books that have an immediate positive impact on readers’ lives.

The first book from this indie press, DIY Résumé and Cover Letter Kit, was released at the start of 2021 to help folks who experienced a job loss or wanted to shift careers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next book to be published March 14, 2022 is The Happiness Upgrade, which was the inspiration for this indie press. The Happiness Upgrade introduces a simple technique to boost your mood in the moment that can be used virtually anywhere, anytime. This book is the first in a new self-help health “Upgrade” series, You can learn more at HappinessUpgradePress.com.

Reviews

[Nadine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of this book. But the execution annoyed me.

First of all, the book assumes that all women have a 28 day-long cycle. That's crap.

The glaring heteronormative assumptions. Not all women are in relationships with men or seek to be in a relationship with a man. More Crap.

I also object to thesis that ALL of a woman's moods, reactions, desires and choices are motivated by her menstrual hormones. Crap, crap and a side of crap.

According to the back cover, the author is a freelance contributor to magazines like Cosmo and Marie Claire. So it's not surprising that this book is brimming with conspicuous consumer-type metaphors.

But who knows. Maybe my critical gripping is due to my being on day 5 of my cycle. Apparently I'm brimming with angry testosterone. Rrrrr!

[Eleclyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Volevo dargli una stella, poi ho pensato che, in fondo, le note sono serie, e quindi ho optato per il raddoppio.

Ora, parliamoci chiaro: l'idea è buona. È interessante sapere come si comportano gli ormoni durante il ciclo e quali sono i loro influssi sul corpo e sulla mente della donna. Il problema vero è che questo libro è stato scritto da una "giornalista" di Cosmopolitan... e questo manda tutto in vacca.
Di ventotto capitoli, 275 pagine circa (note escluse), almeno 23 capitoli sono superflui. Qualche nozione interessante, che poteva essere condensata in meno di 100 pagine, c'è, naturalmente, ma il resto è tutto un'incessante, noiosa, insopportabile fuffa ripetizione delle stesse quattro frasi.

Sembra che la Lichterman si rivolga esclusivamente a donne da romanzetto chick-lit, le cui capacità, umori e comportamento sono decretati esclusivamente dal salire e scendere dei propri ormoni!

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The scientific-based information in this book is fascinating. I love learning about how rises and falls in estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone affect many women. The tone of this book, however, is often grating. The writing style is reminiscent of my least favorite women's magazines - chatty, familiar, and obsessed with stereotypes like how women love to shop, eat fatty foods, and be mean to their boyfriends. At times I have to grit my teeth to get to the good stuff - I would love a less silly approach to this interesting information.

[Devin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The moment I saw Freud referenced in legitimacy I knew that this book would be nonsense. Then I continued to read it and... to be honest, it read as sexist drivel with a few studies to back it up. The writing makes everything vague enough that it could be true- for example, your hormones could mean that you're really confident. It could also mean you're not, because they're not high *enough*. Basically, no matter how you feel, you can find some way to relate to this. It's the buzzfeed quizzes of your cycle. She acknowledges that your hormones are just one factor, but this framework doesn't follow in the slightest. I was amazed to see that the author was still active and that this book got any good reviews. 0/10 would not recommend, unless you feel like helping me find sources to debunk it.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really handy book to have on hand, it is surprisingly accurate for my cycle. it is also really funny to read.

[Archana Malavalli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inaccurate repetitive load of crap

I feel cheated by the short summary I read. The book is basically just that summary written in 28 different ways.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really informative, though I wonder how it stacks up to other cycle books. Sometimes I feel unsure of how accurate the research / explanations of the research are (but I'm generally skeptical), BUT it gave me some baseline hypotheses about how hormones affect me personally that I have found to be extremely helpful in aiding self awareness.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of fluff and almost read like an advertisement for SoftCups.

Helpful explanation of oxytocin role in bonding, estrogen as a mood enhancer, testosterone for confidence, and the nesting effect of progesterone.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partly humorous; partly informative.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on a lark but was relieved to find one day that my forgetfulness that day was actually most-likely hormonal. Phew! LOL Interesting read.

[LaDonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't like the writing style but the information was great.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice book. A horoscope for each day of ur cycle. I like the style and it was not complicated. Identified with a lot of what she wrote!

[Fenesha Hubbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for a girl or young woman looking to learn about her entire cycle

[Simina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

Incredibly informative and a great introductory work to our ovulatory cycle. However, it tends to get repetitive at times. I believe the book could have been shorter and still quite impactful.