How Your Hormones Affect Everything — From the Gym to Egg Freezing & Relationships | Dr Hazel Wallace - Live Well Be Well with Sarah Ann Macklin | Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I went into Reddit and I wanted to see like what are women
talking about right now when it comes to FEMA health?
A young woman shared her experience of getting an IUD and
she talked openly about the painand the bleeding.
My other intern friend pulled measide at my lunch break and she
said that I should not share anything to do with Women's
Health or periods with men and it's uncomfortable for them and
for me. The only way that we change that

(00:20):
narrative is by normalizing those conversations between men
and women. I think we reduce our menstrual
cycles to pure fertility, but it's impacting so much more than
that. You're sitting here as a
qualified medical doctor, also anutritionist, but also somebody
who now has had a deep focus on Women's Health.
A really interesting study on PMS premenstrual syndrome and

(00:42):
they did just single therapy with the person that was
experiencing PMS and then they did couples therapy in another
arm of the study with the partner of the person who was
experiencing PMS. And they found that actually,
couples therapy was more effective at reducing symptoms.
But what you think about training during your menstrual?
Cycle. There was an interesting study
done on female footballers and they perceived that they

(01:03):
performed worse during their period, but actually when they
did objective measures of how they performed, their reaction
times and other measures were better, so they actually
performed better during that time.
It's really about becoming more aware about how your hormones
impact you, and that includes fertility as well.
I went through egg freezing lastyear and it was really hard

(01:23):
because it came out of a very big relationship that was quite
traumatizing. And I remember all I had in my
brain was I have to do this. But the pressure of it was so
much, I have to say, like when Ifinished the last injections and
had the egg retrieval, that's when I felt low.
It was the dip afterwards. I was the same.
No one prepares you for that. What's the one thing that you

(01:44):
want people to leave today's conversation with?
If you are a regular listener tothe show or live well, be well
or this is your first episode you're listening to, I really
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This helps the show more than you can imagine.
It means the world to help growing this show and you all

(02:06):
know that. I have a huge thing to want to
hit 100,000 on YouTube this yearand I can't do that without your
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best guess possible out there, and I pride myself in doing that
for the show because it's so important.
But to keep the guests coming, to get them to be bigger and to
bring more helpful information to your ears and your eyes.

(02:27):
I really would love to ask you to subscribe to the show.
Thank you. First of all, congratulations.
Thank you on your 4th book, which is good, not just a
period. It's such a great title.
Thank you. And I kind of want to start, I'm
trying to, I want to start with more of a curious question
because I think we reduce our menstrual cycles to pure

(02:48):
fertility, but it's impacting somuch more than that.
So I wanted to ask you, and I think so many women listening to
this, which is what do you wish that more women understood about
what's really happening in theirbody, especially during their
menstrual cycle? It's a really great question and
it's one of the reasons why I call the book Not Just a Period,

(03:11):
because when we think about menstrual cycles, we just think
about the bleeding phase, a period when so much more happens
across that 23 or so other days outside of the bleeding phase,
menstruation. And every single day is
different in terms of a hormonalprofile.
So that means that it's impacting us in a different way

(03:32):
every day. Umm, which is something so
unique to females that doesn't, you know, men don't experience
that. And I think the hormonal
fluctuations like estrogen and progesterone that occur across
the menstrual cycle, oftentimes we think about them from a
fertility perspective or ovulation.

(03:52):
But those hormones impact everything, every single part of
our body, every single organ system from our brain, our gut,
our mood, how we sleep, our cravings, our metabolism, how
our gut functions. And having that knowledge I
think is so incredibly importantfor women because it's really
empowering. It helps us feel less in dark

(04:13):
about our bodies. And if we are struggling with
any of those things, be that sleep or breakouts or cravings,
we can be proactive when we whenwe really fully understand our
hormones and our cycle when. Was that moment, I guess because
it's interesting. I think it's so fascinating.
You're sitting here as a qualified medical doctor, also a
nutritionist, but also somebody who now has had a deep focus on

(04:36):
Women's Health. And, you know, I've spoken a lot
on here about Women's Health andwe've had so many varying
conversations when it comes to, and I've learned a lot.
And it's interesting that you know, for you, you've shifted
your focus into this being a woman, so you kind of had that
lived experience and then you'relearning it along the way.
What's been one of the most interesting things that you've

(04:56):
learned personally during the start journey about hormonal and
female health? It's been fascinating, to be
honest. I feel like writing the book
made me learn so much more aboutmy body and feel maybe really
validated about what I was experiencing.
So I guess my real interest in Women's Health stem from my own

(05:21):
experience and that's often the case when people go through
their own journey. I was diagnosed with PCOS
polycystic ovary syndrome in 2018.
But I was having symptoms for two years and I was back and
forth to the doctor whilst working as a doctor myself at
the time and I didn't incline that this is what was happening
to me. But you need blood tests and an

(05:43):
ultrasound to be diagnosed. Well technically you could be
diagnosed without the ultrasoundbut on this in this situation my
GP wasn't convinced that I had PCOS.
He felt like I didn't fit the PCOS picture is what he called
it. And so having to really push and
advocate for myself and then finally get that diagnosis made

(06:05):
me realize kind of the state of Women's Health within the UK and
across the world. And just how we approach
menstrual health is often that, you know, it's just part and
parcel of being a woman. Periods are supposed to be a
regular, Periods are supposed tobe heavy PMS.
Everyone gets it. Like all of these assumptions
that we have when what I was experiencing wasn't normal, what

(06:28):
lots of women are experiencing aren't normal.
But while they're common, they're not normal and they are
fixable. And so that was kind of my entry
into really wanting to understand why we're not
serving, why we're not really taking women seriously in in
that space. And I guess like through my own

(06:48):
research, when I got my diagnosis, I was doing my
masters in nutrition. So I set out to like figure out
what can I do from a nutrition standpoint and supplement
standpoint, because I was simplytold just cook carbs and come
back when you're going to get pregnant.
And that is just such useless advice.
But you would like, I could literally, I would say every

(07:10):
second client that I see in my practice will say I was told the
same thing. It's like almost as if there's a
script that, yeah, everyone's given the same script or the
alternative is lose weight, which is something that women
are often told. And so I just don't think that's
good enough. But there were no books that you

(07:32):
could read. Yes, you can dive into research
if you're skilled to do that, ifyou've got access to that, but
not everyone does. And I think realizing how
transformative it was for me to really understand my hormones
and my cycle because a lot of this stuff isn't taught at
medical school. Yes, we learn about Women's
Health in general and menstrual health disorders, obstetrics,

(07:54):
gynecology, but what about the women who, which there are 1.9
billion of us who are having a cycle and experiencing that
every day. And maybe they don't have
endometriosis or PCOS, but they have really debilitating PMS or
they get really bad, uncomfortable bloating or cramps
during their cycle and they're not given the tools to help

(08:16):
support themselves. So that was the why really
behind the book, because there was such a gap in knowledge and
research there there. Is a gap.
And I think what's really interesting is that I'm so deep
in this of fear. So I feel very grateful and
privileged to be able to speak to so many different people
everyday and learn and push myself even more to know, you

(08:38):
know, the landscape of this. I'm in a very fortunate position
to do that. And obviously all the female
friends I have around me, I'm constantly like relaying all
this information and I'm very vulnerable with what I go
through and try and have that interaction with my friends.
And I actually got a voice note last night from a very good
friend of mine where I had sent her to see somebody because she

(09:00):
really suffers with PMDD. And it probably took, you know,
8 months of support and convincing to get her to this
person that I thought would really help and with her
hormones. And she sent me a voice note
crying last night saying I don'twant to speak too soon.
It's been the first month, but it's been life changing.
It's been completely life changing.
And my, you know, validation back was this is amazing, but

(09:23):
think how many women are just left feeling like this without
the support because it does. It is something that's not
spoken about regularly. And when I was like researching
this podcast as well as like reading your book and, and
looking at comments at the moment about what women are
talking about, I was like, oh, Iwould, I think I know where I'll
go read it. So I went into Reddit and I

(09:44):
wanted to see like, what are women talking about right now
when it comes to, to FEMA health?
And I thought I'd share something and see what you think
because it quite broke my heart.It was a young woman shared her
experience of experience of getting an IUD and she talked
openly about the pain and the bleeding.
So this is what she said. Hi, I got my IUD yesterday.

(10:07):
I had to take a day off from my internship to do it and didn't
hide the motive. When I got into my internship a
bunch of Co workers, men and women asked me if it was OK and
how it went. I essentially told everyone the
same thing. I was in a lot of pain, I bled a
lot and at first I thought it could take I could take it
without anesthetic but then it hurt so much that I had to take

(10:27):
it. My other intern friend pulled me
aside at my lunch break and she said I felt like you were being
inappropriate towards the male colleagues.
She said that talking openly about getting an IUD was going
to put the image of me naked in their minds and that saying I
bled a lot or was in pain was too much.
She said that it was practicallylike I was harassing them and

(10:47):
that I should not share anythingto do with Women's Health or
periods with men and it's uncomfortable for them and for
me. She also said that she had been
meaning to tell me this for a while because she also felt very
annoyed when I openly shared about having menstrual cramps.
And she, this girl ended up withsaying, now I'm spiraling a lot.
And it's just, I mean, that was a really recent Reddit post that

(11:11):
I read and there was 43 lots of comments underneath.
And it just made me kind of stepback and think for a moment of
where we kind of, I guess, disassociated from having these
conversations around Women's Health.
And what made me sad about that was it was another woman

(11:31):
speaking to another woman in this situation scenario.
Is this something that you see alot?
Is this maybe why that you felt the need to write this book?
And you're also incredibly open on your content and social media
about your own journey. Like, how do you see the
landscape of Women's Health conversations changing?
Or do you think they're not? I think they are within like the

(11:55):
menopause. We have a lot more conversations
about that now. And that's wasn't always the
case. I think people like Davina
McCall really like paved the wayfor that.
But I do think that anything related to menstrual health and
the menstrual cycle is completely lagging behind.
And there's still such taboo shrouded around women's bodies

(12:17):
because I think some people still believe that periods and
menstrual cycles should be discussed in, like, hushed tones
just for women. You know, hiding your tampon up
your sleeve, not having those conversations, not speaking up
in school if you're struggling, not taking days off work if
you're in really bad pain. And I think the only way that we

(12:40):
change that narrative is by normalizing those conversations
between men and women because this is a completely normal
bodily function. And no one, when someone shares
their pregnancy story and sometimes there is bodily fluids
there, people don't say that. Like don't talk about that.
That's horrible. I guess when I talk about this

(13:04):
as well, I get some women say, well, I don't want to talk
openly with my male friends or my male partners about my cycle
or my period. And that's absolutely fine.
I'm not asking you to, but thereare some women who are
completely struggling in silenceand they've got no one to speak
to. And actually by opening up to
their partner, they get the support that they need.

(13:27):
And we see that even in the research, like we see that with
those, there is a really interesting study on PMS
premenstrual syndrome. And they did just single therapy
with the person that was experiencing PMS.
And then they did couples therapy in another arm of the
study with the partner and of the person who was experiencing
PMS. And they found that actually

(13:47):
couples therapy was more effective at reducing symptoms.
And it's when you, it's kind of like a problem shared as a
problem have like when you include someone in what you're
experiencing it, they can help you support, they can help
support you through that. But also it really normalizes
it. You know, I think back to my own
relationship and the start of our relationship, maybe our

(14:07):
conversations weren't so open around my cycle and my piece to
us. But now it's as if it's we're
talking about a headache. Like it's no different to any
other part of my body or any other experience.
And he's so equipped to know what to do that I don't feel
like I need to really overthink it in my head and like really
psych myself up to have that conversation.

(14:28):
It's so normalized and for some women that can be really
difficult within the relationship.
For some women, they have great partners who are willing to talk
about it. So I think it's it really is
taking time to change that narrative.
But I think the more we talk openly about it, the more
podcasts like this, hopefully more books like mine, we'll just

(14:50):
put menstrual health back on themap like any other part, Like
mental health, like gut health, it's just another organ.
It is, I think, you know, I believe that not talking about
it is silencing the diagnosis ofthings like PCOSPMDD, which I
think many people even five years ago didn't know that was
people might be listening to this and going, well, what is

(15:12):
that? It's kind of the next extreme of
PMS where it's so debilitating for people to cope.
Endometriosis, which you just mentioned, even missing periods,
you know, I've had sometimes when my friends have mentioned
that they've not had a period for 10 months, but they've not
really acknowledged it because there's shame there.
And so I think having those openconversations is, is actually

(15:33):
really important in this context.
And I love that you mentioned PMS because we had, I don't know
if you know her, the neuroscientist, Dr. Sarah McKay
on the show, She was amazing. And it was really blew my mind
because I, I always come on and go, well, I feel like I know a
lot about PMS now because so many people have come on and
spoken about it. And something that she said was,
yes, there was so much about thebiology and the hormonal side

(15:55):
that do affect PMS, but there's also so many other things like
the cultural messages that were given.
And she said in a really interesting stat that in France,
12% of women compared to 90% of women in Iran are affected by
PMS. So she's like, wait, is this
biological? Is it environmental?
Is it cultural? Like there must be other things.
So it makes so much sense when you say, well, if your partner

(16:18):
kind of shares the problem and can see you and can support you
and can use positive language and not dismiss you and validate
you, then it would seem to make more of a supportive environment
to be able to cope with PMS. Yeah, 100%.
So it's. Interesting.
I try and think about how we've all grown up around like, what
are those messages and like, howwere we treated at school?
I mean, I remember getting my period at school and I decided

(16:41):
that I was sick and wanted to gohome.
I. Remember first getting it and
going in and pretending that I was really ill to go home
because I was so embarrassed. Yeah, I mean, if no one's
prepared you, or maybe you've had like one lesson on it and it
was very brief and, you know, you're an 11 year old girl who
just started her period for the first time, it can be pretty

(17:03):
terrifying if you don't have theinformation that you need.
So I'm really not surprised thatthat was your experience.
And I think, you know, my, my experience wasn't too
dissimilar. I have an older sister, so my
mum just kind of pushed me into a room with her and she told me
what to do. And that was, that was really
the only conversation that we had.
But I think because I had older sisters, I'd seen them have, you

(17:29):
know, hot water bottles, I've seen them moan about having
painful periods. So I I just assumed this is
what's coming. Painful periods, sometimes
taking time off school, not exercising during that time or
not doing. PEI was a really sporty girl.
So I found that like really likeI wasn't really sure how to
navigate that. Should I not exercise?

(17:49):
Should I exercise? My mum didn't really tell me
otherwise. And so I would love that the
girls coming up behind us or even my own daughter if I ever
have one, that their experience is completely different and they
feel so well equipped about whatto do around their cycles, not
just the bleeding phase. And when it comes, it's not like
complete panic and it's not something that's like shrouded

(18:12):
in shame or, or embarrassment oryou can't speak up if you are
the girl who's vomiting because your pain is so severe or you're
soaking through your uniform because a lot of girls don't do
not speak up about that because they're so embarrassed.
Iron is one of the most common deficiencies that I see in
clinic, especially in women. And it's not just about feeling

(18:35):
tired. Low iron can impact your energy,
your focus, your mood and even your immune system.
It's something we really need tobe aware of because if left
untreated, iron deficiency can become very serious.
Now UK data shows that around 20to 35% of women aged 18 to 50 do

(18:55):
not need the recommended dietaryguidelines for iron intake.
And if you're pregnant, menstruating or following a
vegetarian or vegan diet, your needs are even higher and
therefore you're more at risk. So that's why I often recommend
Spartone. Now this is a naturally sourced
iron rich water that comes from the Welsh hills.
It contains ferrous iron, the most absorbable form, with

(19:18):
studies showing up to 40% absorption.
So your body can actually use what it takes in.
Now it's also incredibly gentle,it's one natural ingredient,
there's no harsh tablets and there's no digestive issues.
I use it myself and it is my go to in clinic.
You can pick up Spartone at Boots and if you've been feeling
low in energy it's absolutely worth checking in on your iron

(19:42):
with your doctor or GP. That was me.
And I think it was really interesting because I know that
you try to not talk down about the pill, you have a very
balanced view about it. But the solution for me at that
time was we'll just go on the pill because it's so much
easier. And then it was great because it
stopped my periods and then I started modelling.
So for me, I was like, well, this is brilliant.

(20:03):
I haven't got to think about it.And then ten years later, I had
this moment where I was like, wait, I don't.
I have no idea how my cycle is. And I had to, I've had to
reframe my own narrative with mymenstrual cycle because now I
feel very empowered by it and I feel very lucky and very
grateful to have it. And one of my friends said
something really interesting. She said, you know, I kind of

(20:24):
feel sorry for men because we have this amazing moment in a
month where we can just allow ourselves to let everything just
go and we can cry and we can kind of reset ourselves.
And she was like, and I feel quite sorry for my partner that
doesn't, she doesn't really get that.
She doesn't really get that cardin the month.
And I was like, that's such a positive way of.
Looking at it, yeah, so. Look at it and it takes me back

(20:46):
to a question which I get a lot and I'm sure you get overwhelmed
with, but a lot of people say, well, what does a normal period
look like? What is a normal period?
And how do I know if I'm not? Because some people say, well, I
come on every 21 days and someone else might say, well, I
come on every 30-4 days. So like, how do we define what a

(21:06):
normal period is? And how can we then be aware of
when maybe not falling into the remits of what that could look
like? Yeah, there's no like real such
definition of a healthy menstrual cycle, but there are
what I like to call green flags or what fall into that like
healthy signs that your cycles working as it should.

(21:30):
And so in terms of how often it's coming, we want something
to fall between 21 to 35 days, which is quite a big variation.
But textbooks will say like a 28day cycle is is what most women
have. But actually a lot of the
research shows that not many women do have a 28 day cycle.
So it's OK if you're falling either side of that.

(21:51):
Now, another thing that I often find is in common knowledge is
how to track the days of your cycle.
So day one is the first day of your bleeding and the last day
of your cycle. So say that is 28 will be the
last day before your next bleed.So that's your full cycle
length. Then in terms of the bleeding
phase, which is typically the first five to seven days,

(22:15):
bleeding for three to five days is considered normal.
If you're bleeding up to seven days and it's quite heavy,
that's a bit of a red flag. So we'd want to speak to your
doctor about that. But heaviness and pain is very
subjective. So we can measure how much fluid
or blood is too much to lose. But I don't know about you, but
not many people are measuring that.

(22:36):
So what I think is a better definition is it's too much for
you to manage. So if you're soaking through at
night every night, if you're having to wear 2 products all
the time, if every hour you're like clock watching and you need
to like get in and change. And similar with pain.
If you're clock watching becauseyou want to stay on top of

(22:56):
painkillers every four hours because otherwise the pain's too
severe or you're someone who vomits because of the pain.
Or what I hear a lot of the girls with endometriosis tell me
is lying on the floor because it's really cold and that's the
only way to get relief when they're, you know, experiencing
painful periods or really heavy periods during the night.

(23:17):
So they would be red flags. And then not bleeding between
your period. Sometimes it's OK to spot.
And so sometimes after sex, you might spot.
Sometimes after extreme exerciseyou might spot.
But if it's happening all the time or you're finding it's
happening frequently across yourcycle, that's also a red flag.

(23:39):
So those would be the main things.
And the other thing that I'd addin which we've already kind of
talked about is any severe mood symptoms in that lately teal
phase. So the week or so before your
period, anything that's causing disruption in your everyday
life, whether that's work, your relationships, your activity,
the things that you love, that'sa red flag for me.

(24:02):
And so the one thing you mentioned there, which I think
every woman will relate to, and if you don't, I'm incredibly
jealous. Painful periods.
Yeah. So you said something earlier,
you know, and a very similar, I had an older sister and a mum
that would always have hot waterbottles around that time and
warm baths and, you know, gentleyoga moves.

(24:23):
But I always remember being like, oh, gosh.
And I would be terrified of my period coming because the pain.
Is there anything we can do? Just thinking actively around
having painful periods? Like obviously there's going to
be symptoms of maybe why, like endometriosis that you just
mentioned and other key drivers,but general period pain.
Like what advice can you give topeople who are listening who

(24:44):
suffer? Yeah, it's really, it's, it's
really tricky if you fall into that category.
And most women will experience some pain.
It's unrealistic to have no cramping at all because our body
is essentially cramping in orderto shed the womb lining.
So we have to expect a little bit of discomfort.

(25:05):
But severe pain that's interfering with your day-to-day
is, is not normal. If you fall into the I get some
cramping, but I'm able to carry on with my day-to-day.
It's not interfering with like my physical activity or my
relationships. Then there are a few things that
you can do. As much as it feels like an old
wives tale, hot water bottles, heat patches that you can at the
pharmacy or any heat tool is actually can be effective and we

(25:29):
have some research to back that up.
So if you do have a hot water bottle, that's fun, or you can
get those heat pads as well. Have a warm bath.
They're good methods. Certain yoga poses can be
helpful. I've got some in the book.
Hang. On let me find.
I've honestly read this back-to-back and I remember
seeing this and thinking, this is something that I'm definitely

(25:51):
going to be doing. Here we go.
I'll show it for anyone watchingon YouTube.
We're going to show you. There's different exercises
here. There we go.
How many have we got? 8.
And I've just pulled a few from.That feels like it would cramp
my stomach. Maybe it would, but this is a
sequence that I've taken from a research study.

(26:12):
So yeah. And they seem to be the same
movements that show up in most of the research studies.
But again, no one, no two women are the same.
So if you find that uncomfortable, I wouldn't
recommend it. There's a lot of people who say,
you know, yogis who will say I've been told not to do
inversions during my period. There's actually no evidence to

(26:34):
say that you can't. I think maybe hypothetically
some people are worried it mightcause something called
retrograde menstruation, which is a theory related to
endometriosis. But we've got nothing to say
that if it's not causing you anydiscomfort, you can absolutely
do it. It's not harmful.
It's more of a ancient recommendation not to do that.

(26:58):
And so if that's part of your practice and you don't do it for
that reason, then don't do it. But if you've always been doing
those inversions during your period and it's fine, then
continue to do so. But for people who don't
practice yoga, all forms of movement can be beneficial
during exercise during your period, because exercise is

(27:18):
anti-inflammatory and it can produce antioxidants.
So it's really beneficial for us.
I know a lot of people don't feel like doing much during that
time, but it doesn't have to be severe.
It could be a yoga class, it could be going for a long walk,
it could be a lightweight session, it could be a plateau
session. Whatever works or feels good for

(27:40):
you, but generally trying to move as opposed to complete rest
tends to be more beneficial. I.
Know, I've, I've seen you talk about it a lot on the on the
show. We've had doctor Stacey Sims on
here a lot speaking about the importance of, you know,
resistance exercise and trainingfor Women's Health.
But what do you think about training during your menstrual
cycle? Because there's a lot of

(28:01):
different conversations around this now on, you know, you
should ramp it up for the two weeks when like pre ovulation
and then once you've ovulated, you should be slowing it down.
What's your, because you're alsoreally into your training.
So what do you do and what does the research say in that, in
that kind of sector? So the research is definitely
growing in this space, but there's not a huge amount of

(28:23):
studies there on training aroundthe menstrual cycle or recovery
around the menstrual cycle or muscle building potential around
the menstrual cycle. And of the ones that we have,
there is a lot of conflicting evidence or inconclusive
results. From the systematic reviews

(28:44):
where we pool all the research together, it seems that there
may be a small dip in performance during your period.
And I think for a lot of people that is not really a surprise,
but it's such a small dip, like very insignificant, that some
women won't experience it. The other caveat to that is
there's other studies that find other found otherwise.

(29:04):
And when I was writing this book, I really wanted to pull
this apart because I find personally the that my cycle
really impacts my energy, my motivation to train, and also
how strong I feel. And I wanted to find out if that
was a real perceived effect likefrom objective measures.

(29:25):
And there was an interesting study done on athletes.
I think they were female footballers and they perceived
that they performed worse duringthe period.
But actually when they did objective measures of how they
performed, their reaction times and other measures were better.
So they actually performed better during that time.
And I think what this tells us is it's not that it's all in

(29:49):
your head that you're having a terrible day or having a hard
period, but we can still performwell during our period and
during different parts of our cycle.
And I found that actually reallyempowering.
At the time I was writing the book, I was doing Paris Marathon
and it was day three of my cycle.
And so having that knowledge of my brain, yes, it might

(30:10):
practically be really annoying, but I'm still going to do well.
I'm still going to perform well.I think is is an important
message to tell yourself. So kind of what does the
research say? Maybe a small dip around your
period and maybe kind of in thatlate luteal phase potentially
there's more muscle building potential around ovulation in

(30:32):
that kind of like pre ovulatory phase when estrogen's high
because estrogen is known to really prime us for strength,
motivation, enduring straining. So you might feel stronger
during that time if you do amazing.
And there's been a handful of studies, I think 5 now where
they've compared facing most of your training in that follicular

(30:53):
phase. So the first part of your cycle
versus the luteal phase or versus spreading it out across
the entire cycle. And they found that maybe
there's a benefit of actually front loading your training in
the follicular phase. There may be some benefits
there. But I think for most women who
are not athletes who kind of aretrying to go to the gym around

(31:17):
their, you know, working schedule, maybe picking the kids
up from school, it's not practical to swap and change
their workouts around based on their cycle.
And I don't think the benefits are great enough to make that
big shift. So I think for most women, use
your cycle as a guide, but it shouldn't dictate whether you

(31:37):
rest or move. It can't like use it to
influence how you train in a in the sense of like, take each day
as it comes. So if you wake up during your
period and you feel really uncomfortable, then maybe today
is not the day to put a barbell across your hips and do hip
thrusts. But maybe doing a math Pilates
class actually feels really goodfor you.

(31:57):
So it's just about taking, I think what the conclusion I've
come to is while we're waiting to gather more research, you are
your best piece of evidence. So start tracking your cycles,
start feeling how you feel across your training, your
cycle, and your training programand see how you need to change
things. For me personally, as I said,

(32:18):
like I feel the effects of my cycle on my training, but I
don't follow a cookie cutter approach and say during my
lateral Phase I only do low intensity exercise.
Like I'm still doing my long runs, I'm still doing my higher
intensity speed work and things like that.
But if I wake up on a day and I don't feel like I'm up for doing

(32:38):
a long run because it's day one of my cycle and it's quite
heavy, I will just move it to the next day.
And it's just about kind of giving your body that grace when
it needs it. I've watched the science of
adaptogens grow personally over the last few years, and I've
become more curious in their role in nervous system support,
focus, and resilience because adaptogens basically buffer the
cortisol that gives us that stress and anxiety.

(33:01):
But here's the thing, quality iseverything.
Most adaptogens on the market don't actually contain enough of
the active compounds that you see in clinical studies to make
a difference. That's why I've partnered with
London Nootropics. These guys only use clinical
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to get the benefits that you're seeing in clinical research and
they work with Hifasta Terra, Europe's leading mushroom

(33:24):
bioscience company. They have high bioavailability.
They use incredible ingredients like KSM 66, Ashwaganda,
Amaradola Life, and these are the active ingredients that you
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(33:44):
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They come in these fantastic little sachets and they're great
for travelling too. I think it's about becoming
attuned to your body. Yeah.
You know, I think we're so many.And I don't, I try to not become

(34:05):
obsessed with variables and talkabout it as like the only
inclusion point to have in your data.
But it is a great one to be ableto see.
And I know HRV is kind of, again, a very invariable
measure, but allowing us to haveto start actually connecting to
where you are as opposed to the noise online telling you what
you should be. Because then you're trying to
fit into a cookie cutter that isn't you and your body might be
in a completely different phase.And I think about how many women

(34:28):
are listening to this and hopefully men.
It'd be great if men were listening to this episode, but
at all different life phases. And if this was Hazel listening
to this episode 6 years ago, you'd have had a completely
different outlook to where you are today.
And I think that's what's reallyimportant with Women's Health
and the menstrual cycle. It's about like tracking and

(34:48):
trusting yourself to know when is the rest and when you can
push, and using that data is really important as opposed to
trying to fit yourself into a puzzle that you think should be
working. Yeah, I completely agree with
you. And I think if I think back to
when I first stepped into the space and the research space,
which was probably about six years ago, my perception was

(35:12):
everyone needs to understand howtraining around the menstrual
cycle is going to benefit them. And as I've gained more
knowledge and more research has come out, my opinions changed.
I don't think that we need to have that cookie cutter
approach. And I think that's OK because
things will evolve, but I, I'm not confident to sit here and
say the menstrual cycle has no impact on how we train and

(35:36):
perform because that is just nottrue for me.
And you know, you mentioned wearables.
I find that with my heart rate data, it starts to climb just as
my lateral face comes in and it climbs, climbs.
Once my period comes, it drops and the same which my HRV, it
improves and it recovers. And that is a real objective

(35:57):
measure for me. And of course that's going to
impact how I train. But also what the research
doesn't always look at is how our symptoms and our psychology
impact that. So if you are, I don't know, a
footballer and you're wearing white shorts and it's during
your period, of course, of course your brain is going to be

(36:19):
thinking about, well, I really hope I don't leak right now.
Or if you're running a marathon and you have to stop halfway
because you need to change your period product.
All of those things impact us onsome level.
So I think it's really importantthat we continue to have have
these conversations and help women perform at their best,
regardless of what phase of their cycle they're in.

(36:41):
I agree. In so many ways, I think, you
know, allowing ourselves to feelmore supported in those films,
especially, you know, if you're running a marathon and you're
terrified about, well, when's the next loose stop?
All of those things play a massive mental load.
So I put some questions out to the audience, which is I
actually don't do very often on this episode, but I knew how

(37:03):
important this conversation was going to be.
And I'm so aware of my own biases, you know, of like making
sure that we're covering everything that people want to
hear. So I put one in, but I've
actually got my phone next, which is very on me during this
episode. That's when I am very good.
I never have my phone around during this episode, but I
wanted to make sure that we've got the most up to date
questions. So I'm going to pick a couple.
So I've already written one down.

(37:24):
So she Clay would love advice for any for anything around
stress and Amen, amenorrhea. Amenorrhea.
Yeah, that's a great question. So amenorrhea means you've lost
your cycle. And we have primary amenorrhea
and secondary primary means you never got your cycle.
So you maybe had other signs of puberty, but your periods never

(37:47):
came. Or maybe no signs of puberty
came. We won't cover that.
We'll assume that she's had a cycle and it's disappeared.
So that's secondary amenorrhea and stress can cause this in
severe cases. And so a lot of women actually
experienced that during lockdownwhen we were collecting cycle
data. Your cycle maybe just didn't
come for a month because worldwide everyone was like,

(38:09):
what is going on? And so your body's in this
highly stressed state. And the reason that happens is
because one of the stress hormones, cortisol, impacts the
hormonal axis that influences our cycles.
So cortisol basically down regulates the hormones that come
from our brain that tell our reproductive organs to produce

(38:31):
estrogen and progesterone. So we have this down regulation.
And basically it's your body's way of saying it's not safe
right now for us to reproduce. We need to turn everything off.
Now, that can happen for other reasons, and possibly the most
common reason that I see amenorrhea happen within my own
practice is extreme exercise andcalorie restriction.

(38:55):
And the reason why that switchesoff our signals is because it
puts you into a state of low energy availability.
So your body doesn't have enoughenergy after it accounts for
exercise to basically give you ahealthy cycle.
And so it's shifting energy to more important life sustaining
processes like keeping your heart beating and your lungs

(39:18):
breathing. And so again, similar thing.
It's not safe right now to have a baby.
We're going to put you in low power mode like you would on
your phone. So everything's a little bit
dimmed. You might find your metabolisms
a little bit slower, you might find you're a little bit colder,
you might find that you're experiencing Constipation.
Everything's basically slowed right down.

(39:39):
And so that's essentially what Isee in amenorrhea.
And oftentimes it's a combination of things happening.
It could be stress under eating and over exercising and how they
all interact with one another. And for some women, they will
say, you know, I'm, I'm doing all of the things I'm, I'm

(39:59):
trying to manage my stress. I'm eating more, I'm reducing my
exercise. But it can be sometimes it's
unintentional. So you may have started training
for half marathon. You didn't do this before and
you didn't realize how much fuelyour body needs.
Or maybe you've tried to pick upa new exercise routine, but

(40:20):
you're doing it fasted in the mornings and it's really long
time until you're actually getting your meals.
You're having a long time in this.
Kind of morning deficit, and that can be something that can
trigger this, your cycles to become irregular or missing.
So there's a couple of things that I would look at.
If it's stress related and only stress related, that can be

(40:42):
really tricky. But I've rarely seen it where
amenorrhea is prolonged for months, months for just stress,
unless you've undergone something hugely significant.
So I would say my interpretationof that would be to work on your
parasympathetic nervous system, to work on a lot of somatic work
where you're kind of getting into a body, whether that's

(41:02):
tapping, yoga, trying to get things to soothe.
And then also looking at how much you're eating, like what is
your calorie intake and how extensively are you exercising?
I think it can be very hard maybe when you're in that zone
to see like how much you might be restricting.

(41:22):
Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes, you know, I'll
get someone come to me and they've been working on this
themselves for a little while because they've like, read the
book or they've listened to a podcast.
And so they've said I've been increasing my calories.
And then I'll sit down, do a bitof a dietary analysis and
realize that, yes, they've increased their calories, but

(41:44):
they're still restricting carbohydrates.
We need carbohydrates to producehormones as well.
And so once we and I'm thinking of one client in particular,
once we addressed the carbohydrate difference and
tailored them up and that took alittle while because she had
some fear around carbs and kind of hang up from like old diets

(42:05):
that she used to do. But once we kind of tweaked
that, her cycles became regular and they came back.
And actually she was a runner and she found that she was
running faster, longer. She was able to, you know,
perform better in her everyday life because her hormones are
basically like, switched back on.
So she's like powered back up. Yeah, I've had that with some of

(42:27):
my clients who have come in and we've even just introduced the
beginning of not just having a black coffee, like having food
before they train. And it's helped not just with
hormones, but it's also helped just with how they felt and how
they performed, which is massive.
But there's this massive stigma.I mean, it's different for men
and women. That's why I think this is so
important. I think for women, it's really
important to have that in the morning.
Yeah. OK.

(42:47):
So let's do another one. So there's so many here.
Ah, this might be an interestingone.
Does the menstrual cycle affect blood test results?
And should this be considered bydoctors?
It depends on what blood test results you are doing.
If you're just doing a routine blood test result, it shouldn't.

(43:07):
But if you are like what? What a lot of my clients will do
is hormonal blood tests. And so you're whoever's doing it
should be asking what phase of your cycle you're in because
that will dictate how we interpret them and most people
do. But sometimes if you're doing
like the in post at home blood tests, you know, they don't get

(43:30):
that specific or someone might have forgotten to fill out a box
when you're registering it. And then that really means
nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Like if your progesterone's low,that could mean that you're in
your follicular phase and nothing's actually wrong.
And so it's important if you're getting any fertility tests or
any hormonal tests that you are documenting at what day of your

(43:50):
cycle you're in. It's trickier if you've got
irregular cycles like PCOS, because you may not know, but if
you're able to kind of extrapolate based on the data
that you have and, and guess where you should be at.
And your doctor can help you do that.
But if you're just going in for like a routine renal test or
whatever because you're on medication, to my knowledge it

(44:12):
shouldn't matter. I'm interrupting for one moment
to ask one small favour. Please subscribe to the show.
This helps it grow more than youknow.
And I'm so bad at asking this from you.
I'm so bad at thinking about this.
But you know, my goal was 100,000 to get to on YouTube and
I really want to bring you more content and better guests and

(44:33):
bigger episodes. And we can only do that with
your help together. So please do hit subscribe.
Thank you. OK, this one I've actually never
heard of, so you're going to have to guide me on this
pronunciation. But this is from Dion How to
care differently for adenomeniosis as opposed to
endometriosis? So adenomyosis is not very

(44:57):
commonly known about some peoplecall call it like endometriosis,
like cousin or sister. So endometriosis is essentially
where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in
other parts of the body, typically the pelvis, but it can
be in other parts, even the lung.

(45:18):
And it responds to the same fluctuations of our menstrual
cycle. So you kind of get like it
falling away and causing pain similar at similar times of of
your menstrual cycle. Adenomyosis is where tissue
grows within the muscle wall of the womb and so pain can be a

(45:40):
symptom as well. But heavy periods tend to be a
really common symptom and it's not always picked up.
Less is known about it. A lot of the methods are similar
in terms of like pain management, hormonal medication,
in terms of what we can do outside of that from a lifestyle
perspective, there's little to no research on it.

(46:01):
But I would assume that following the same principles
that I would recommend for endometriosis would be
beneficial because we're lookingat something that is hugely
inflammatory. So can we bring down
inflammation in the body by following an anti-inflammatory
diet? Gentle movement, optimizing
stress and sleep? Supplements would be more case

(46:23):
by case basis. This may be some supplement
studies around antioxidants, butyou can get lots of that in your
diet. Colourful fruits and veg, nuts
and seeds, citrus fruits, that kind of thing.
But I always feel a bit useless when someone comes to me with
adenomyosis because I feel like there's not a huge amount that
we know yet, but just supportingyour body through those
principles is likely to offer some benefit.

(46:46):
It's one of those things, I think even feeling validated
around it because I think a lot of it kind of, for me, it mimics
similarly to autoimmune diseases, some people who are
diagnosed or maybe they don't have a specific name, but they
just have a lack of energy or lots of pain in their joints or
whatever it is. Having just the validation that

(47:07):
this is something that is, you know, life changing for someone,
I think is actually really important.
Yeah. Definitely, definitely.
And I think like for some of these women, especially
adenomyosis and endometriosis, it can take a really, really
long time to get diagnosed. And some women just give up or
they convince themselves or they've been brainwashed by

(47:29):
someone else that nothing's actually going on and it's just
normal. But it's really important that
those conditions are diagnosed because there are treatment
options and, you know, left untreated, that can impact like
things like fertility. So it's important that we're
having these conversations early.
We're getting support early, so.I think the last one is from

(47:49):
Alicia. And this is something actually,
it's really interesting that when I saw this just now, I
thought, well, when I asked thisquestion, there's been a lot of
conversations off Mike and I've,I still can't figure out from
the research what the answer to this is.
So I'm wondering if you might know which is COVID cycle
problems. So COVID and cycle or what can
be done for mid cycle spotting? It's a mixed bag.

(48:12):
There's some women noticed that after having COVID they had
different cycle symptoms. They had heavier periods, they
had longer periods they or longer cycles, essentially they
had a different pattern. And that's true of women who had
or haven't had this cycle or hadthe vaccine.
So we can't blame it on the vaccine.

(48:33):
Now, some women did find changesafter the vaccine, but we it
seems to be more related to COVID as an infection.
How it impacts your cycle, we can't say.
Some women didn't have any impact or it resolved after a
certain amount of time. If it's impacted you and it's

(48:53):
not resolved and you're having anormal pelvic ultrasound and no
other kind of your blood tests are coming back normal in all
investigations, then it's hard to say whether this is your new
normal. There's not a huge amount you
can do about it. But what I will say is if your

(49:14):
ultrasound was normal, but you're still having symptoms
that are debilitating in any way, still push for support
because maybe there's some teststhat haven't been done or maybe
there's a diagnosis that's not been explored because it may
very well be COVID, but it couldbe something else.

(49:35):
And so I want to make sure that I touch on something that's
really important because you've mentioned about endometriosis
and there was a lot of questionsin there about endometriosis.
So I think maybe to bring them all together, women that are
suffering with endometriosis in general, can you explain, you
know, what the symptoms could look like and then how, you
know, women can support themselves with a condition that

(49:56):
could be very debilitating? Yeah.
So the main symptoms of endometriosis and they can vary
is painful periods and pelvic pain in general doesn't have to
just be during your period. It can be across the cycle, can
be around ovulation but typically painful periods and
that often comes with heavy periods but not all the time.

(50:18):
Depending on where the endometriosis type tissue is
growing that will also influencesymptoms.
So if you have bowel endometriosis you will often
find that will impact pain when you open your bowels or go for a
wee. Pain during sex can be another
one, difficulty with fertility as well as another big issue.

(50:39):
They would be the main symptoms.So pain is the primary kind of
thing that women are experiencing.
But alongside that you can get really debilitating bloating,
you can get skin symptoms, as I mentioned, it's hugely
inflammatory. So how that impacts your body
can be, you know, multifaceted and fatigue is another really

(51:01):
big one as well. And so like I mentioned, there
are lots of medical treatment options.
Sometimes surgery is required aswell.
And outside of that lifestyle, Ikind of touched on it a little
bit, but following an anti-inflammatory diet is
beneficial. It doesn't have to be extreme,

(51:22):
it doesn't have to be restrictive, but we want to get
as much colour in there as possible.
Some women find that who who have bowel symptoms that a low
FODMAP diet can help because there's an overlapping group of
women who have endometriosis also have IBS.
But again, I would only do that working with a nutritionist and
the same As for going for a gluten free diet.

(51:43):
Some women find going gluten free is beneficial.
This has been based on like one very small study, but saying
that in women who have endometriosis, there is slightly
higher prevalence of celiac disease as well.
So if you think that you're you're, you don't do well with
gluten or there's a family history, get tested.

(52:05):
As you know, going gluten free is a huge overhaul.
It's expensive, it's restrictive.
So if you want to make any changes to your your diet, work
with a nutritionist, even if you're getting a full dietary
overhaul over one or two sessions.
Or just make sure that you're doing it safely.
And also I think that's just really important for support

(52:25):
generally, which is essential. So I think think thinking about
like everything with Women's Health in general, if women just
feel completely confused, this is something that I feel I hear
a lot. I'm just overwhelmed and
confused with Women's Health. Like where to start, whether it
comes to fertility, whether it comes to trying to understand

(52:48):
their symptoms and not feeling like they're a little bit mad.
And I hate saying that word, butI think that's how a lot of
women have described it's me, whether it's patients or
friends, like where would you get them to start navigating
this journey around it? If they feel a lot of shame and
stigma as well, and resistance. I think starting to learn about
your body and becoming cycle aware is really important.

(53:10):
Umm, get my book. That will be beneficial.
And if it's, if you're at the point in your life where you are
having cycles, getting to understand your cycles,
regardless of whether you're having debilitating symptoms or
not, will hugely benefit, benefit you.
Because even if you're not having symptoms, but you've

(53:32):
noticed that your cycle length is getting longer and longer and
you're thinking about kids in the next one or two years, you
really want to get a handle of what's happening in your body.
And so I think there's so much to gain from just learning about
your hormones and your cycles, regardless of who you are and
what symptoms you're experiencing, if at all, if
you're approaching like other parts of your life, like

(53:54):
perimenopause and menopause, starting to think about what
that means for you. I actually don't cover it in
this book, but I cover it in my last book called The Female
Factor about what to expect during those different life
phases. Because again, your hormones
shift again, you don't have thatlovely menstrual cycle.
You have really erratic hormonesfor a little while and then you
have kind of really flat hormones.

(54:16):
And that lack of estrogen is going to impact things like your
brain health, your bone health, your heart health, and what you
do now will proactively prevent you from experiencing problems
in the future. So it's it's really about
becoming more aware about how your hormones impact you.
And that includes fertility as well.
I'm not a big believer that we need to all go through these big

(54:36):
fertility mots and figure out like what XY and Z is doing.
If you're worried about your fertility, yes, but do it with a
doctor. Do it with someone who's
qualified. Because what I often find is
women who've done like these postal tests.
It said maybe you have PCOS or maybe your AMH is low, your egg
quality or egg levels are low, and then they're panicking but

(55:00):
they've got no one to tell them what that legitimately means.
Do with someone who can counsel you on what next steps would be.
I think fertility is a really important thing.
We've had a couple of, not a couple for quite a few people
coming here talking about fertility.
And I think for women there's more options than ever before.
But I think it's confusing. It's obviously very expensive,

(55:23):
but I also think it's scary for a lot of women to kind of take
that step into exploring it because in a way, when you take
that step, you actually get the data and you know where you are.
And some people are a bit scaredabout figuring out knowing where
they are because if it's not theanswer that they want, then that
does feel like a panic. So how I mean, you've navigated

(55:43):
that area personally, publicly. How do you feel about having
those conversations? And going to a clinic to get
checked to see where you are. Yeah, I think, I mean, I
personally around my PCOS diagnosis and I decided to get
my AMH tested, which is kind of like a crude measure of like egg

(56:05):
number. And mine was really low, which
is not typical of PCOS. You usually get like quite high
numbers and mine was very, very low.
So the consultant that I'd seen said if you're not looking at
having kids in the next three years, I would freeze your eggs
now. And so I did and I'd, I was only

(56:27):
at the start of my relationship with the person that I'm
actually going to marry in two months time, but I didn't know
that at the time. And I also wanted this to be my
decision. So I decided to freeze my eggs,
my embryos, just in case. Nothing work.
Our relationship didn't work out.
And I'll be honest with you, like it is a hugely costly

(56:47):
process. So I was privileged that I could
afford it, but also I was able to take off time around that.
But even as someone who was medically qualified, I found I
just found the whole process, like I learned a lot from it.
There was a lot I didn't expect in terms of how much admin goes

(57:08):
into taking injections at the same time every day.
Just even the egg collection process.
The the data around it also isn't great.
Like, you know, even when you doget eggs, how many of them are
mature? How many of them are suitable
for freezing? How much does that mean?
Like nothing is a guarantee. Even when you have the eggs,
nothing is a guarantee. And so I wish I had more

(57:31):
information before I went into it, but I'm also really glad,
glad I did do it. So now when I speak to women, I
think if you are in your, you know, early 30s and you're not
ready to have kids, but you know, it's something that you
want explore your options. That's absolutely fine.
But also, one bad result doesn'tmean everything's terrible, so

(57:57):
taking one result like an AMH doesn't take everything else
into account. And I have friends who have
amazing Amhs, amazing hormone levels, perfect cycles their
entire life and still struggle to get pregnant.
And then I have friends who froze their eggs because of the
same situation as me and they got pregnant naturally on the
first try. So you just don't know.

(58:19):
And what I don't want women to do is do one test and panic and
think that it's all doom and gloom for them.
I think it's worth having a conversation.
It's 100% because I went through, I didn't talk about it
publicly, but I went through eggfreezing last year and it was
really hard because I came out of a very big relationship that
was quite traumatising. And I remember all I had in my

(58:40):
brain was I have to do this. But the pressure of it was so
much. And it was interesting that I
went through the process with the person I was with originally
and then ended up not going through with it and then became
single and went through with it later.
But when I went through it the first time, we didn't go.
I mean, we did go to a good clinic, but not one that I'd

(59:01):
recommend. And they delivered these results
in a really cold way and made mepanic and gave me really, I
would guess not empathetic advice.
And, and, and showed me numbers and made me feel like I was
going to have a real problem to get pregnant, which obviously
sent me spiralling. And then I became single, which
sent me spiralling even more. And then six months later, I,

(59:24):
you know, when I went back into a different clinic, a very small
one, with a woman who was very empathetic and howled my hands
through the whole process and actually was like, actually,
everything's great. Actually, I would love, you
know, I'd love to have this as atextbook.
And it was the difference of howshe spoke to me and how she made

(59:45):
me feel. The journey was a completely
different journey. And I felt completely empowered
by the end of it, I have to say.Like when I finished the last
injections and had the egg retrieval, that's when I felt
low. It was the dip afterwards where
I was like really emotional. It was obviously all the loss of
hormones. I found it really hard.

(01:00:06):
I was the same, yeah. And everyone I then spoke to, I
had a couple of friends that I called and they all said I was
the same. Yeah, but no one prepares you
for that. No one prepares you.
And I mean, I didn't even think think about that.
But they say, oh, yeah, take oneday off work.
But then it's the days after where you feel so low and maybe
just like experiencing discomfort.
So if I have any clients going through, I say, like, schedule

(01:00:29):
it for Friday and take the entire weekend off, Don't see
anyone. Rest, get good food in plan like
a marathon of Netflix and just rest.
Yeah, because I I think one day is not enough.
I agree. And I think it's that it is that
thing of I was lucky that I was very knowledgeable when I went
in because my therapist was trained in this as well.

(01:00:52):
So I managed to have her supportme on that journey, which I
think is really important because I felt that I managed to
create a bit of a team. But it took me about a year to
make that decision. You know, it wasn't an overnight
thing. And I do think that, you know,
as you said, there's no guarantee.
Like even if you get mature eggsand even if they're frozen, the
next stage on the defrosting might not be that successful.

(01:01:15):
You might not create an embryo and that embryo might not turn
into a baby. And so it's all of that like
understanding of the process, because it is an emotional
process I think to go through for many women.
That's it. And I think what I would say is
like, don't compare yourself to like, people you see on forums
or online. And when I was going through the

(01:01:36):
process, while I documented my journey, I didn't share numbers
because I just felt like it became a numbers game.
And even I, when I got my numbers, felt like, oh, well,
maybe I should have got more or,you know, they were encouraging
me to do more cycles. And I just thought, you know,
I'm, I'm good. I'm going to stick with what I
have and what will be will be. Yeah.

(01:01:58):
And. I think that's the thing.
I did write an article about it recently for the first time.
And I, it was a really hard decision to do, but I know that
I've now done everything I can and what will be will be.
And I think that's one of the things that I feel very grateful
for to be in this generation, tohave an option to be able to
explore it. But I really don't think it is
for everyone. And so now I think we're talking

(01:02:19):
about this about just freeze your eggs.
And it's such an emotional journey.
So I think, you know, just having these conversations is is
important and to reduce the stigma.
So I guess like bringing this all together and I love that.
I love that we did touch upon fertility to end it because I
did start in saying it's not just about fertility, but it is
it's part of the journey. It's part of something that

(01:02:40):
women who are career driven or not even career driven, just all
women in their 30s get to this point where they're like
navigating. But your period is it's
basically part of your life since you've become a teenager.
It's the first step into womanhood really.
And so it is with you for your whole life.
And I do think it's so importantfor us to to connect to this so

(01:03:01):
much more and try to feel empowered by it and grateful.
What's the one thing that you want people to leave today's
conversation with who've listened?
What do you want them to maybe share or send to a friend?
What is the one thing that you want women to feel connected to?
I think that it's not just a period, like there's so much
more happening in your body every single day you are on a,

(01:03:23):
you are essentially experiencinga different hormonal profile and
that impacts every single level of what's happening in your
body, how you sleep, how you move, your cravings and really
understanding that is so empowering.
I think it can just really help to improve like your quality of
life, your overall health, your experience of your cycle and

(01:03:45):
also your appreciation for your body.
So. Start.
To learn more about your cycle outside of just the period.
And lastly, which is my questionwhich I asked all my guests,
which is what does live well be well Hazel mean to you?
I think living well to support areally fruitful life.
I love the word that used fruitful.

(01:04:06):
It had nutrition at the same time.
I love that. That should be my answer as a
nutritionist. Yeah, I love that.
I mean fruitful and joyful. I think sometimes we can forget
that part. Yeah, that's the point.
It's a long. Point, thank you so much for,
you know, all the work that you do for Women's Health.

(01:04:29):
It's commendable and please don't ever regret the time of
leaving the NHS to come and do all the incredible work that
you're doing because you're justhelping so many people and it's
a different way of doing things,but it's a bigger reach and
you're so dedicated and you're so committed that I just hope
that you take some time for yourself.

(01:04:49):
Thank you SO. Thank you for coming for having
me.

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How Your Hormones Affect Everything — From the Gym to Egg Freezing & Relationships | Dr Hazel Wallace

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