September 30, 2024 • 20 mins
Ever wondered why the slightest noises or minor annoyances can set you off during perimenopause and menopause? Find out in this week's episode of the Ageless and Awesome podcast! This week I'm peeling back the layers on the fascinating interplay of hormones and brain health during these transformative life stages. I'll uncover how the fluctuations in oestrogen and progesterone can cause your brain to respond with heightened sensitivity and stress. Additionally, I'll delve into the roles of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine and how they contribute to these emotional shifts, making everyday situations seem more challenging than ever before.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. In this episode, I’ll arm you with practical, evidence-based strategies to balance your hormones and manage stress effectively. Discover how to regulate your own nervous system and improve your overall well-being. Tune in to gain valuable insights on navigating perimenopause and menopause with greater emotional balance, transforming this challenging period into one of empowerment and clarity.
Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause?
It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).
I’m here to help with my proven method.
Here's how I can support you -
1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. Book your call here.
2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - @the.perimenopause.path
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast of the Ageless and
(00:48):
Awesome podcast.
This week I'm going to talk alittle bit about our brain
health in perimenopause andmenopause.
Because have you ever wonderedwhy normal sounds like your
partner chewing or your kidscomplaining or I don't know?
Just things irritate you moreand sometimes that can just feel
(01:10):
unbearable and leading to angeracting out.
Yeah, just being, I guess, outof character for yourself.
One of my friends said to me Idon't know, it was a few weeks
ago now.
She said she thought herhusband was going to throw her
off the balcony because sherecognized that it was her anger
(01:35):
and her irritability.
And we see this a lot.
I certainly see this a lot inclients.
I've certainly had that happento me during my early sort of
perimenopause, and it's actuallya physiological reason for it.
So I just wanted to, I guess,firstly reassure you that we
(01:56):
know why this is happening andthere is a reason for it, and
also that you're not alone.
This happens to so many womenand this is very similar to the
experience of PMS in many womenas well, where there is that
irritability, anger, depression,sadness, emotional responses to
(02:19):
things that normally youwouldn't bat an eyelid at right.
So I wanted to just kind ofgive you a little bit of
background of why this happensand what you can do to help
support yourself if you'refinding that this is happening
to you.
And essentially this soundscomplicated but it's not really.
(02:39):
It's essentially about yourfluctuating hormones
progesterone and estrogen,specifically about your
fluctuating hormonesprogesterone and estrogen
specifically affecting sensoryprocessing in your brain.
Okay, we have in our brain infact, all over the body we have
estrogen receptors, progesteronereceptors, and in a particular
(02:59):
part of the brain, in the limbicsystem, there actually is an
extra concentration of estrogenand progesterone receptors, and
so when you have these surges ofestrogen, the dropping away of
progesterone and the droppingaway of estrogen as well, that
really impacts that part of thebrain, in the limbic system, and
(03:21):
the limbic system is a big partof your stress response, so
your fight or flight response,and when estrogen and
progesterone levels dip, thelimbic system becomes more
sensitive, more sensitive andthat kind of gets expressed as
(03:42):
emotional sort of behavior andthe other thing.
I guess now the picture, andpart of this, is that these
hormones help modulate our brainchemicals.
Some of our neurotransmittersare like serotonin, which you
may have heard of, and dopamine,and they influence how we
(04:03):
process and react to the sensorystimulus or stimuli that's
around us in our environment.
And as these fluctuations arehappening, your brain might
misinterpret everyday sounds asthreats, causing irritation,
(04:25):
maybe anxiety, maybe a sense offear, a sense of palpitations.
But I think a lot of womenreally experience this
irritability and and cortisol isprobably one of the primary
factors that we can control thatcan help with this, because
(04:46):
even though we've got thesehormonal fluctuations going on,
a lot of that is out of ourcontrol.
When I say this, obviouslythere are lifestyle things we
can do that help with all ofthis, and I've spoken about that
a lot on the podcast.
But if we really go into ourcortisol, so cortisol is what we
call a stress hormone and it isproduced by the body when we
(05:09):
are in our stress response, inour fight or flight response and
, let's face it, we are stresseda lot of the time, in our
Western kind of environmentsparticularly and so if you're
already running at a fairlyreasonable level of stress and
then you're having thesefluctuating hormones on top of
(05:30):
that, that can be just enough totip you over the edge.
So one part of this that we canhave a fair degree of control
over is our cortisol levels, andthat's, I guess, where I'm
going next, because if we cankind of reduce or balance out
that cortisol.
So when I'm talking about that,because sometimes the way
(05:51):
cortisol works, it works in acircadian kind of pattern.
Okay, it's a little bit higherin the morning and it kind of is
a bit lower at night.
That is a normal pattern, andthere's a couple of other time
points during the day that it'ssupposed to be in a certain
range, but it's usually themorning and the evening ones
that people really notice.
So if your cortisol levels are alittle bit out of whack, some
(06:16):
of the things that you'llexperience is, when you wake up
in the morning, even if you'vehad a really good night's sleep,
you just don't feel refreshed,you just feel sluggish, you feel
fatigued, you're draggingyourself out of bed.
That's probably one of thefirst signs when I'm assessing
clients, is one of the firstsigns, I think.
Hmm, if they're saying that tome, if they're actually getting
good night's sleep but they'rewaking feeling like they could
(06:37):
sleep for another couple ofhours, that's telling me that
possibly one of the reasons forthat could be that their
cortisol level is lower than itshould be at that time of day,
same as if we.
You know, you've probably heardthe expression wired and tired.
That often happens at night iswomen feel really tired but
(06:57):
they're so wired that they can'tsleep and that sometimes can
mean that cortisol levels arehigher than they should be for
that time of day because we wantthe cortisol levels to be a bit
lower at night, because we wantto go to sleep right.
So managing the cortisol andmaking sure it's at the levels
it's supposed to be at differenttimes of the day is something
(07:17):
that I often work with women andmen actually on their health.
And cortisol is also a veryimportant hormone when we're
looking at weight management,because if our cortisol is high
it interferes with our bloodglucose regulation and that can
lead to sugar cravings.
It also tends to promote weightgain around the waist.
(07:40):
So it's all kind of complex.
These systems all feed intoeach other.
But the management of this isnot so complex because really
what you're wanting to do atthis point is regulate your
nervous system or manage yourstress.
Same thing, manage your stressSame thing.
(08:01):
Because when you're stressed thepriority is survival.
Always your body is wired tosurvive.
So when you're stressed, yourbody doesn't know your nervous
system I should say doesn't knowthe difference between having a
I don't know an argument withyour partner and having to run
away from a threat.
So you're going to get thatprioritization of production of
(08:25):
cortisol in that type ofsituation or work-related stress
, or financial stress, any ofthose stresses that we're
dealing with on a daily basis Atthat time your body is going to
prioritize the production ofcortisol and that means it
impacts also, from a secondarypoint of view, the production of
your sex hormones like estrogenand progesterone.
(08:47):
So when we're prioritizingcortisol, that absolutely will
impact your progesteroneproduction, which is in
perimenopause and definitelymenopause, kind of on the lower
end of the spectrum anyway.
So anything we can do topreserve our progesterone is a
good thing.
And when our progesterone islower that can increase our
anxiety, it can increase ourirritability, because
(09:10):
progesterone is actually verycalming for our brain.
Brain really likes it.
So anything we can do topreserve, that is a good thing,
do to preserve, that is a goodthing.
Also, elevated cortisoldisrupts the HPA axis.
So that's our kind of ourmaster controlling system of our
(09:31):
stress response or our fight orflight response.
So the HPA is hypothalamus,pituitary adrenal gland.
So the hypothalamus is in thecenter of our brain.
Pituitary gland is also sort ofin the brain area kind of near
the back of the nose and ouradrenals obviously just at the
back of our body, just above thekidney, so just around where
(09:53):
the bottom of our rib cage is,almost there anyway.
So when we have stress ourhypothalamus receives that
message from our eyes or ourears.
Something else, maybe our skin,maybe we get hot on our skin.
So it activates that HPA axis.
The hypothalamus tells thepituitary gland all right, we're
(10:15):
on, we've got to run away orwe've got to fight.
And that will then send amessage down to the adrenal
glands to you know it produceadrenaline, noradrenaline
cortisol to get us out of thatsituation as quickly as possible
.
So when that system, that HPAaxis, is activated, it
(10:37):
prioritizes pretty much onlythat, and what we know with
regard to this HPA axis is thatduring perimenopause, it can
become destabilized by thefluctuations in hormones.
So it's kind of like a two-waything If we've got the stress
around us, we're going to beproducing more cortisol, we're
(10:59):
going to be not prioritizing ourhormone production, and even
when we're in perimenopause, ourHPA axis is destabilized anyway
, so we're already going to besort of feeling a little more
anxious.
Potentially, it obviously alldepends on each individual, but
this seems to be some of thestuff that's come up in the
research Now also.
Obviously, there isn't a lot ofresearch on this, but some of
(11:23):
the research that's been donehas been done in small groups of
women, and it's all kind oftelling us very similar
information.
So it looks like there's goodcorrelation there, which is what
we're looking for.
When we're looking at research.
We're wanting things to be ableto be repeated and repeated and
repeated, and that's when westart building up that evidence
(11:43):
that this is actually in a causeand effect relationship, right?
So what does this mean for you,though?
Well, what it means is if you'refinding yourself being very
irritable and you know I havethis conversation with women all
the time right, we have periodsall our lives and yet we can
particularly for those thatsuffer from PMS you don't really
(12:05):
know you've got it until youget your period and you're just
like, oh, that's why I've beenso irritable or sad or whatever
it is.
So I guess part of this istrying to get ahead of it,
because we know when we're in it, we're not necessarily able to
recognize it.
So that is why, when we'relooking at learning how to
(12:26):
regulate the nervous system orlearning how to manage our
stress, it really does need tobe a daily practice to make sure
that you're keeping yourcortisol levels, your adrenaline
, all of the things at a niceeasy level as much as you can.
I mean, obviously, that systemis there for a reason.
(12:47):
Sometimes we really need ourstress response.
So this is not something thatwe're going to be able to
control all of the time, but ifwe can keep our base level of
stress at around a three to fourout of 10, that seems to be the
sweet spot Then when you dohave a stressful event happen,
you have some room to move,whereas if you're walking around
(13:09):
and you're a six to seven outof 10 all the time and a
stressful event happens, there'snot a lot of room for more
spiking of that cortisol.
So I hope this is making sense.
But let's get into what we cando about it.
So the evidence-based things youcan do to help to manage your
(13:29):
stress response.
The first one, which I think isjust such a great one, is
breath control.
Now, we all need to breathe allof the time, right?
So this is not something thatyou have to put on your to-do
list and do as a separate kindof thing in your day.
Deep breathing Now, yes, thereare some specific techniques
(13:50):
that have evidence.
Those techniques are thingslike your belly breathing, where
you're breathing deeply intothe belly box, breathing which
is kind of like a in for four,breathing in for four, holding
for four, breathing out for four, holding for four, breathing
out for four, holding for four.
So that is a good one, but itdoes require you to think, and I
prefer ones that you can dothat don't necessarily require a
(14:12):
lot of thinking.
That way, you can do it whenyou're cooking, you can do it
when you're working, when you'resitting in front of the
computer.
You can do it all the time,nobody knows you're doing it and
you don't have to sit and countor anything like that.
So just breathing deeply intothe belly really does help bring
that stress response down.
(14:33):
And another form of breathingis Nadi Shodhana, which is a
yogic type of breathing, thatalternate nostril breathing.
There's actually good evidencefor that one as well that it
really helps to bring down thatstress response and therefore
push you over into thatrelaxation response.
(14:54):
So our sympathetic nervoussystem activation, if you're
familiar with that term, pushingthat across into your
parasympathetic nervous system,so to speak, that across into
your parasympathetic nervoussystem, so to speak.
So breathing is fantastic.
Obviously, meditation would beeven better Spending time in
nature, practicing mindfulness.
And the kind of mindfulness I'mreferring to is just being
(15:17):
aware of yourself and yoursurroundings.
So starting to think about, forexample, the feeling of the
clothing on your skin, thinkingabout the weight of your body in
the chair, thinking about ifyou've got your feet on the
floor, thinking about thesurface that you're standing on
or that you're resting your feeton, it's just becoming really
(15:38):
aware of the minute detail ofyour surroundings.
That really helps to regulateyour nervous system and bring
down that production of cortisoland adrenaline et cetera, and
bring your body back intobalance, which then takes the
pressure off those reproductivehormones and can help them get
(16:00):
into a better balance.
So there's mind-body type ofactivities like that.
Obviously, exercise is a reallygood one as well.
Yoga is particularly good, butI think reformer Pilates or mat
Pilates is also very good.
Resistance training is greatbecause it's hard to think of
anything else when you're doingresistance training.
(16:22):
I mean, cycling is great forthe body, but I think it's very
easy to go wandering in yourmind when you're cycling because
it's a fairly repetitive taskand it's fairly easy to do for
most of us.
So, yeah, movement that reallyyou need to concentrate on is
helpful.
Also from a food point of viewlots of fresh fruits and veggies
(16:46):
, lots of healthy fats Healthyfats are great for the brain.
So things like avocado, nuts,seeds, olive oil, flaxseed oil,
things like that are really goodfor your brain and to help with
your nervous system responseand to help with your hormone
building Good quality proteinhad regularly through the day.
(17:10):
So three meals a day is ideal.
Particularly, three meals a daywill help you manage your blood
sugar level better and that isimportant I mentioned just
before.
When we have elevated cortisol,it does interfere with our
blood glucose regulation.
So if you can help alsoregulate your blood glucose by
(17:31):
timing your meals so you've gotabout a five to six hour block
in between meals, that canreally help with blood sugar
regulation as well.
Even in people with diabetesthat can be very, very helpful
for blood sugar regulation.
And, yeah, I think I alreadysaid lots of colorful, if I
didn't, lots of colorful fruitand veggies to give you all of
(17:55):
your micronutrients that reallyhelp to build all of these
chemicals, to build yourhormones in your body.
Because remember that old adageyou are what you eat.
It's so true.
The body is breaking down thatfood into nutrients that will
then become part of you, thatwill become part of your cells.
Your hormones get used forenergy, et cetera, and so I
(18:22):
think that's probably the mainthings I wanted to cover today.
So just to give you a little bitof a recap.
So if you're finding yourselfirritable, angry, angry
outbursts, things like that,noises that shouldn't normally
irritate you, really irritatingyou, and you're in your 40s or
50s or beyond, really have athink about well, could this be
(18:44):
my hormones?
And therefore really focus onmanaging stress, on eating well,
on reducing things like yoursugar and your processed foods,
your fast foods, et cetera, andthat will really help bring not
only your stress hormones backinto balance, but also those
stress hormones back intobalance, but also those sex
(19:06):
hormones back into balance,which is really important for
your overall well-being andlongevity, and maybe your
partner's longevity as well, ifthat's where you're directing
your anger and your irritation.
Anyway, I hope that's madesense.
I know sometimes I can rambleon a little bit, but yeah, I
(19:27):
hope that makes sense.
If you've got any questionsabout that, please do let me
know.
There is a link at the bottomof the show notes where you can
send me a text, or you can emailme hello at suzygardencom or go
to my Instagram atsuzygardenwellness and send me a
DM.
All right, I hope you'reenjoying your week so far.
(19:49):
I'll be back on Thursday withQ&A, take care, and I will see
you then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
(20:09):
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atsuzygardenwellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast of the Ageless and
(00:48):
Awesome podcast.
This week I'm going to talk alittle bit about our brain
health in perimenopause andmenopause.
Because have you ever wonderedwhy normal sounds like your
partner chewing or your kidscomplaining or I don't know?
Just things irritate you moreand sometimes that can just feel
(01:10):
unbearable and leading to angeracting out.
Yeah, just being, I guess, outof character for yourself.
One of my friends said to me Idon't know, it was a few weeks
ago now.
She said she thought herhusband was going to throw her
off the balcony because sherecognized that it was her anger
(01:35):
and her irritability.
And we see this a lot.
I certainly see this a lot inclients.
I've certainly had that happento me during my early sort of
perimenopause, and it's actuallya physiological reason for it.
So I just wanted to, I guess,firstly reassure you that we
(01:56):
know why this is happening andthere is a reason for it, and
also that you're not alone.
This happens to so many womenand this is very similar to the
experience of PMS in many womenas well, where there is that
irritability, anger, depression,sadness, emotional responses to
(02:19):
things that normally youwouldn't bat an eyelid at right.
So I wanted to just kind ofgive you a little bit of
background of why this happensand what you can do to help
support yourself if you'refinding that this is happening
to you.
And essentially this soundscomplicated but it's not really.
(02:39):
It's essentially about yourfluctuating hormones
progesterone and estrogen,specifically about your
fluctuating hormonesprogesterone and estrogen
specifically affecting sensoryprocessing in your brain.
Okay, we have in our brain infact, all over the body we have
estrogen receptors, progesteronereceptors, and in a particular
(02:59):
part of the brain, in the limbicsystem, there actually is an
extra concentration of estrogenand progesterone receptors, and
so when you have these surges ofestrogen, the dropping away of
progesterone and the droppingaway of estrogen as well, that
really impacts that part of thebrain, in the limbic system, and
(03:21):
the limbic system is a big partof your stress response, so
your fight or flight response,and when estrogen and
progesterone levels dip, thelimbic system becomes more
sensitive, more sensitive andthat kind of gets expressed as
(03:42):
emotional sort of behavior andthe other thing.
I guess now the picture, andpart of this, is that these
hormones help modulate our brainchemicals.
Some of our neurotransmittersare like serotonin, which you
may have heard of, and dopamine,and they influence how we
(04:03):
process and react to the sensorystimulus or stimuli that's
around us in our environment.
And as these fluctuations arehappening, your brain might
misinterpret everyday sounds asthreats, causing irritation,
(04:25):
maybe anxiety, maybe a sense offear, a sense of palpitations.
But I think a lot of womenreally experience this
irritability and and cortisol isprobably one of the primary
factors that we can control thatcan help with this, because
(04:46):
even though we've got thesehormonal fluctuations going on,
a lot of that is out of ourcontrol.
When I say this, obviouslythere are lifestyle things we
can do that help with all ofthis, and I've spoken about that
a lot on the podcast.
But if we really go into ourcortisol, so cortisol is what we
call a stress hormone and it isproduced by the body when we
(05:09):
are in our stress response, inour fight or flight response and
, let's face it, we are stresseda lot of the time, in our
Western kind of environmentsparticularly and so if you're
already running at a fairlyreasonable level of stress and
then you're having thesefluctuating hormones on top of
(05:30):
that, that can be just enough totip you over the edge.
So one part of this that we canhave a fair degree of control
over is our cortisol levels, andthat's, I guess, where I'm
going next, because if we cankind of reduce or balance out
that cortisol.
So when I'm talking about that,because sometimes the way
(05:51):
cortisol works, it works in acircadian kind of pattern.
Okay, it's a little bit higherin the morning and it kind of is
a bit lower at night.
That is a normal pattern, andthere's a couple of other time
points during the day that it'ssupposed to be in a certain
range, but it's usually themorning and the evening ones
that people really notice.
So if your cortisol levels are alittle bit out of whack, some
(06:16):
of the things that you'llexperience is, when you wake up
in the morning, even if you'vehad a really good night's sleep,
you just don't feel refreshed,you just feel sluggish, you feel
fatigued, you're draggingyourself out of bed.
That's probably one of thefirst signs when I'm assessing
clients, is one of the firstsigns, I think.
Hmm, if they're saying that tome, if they're actually getting
good night's sleep but they'rewaking feeling like they could
(06:37):
sleep for another couple ofhours, that's telling me that
possibly one of the reasons forthat could be that their
cortisol level is lower than itshould be at that time of day,
same as if we.
You know, you've probably heardthe expression wired and tired.
That often happens at night iswomen feel really tired but
(06:57):
they're so wired that they can'tsleep and that sometimes can
mean that cortisol levels arehigher than they should be for
that time of day because we wantthe cortisol levels to be a bit
lower at night, because we wantto go to sleep right.
So managing the cortisol andmaking sure it's at the levels
it's supposed to be at differenttimes of the day is something
(07:17):
that I often work with women andmen actually on their health.
And cortisol is also a veryimportant hormone when we're
looking at weight management,because if our cortisol is high
it interferes with our bloodglucose regulation and that can
lead to sugar cravings.
It also tends to promote weightgain around the waist.
(07:40):
So it's all kind of complex.
These systems all feed intoeach other.
But the management of this isnot so complex because really
what you're wanting to do atthis point is regulate your
nervous system or manage yourstress.
Same thing, manage your stressSame thing.
(08:01):
Because when you're stressed thepriority is survival.
Always your body is wired tosurvive.
So when you're stressed, yourbody doesn't know your nervous
system I should say doesn't knowthe difference between having a
I don't know an argument withyour partner and having to run
away from a threat.
So you're going to get thatprioritization of production of
(08:25):
cortisol in that type ofsituation or work-related stress
, or financial stress, any ofthose stresses that we're
dealing with on a daily basis Atthat time your body is going to
prioritize the production ofcortisol and that means it
impacts also, from a secondarypoint of view, the production of
your sex hormones like estrogenand progesterone.
(08:47):
So when we're prioritizingcortisol, that absolutely will
impact your progesteroneproduction, which is in
perimenopause and definitelymenopause, kind of on the lower
end of the spectrum anyway.
So anything we can do topreserve our progesterone is a
good thing.
And when our progesterone islower that can increase our
anxiety, it can increase ourirritability, because
(09:10):
progesterone is actually verycalming for our brain.
Brain really likes it.
So anything we can do topreserve, that is a good thing,
do to preserve, that is a goodthing.
Also, elevated cortisoldisrupts the HPA axis.
So that's our kind of ourmaster controlling system of our
(09:31):
stress response or our fight orflight response.
So the HPA is hypothalamus,pituitary adrenal gland.
So the hypothalamus is in thecenter of our brain.
Pituitary gland is also sort ofin the brain area kind of near
the back of the nose and ouradrenals obviously just at the
back of our body, just above thekidney, so just around where
(09:53):
the bottom of our rib cage is,almost there anyway.
So when we have stress ourhypothalamus receives that
message from our eyes or ourears.
Something else, maybe our skin,maybe we get hot on our skin.
So it activates that HPA axis.
The hypothalamus tells thepituitary gland all right, we're
(10:15):
on, we've got to run away orwe've got to fight.
And that will then send amessage down to the adrenal
glands to you know it produceadrenaline, noradrenaline
cortisol to get us out of thatsituation as quickly as possible
.
So when that system, that HPAaxis, is activated, it
(10:37):
prioritizes pretty much onlythat, and what we know with
regard to this HPA axis is thatduring perimenopause, it can
become destabilized by thefluctuations in hormones.
So it's kind of like a two-waything If we've got the stress
around us, we're going to beproducing more cortisol, we're
(10:59):
going to be not prioritizing ourhormone production, and even
when we're in perimenopause, ourHPA axis is destabilized anyway
, so we're already going to besort of feeling a little more
anxious.
Potentially, it obviously alldepends on each individual, but
this seems to be some of thestuff that's come up in the
research Now also.
Obviously, there isn't a lot ofresearch on this, but some of
(11:23):
the research that's been donehas been done in small groups of
women, and it's all kind oftelling us very similar
information.
So it looks like there's goodcorrelation there, which is what
we're looking for.
When we're looking at research.
We're wanting things to be ableto be repeated and repeated and
repeated, and that's when westart building up that evidence
(11:43):
that this is actually in a causeand effect relationship, right?
So what does this mean for you,though?
Well, what it means is if you'refinding yourself being very
irritable and you know I havethis conversation with women all
the time right, we have periodsall our lives and yet we can
particularly for those thatsuffer from PMS you don't really
(12:05):
know you've got it until youget your period and you're just
like, oh, that's why I've beenso irritable or sad or whatever
it is.
So I guess part of this istrying to get ahead of it,
because we know when we're in it, we're not necessarily able to
recognize it.
So that is why, when we'relooking at learning how to
(12:26):
regulate the nervous system orlearning how to manage our
stress, it really does need tobe a daily practice to make sure
that you're keeping yourcortisol levels, your adrenaline
, all of the things at a niceeasy level as much as you can.
I mean, obviously, that systemis there for a reason.
(12:47):
Sometimes we really need ourstress response.
So this is not something thatwe're going to be able to
control all of the time, but ifwe can keep our base level of
stress at around a three to fourout of 10, that seems to be the
sweet spot Then when you dohave a stressful event happen,
you have some room to move,whereas if you're walking around
(13:09):
and you're a six to seven outof 10 all the time and a
stressful event happens, there'snot a lot of room for more
spiking of that cortisol.
So I hope this is making sense.
But let's get into what we cando about it.
So the evidence-based things youcan do to help to manage your
(13:29):
stress response.
The first one, which I think isjust such a great one, is
breath control.
Now, we all need to breathe allof the time, right?
So this is not something thatyou have to put on your to-do
list and do as a separate kindof thing in your day.
Deep breathing Now, yes, thereare some specific techniques
(13:50):
that have evidence.
Those techniques are thingslike your belly breathing, where
you're breathing deeply intothe belly box, breathing which
is kind of like a in for four,breathing in for four, holding
for four, breathing out for four, holding for four, breathing
out for four, holding for four.
So that is a good one, but itdoes require you to think, and I
prefer ones that you can dothat don't necessarily require a
(14:12):
lot of thinking.
That way, you can do it whenyou're cooking, you can do it
when you're working, when you'resitting in front of the
computer.
You can do it all the time,nobody knows you're doing it and
you don't have to sit and countor anything like that.
So just breathing deeply intothe belly really does help bring
that stress response down.
(14:33):
And another form of breathingis Nadi Shodhana, which is a
yogic type of breathing, thatalternate nostril breathing.
There's actually good evidencefor that one as well that it
really helps to bring down thatstress response and therefore
push you over into thatrelaxation response.
(14:54):
So our sympathetic nervoussystem activation, if you're
familiar with that term, pushingthat across into your
parasympathetic nervous system,so to speak, that across into
your parasympathetic nervoussystem, so to speak.
So breathing is fantastic.
Obviously, meditation would beeven better Spending time in
nature, practicing mindfulness.
And the kind of mindfulness I'mreferring to is just being
(15:17):
aware of yourself and yoursurroundings.
So starting to think about, forexample, the feeling of the
clothing on your skin, thinkingabout the weight of your body in
the chair, thinking about ifyou've got your feet on the
floor, thinking about thesurface that you're standing on
or that you're resting your feeton, it's just becoming really
(15:38):
aware of the minute detail ofyour surroundings.
That really helps to regulateyour nervous system and bring
down that production of cortisoland adrenaline et cetera, and
bring your body back intobalance, which then takes the
pressure off those reproductivehormones and can help them get
(16:00):
into a better balance.
So there's mind-body type ofactivities like that.
Obviously, exercise is a reallygood one as well.
Yoga is particularly good, butI think reformer Pilates or mat
Pilates is also very good.
Resistance training is greatbecause it's hard to think of
anything else when you're doingresistance training.
(16:22):
I mean, cycling is great forthe body, but I think it's very
easy to go wandering in yourmind when you're cycling because
it's a fairly repetitive taskand it's fairly easy to do for
most of us.
So, yeah, movement that reallyyou need to concentrate on is
helpful.
Also from a food point of viewlots of fresh fruits and veggies
(16:46):
, lots of healthy fats Healthyfats are great for the brain.
So things like avocado, nuts,seeds, olive oil, flaxseed oil,
things like that are really goodfor your brain and to help with
your nervous system responseand to help with your hormone
building Good quality proteinhad regularly through the day.
(17:10):
So three meals a day is ideal.
Particularly, three meals a daywill help you manage your blood
sugar level better and that isimportant I mentioned just
before.
When we have elevated cortisol,it does interfere with our
blood glucose regulation.
So if you can help alsoregulate your blood glucose by
(17:31):
timing your meals so you've gotabout a five to six hour block
in between meals, that canreally help with blood sugar
regulation as well.
Even in people with diabetesthat can be very, very helpful
for blood sugar regulation.
And, yeah, I think I alreadysaid lots of colorful, if I
didn't, lots of colorful fruitand veggies to give you all of
(17:55):
your micronutrients that reallyhelp to build all of these
chemicals, to build yourhormones in your body.
Because remember that old adageyou are what you eat.
It's so true.
The body is breaking down thatfood into nutrients that will
then become part of you, thatwill become part of your cells.
Your hormones get used forenergy, et cetera, and so I
(18:22):
think that's probably the mainthings I wanted to cover today.
So just to give you a little bitof a recap.
So if you're finding yourselfirritable, angry, angry
outbursts, things like that,noises that shouldn't normally
irritate you, really irritatingyou, and you're in your 40s or
50s or beyond, really have athink about well, could this be
(18:44):
my hormones?
And therefore really focus onmanaging stress, on eating well,
on reducing things like yoursugar and your processed foods,
your fast foods, et cetera, andthat will really help bring not
only your stress hormones backinto balance, but also those
stress hormones back intobalance, but also those sex
(19:06):
hormones back into balance,which is really important for
your overall well-being andlongevity, and maybe your
partner's longevity as well, ifthat's where you're directing
your anger and your irritation.
Anyway, I hope that's madesense.
I know sometimes I can rambleon a little bit, but yeah, I
(19:27):
hope that makes sense.
If you've got any questionsabout that, please do let me
know.
There is a link at the bottomof the show notes where you can
send me a text, or you can emailme hello at suzygardencom or go
to my Instagram atsuzygardenwellness and send me a
DM.
All right, I hope you'reenjoying your week so far.
(19:49):
I'll be back on Thursday withQ&A, take care, and I will see
you then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
(20:09):
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atsuzygardenwellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
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