June 23, 2025 • 19 mins
Burnout and perimenopause share confusingly similar symptoms, making it difficult to know which condition you're experiencing. In today's episode I explore the overlap, key differences, and practical solutions to help you feel like yourself again plus I share my personal experience with burnout and peri.
• Burnout involves physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by chronic stress
• Long-term stress elevates cortisol, which can disrupt hormones and mimic perimenopause symptoms
• Perimenopause typically begins in late 30s or 40s with progesterone declining and oestrogen fluctuating
• Common overlapping symptoms include fatigue, sleep disturbances, mood changes, and brain fog
• Perimenopause is more likely if your menstrual cycle is changing in length, flow, or regularity
• Solutions that benefit both conditions include balancing blood sugar, restoring sleep patterns, and magnesium supplementation
• Saying no and reducing commitments is not laziness—it's essential for healing
• Specific herbs like ashwagandha (withania), rhodiola, and passionflower can support both stress and hormonal balance
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, I hopeyou're well and having a good
week so far.
I'm Susie Garden, your host ofthe Ageless and Awesome podcast.
(00:45):
I this week.
This is a topic I say this a lotthat this topic is one close to
my heart, but this genuinely is.
I mean, I'm genuine every timeI say it.
But anyway, burnout andperimenopause how to tell the
difference?
And the reason it's close to myheart is I truly believe this
is something that happened to mewhen I was in my corporate
(01:09):
career.
I thought I was getting burntout.
I was probably in burnout andin perimenopause at the same
time.
Now that I've learned so muchmore about peri and you see,
this is something I see all ofthe time in clinic when I'm
doing my peri-weight lossassessments women who are coming
to me feeling exhausted,frazzled, overwhelmed, you know,
(01:33):
teary, emotional.
And they don't know.
Are they burnt out, are they inperimenopause or is it both?
And it can take a little bit ofkind of detective work to work
out which one it is, or if it isboth.
And it can take a little bit ofkind of detective work to work
out which one it is or if it isboth.
And if you've ever wondered thesame thing, this episode is for
you.
So we're going to unpack theoverlap between burnout and
(01:57):
perimenopause, because you knowwhat they really look and feel
very, very similar.
I'll talk about the signs, theroot causes and, most
importantly, what you can do tostart feeling like yourself
again.
So let's get started.
So, firstly, what is burnout?
(02:18):
Burnout isn't just about beingtired and it's not just about
being stressed and over it.
It's a physical, it's anemotional and a mental
exhaustion caused by chronicstress.
So long-term stress, stressthat builds over time until your
(02:40):
body and brain just can't keepup anymore, until your body and
brain just can't keep up anymore, and often it's a little bit
like the frog in the pot ofwater, right?
You don't really realize howmuch it's impacting you at the
start, until either it getsreally bad or you leave that
situation and you realize howpoor you were feeling.
(03:03):
And that was kind of me becauseI did get retrenched but I kind
of already knew that I was inburnout.
But now that I know more aboutPerry, you know it was probably
a mix of the two.
So the kind of symptoms ofburnout can be feeling
completely depleted, even afterresting.
Often and if you're a client ofmine, listening, you know I'll
(03:25):
always ask about sleep and I'llask whether you woke up
refreshed or feeling like a slug.
And that feeling of waking,feeling like a slug, even if
you've slept well, that's one ofthe signs that perhaps your
cortisol is a bit out of whackand that's part of this burnout
phenomenon.
(03:45):
You can get a sense of cynicism, a lack of motivation, even
about things you're verypassionate about, brain fog or
difficulty with focus andconcentration, increased anxiety
For me I had a panic attackwhich was really bad Sadness,
(04:07):
sleep disturbances I mean, doesit sound familiar to you?
These are often symptoms that Italk about on other episodes,
where I'm talking aboutperimenopause.
But this is just about burnout.
There are other symptoms aswell, but these are probably the
more common ones and no, for me, I actually had this feeling of
I can't even describe it.
It's like a feeling ofheaviness or something in my
(04:29):
body, and I had it recently,just before I went on my holiday
to Peru.
So I knew I recognize it nowand I knew that, oh gosh, I'm
just starting to get that senseof burnout.
So you know, this is the thingwith burnout, as I said, it can
come on and you may not realizehow bad you're feeling until it
(04:50):
lifts or the situation changes.
But here's the thing burnoutcan mess with your hormones as
well.
So long-term stress elevatescortisol, which you probably
already know, and that candisrupt your sleep, disrupt your
blood sugar, your thyroidfunction and, yes, your sex
hormones as well.
So this is one of the reasonswhy it can be really difficult
(05:14):
to tell the difference betweenthe two, because, in addition,
one of the symptoms I had wasnight sweats, like I'd be waking
up literally in a pool of sweatand I wasn't hot.
It was just like sweat, andthat is a sign can be a sign of
burnout as well, of that highcortisol.
So it's interesting.
(05:35):
So if we flip the lens now andhave a look at perimenopause
which you, as you know probablyby now.
It's the transitional phasebefore menopause often can be up
to 10 years prior to your lastperiod that you have symptoms
and are considered to be inperimenopause, and that can
start in your forties.
(05:55):
It can even start in your midto late thirties and this is
where your estrogen and yourprogesterone are fluctuating.
In fact, what really happens isyour progesterone tends to dive
and your estrogen fluctuates,and it's not in a gentle,
gradual kind of way, it's aroller coaster, and some common
(06:16):
sort of symptoms or signs thatyou can experience in
perimenopause are are irregularperiods, very heavy periods,
light periods, hot flushes,night sweats, mood swings, anger
, teariness, irritability,anxiety or low mood, depression,
(06:37):
insomnia or waking at anywherebetween one and four for no
reason, not necessarily stress,just lying there, going why
can't I sleep Weight gain,especially around the middle
section, low libido and you know, see the overlap here.
There's a lot of overlap insymptoms.
(06:58):
It's no wonder many women thinkthey're in one and they're in
the other or just don't knowwhat's going on.
So here's the thing because bothcan happen together, many women
are dealing with both at once,and there is actually a key
reason for this because you maybe in a situation of chronic
(07:21):
stress, and then the hormonalshifts of perimenopause make you
more sensitive to stress.
When you lose that progesteroneI mean the brain loves
progesterone, it's very calmingto the brain and so you have
less of a buffer for stress.
And then estrogen gets erratic,so it surges and then it drops.
And then it surges and then itdrops.
(07:42):
That can mess with yourserotonin and your brain
chemicals, neurotransmitters andyour mood stability, that rage
that some women get, orperimenopause anxiety,
perimenopausal depressionthere's just so many moods that
can happen with this hormonalswing.
And when you add in poor sleep,pressures of work, family etc.
(08:06):
Then burnout can become almostinevitable.
Then burnout can become almostinevitable, which of course we
don't want, because it reallyit's not a good thing at all to
happen to you and it can taketime to really recover from.
So let's look at how to tell thedifference.
So how can you tell if it'sburnout or peri?
(08:28):
So a few key clues.
I mean timing's obviously oneof them, because burnout can
happen at any age at all,especially if you're under
chronic stress, whereasperimenopause typically starts
in your late 30s or 40s Period.
Patterns are a dead giveaway Ifyour cycle is changing, if it's
shorter, if it's longer, ifit's heavier flow, lighter flow,
(08:50):
that's a huge hormonal cluethat it's more likely to be
perimenopause.
But we know that high cortisolthat you're getting burnt out
sometimes can actually impactyour sex hormones which can
impact your period.
So it's not as cut and dried asit might seem, but it's probably
more likely if you're havingthose interruptions, physical
(09:11):
symptoms such as the hot flushes, breast tenderness, the brain
fog, although you can get thatwith both.
Midsection weight gain, youkind of can with both.
Night sweats, you can kind ofget with both.
So again, you kind of need tobe talking to a professional
that can help discern betweenthe two.
(09:32):
I probably think that theseemotional and mental signs are
probably one of the keydifferentiators.
So if you're feeling likeemotionally numb, unmotivated,
detached from things that youused to enjoy, that kind of
leans more toward burnout.
But that can also be depression.
So you do need to be again canalso be depression.
(09:54):
So you do need to be againtalking to a healthcare
professional about this.
But if your mood swings aresharp, the rage, as I mentioned
before, that tends to beperimenopause.
If those mood swings reallycome out of nowhere, that can
really be more of aperimenopause thing.
But remember, it doesn't haveto be one or the other.
Often it's both, and thesolution is really to support
(10:14):
both your nervous system andyour hormones.
And the good news is,regardless of if you only do one
of them well, it's going toinfluence the other one anyway.
So that's a really good thing.
So let's kind of get into somesolutions.
So, whether you're burnt out,whether you've got some hormone
shifting going on, or whetherit's both at the same time, we
(10:38):
need to stop treating symptomslike they exist in isolation.
We know that there's so manylinks in the body and you really
need to take a holisticapproach and make sure you're
getting into that underlyingcause, which, if it is burnout,
then we need to look at what'sthe cause of the stress.
What can we do to modify thator to help you modify and
(11:01):
regulate your own nervous system?
If it's hormone imbalance, thenwe need to look at well, what
are you eating?
What's your lifestyle like?
What can we do to support yourhormones?
Because you can take thesupplements, you can do the
meditations, but if the rootcause is not being addressed,
you need a plan that's going toaddress that.
(11:21):
So here are some basic thingsthat I recommend Now, remember
this is not individualizedadvice and, as I've mentioned
already, please, if you'rereally experiencing these
symptoms, it's probably a goodidea to speak to someone who
knows how to handle these and aprofessional.
So here's what I recommend.
(11:42):
So, firstly, I'd always go tofood and eat for blood sugar
balance.
This is absolutely foundational.
So what that means is you'renot skipping meals, you're
prioritizing protein, you're notgoing for the carbs, even
though you've got the carbcravings most likely.
Help support your blood sugarby prioritizing protein.
(12:05):
Have two bites of protein firstwhenever you start a meal.
Have healthy fats, have complexcarbohydrates that release
energy slowly and that will helpprevent energy crashes that
feed stress and hormone chaos.
And three meals a day no snacksis also ideal for maintaining
(12:28):
blood sugar balance, but theyneed to be, you know, good,
decent meals that are going tokeep you satisfied for like five
to six hours between breakfastand lunch, lunch and dinner.
Number two of what I recommendis to restore your sleep.
Go to bed at the same timeevery night, get up at the same
(12:51):
time every morning.
Even if you haven't slept verywell, the research tells us that
you should still get up at thesame time every day and that
helps to regulate your circadianrhythm.
Power down your screens atleast one, but preferably two
hours before bed If you'rereally struggling with sleep.
(13:13):
Create some sort of routinearound your sleep.
It's like any kind of training.
It just helps you train yourbrain to know that, ah, it's
time to sleep now and preferablymake this a calm ritual that
can be reading, it can be havinga shower.
I've started having a shower atnight and I love it.
(13:34):
Really helps me with stress.
It helps me to just disconnectfrom the day and I'm absolutely
positive, it's helped my sleep.
And the thing is, if your sleepisn't happening, your hormones
can't heal.
Hormone repair and hormonebuilding happens when you're
asleep.
So it's super, super important.
(13:56):
Number three I really recommendfor most people.
Magnesium Magnesium is one of mytop three supplements.
It supports adrenal health, itsupports your nervous system, it
supports hormones, it supportsenergy so many things.
(14:17):
It's like hundreds of thingsthat it supports.
Specifically, magnesiumglycinate for sleep and stress
it's calming for the brain.
Magnesium glycinate for sleepand stress it's calming for the
brain.
So make sure, if you are takinga magnesium, have a look at
what kind of magnesium is inyour product.
If it's heavy magnesium oxideit's really going to give you a
(14:40):
good bowel clean out, greatlaxative.
It's not going to give you theextra benefits to your brain for
calming down and helping withsleep extra benefits to your
brain for calming down andhelping with sleep.
So magnesium glycinate is onethat I recommend.
Cut the noise, say no, cancel,delegate, do what you can to
manage the environment aroundyou so that you can regulate
(15:04):
your nervous system.
Cut the stress.
You're not lazy, you're healingand sometimes you may really
feel like you're letting someonedown if you're having to pull
out of an event or having to sayno to something.
But you need to prioritize yourown mental health, your own
physical health, and sometimesyou just need to say no.
(15:24):
If you're looking at herbalsupport, then again, always I'd
recommend getting somepersonalized, a personalized
prescription from a uh like aherbalist, a medical herbalist,
a naturopath, et cetera.
Um, most people have heard ofashwagandha.
It's really funny because inAustralia we don't in the in
(15:46):
like the naturopathic or themedicinal herbalist world, we
don't really call it ashwagandha, we call it withania.
But ashwagandha has become verypopular online, so that's kind
of the language has changed, butashwagandha is fantastic.
Rhodiola is another one that isreally good for adrenal support
and passionflower is lovely forsleep, for calming the nervous
(16:08):
system, for stopping thatrumination.
If you're stressed and you'rewaking up in the middle of the
night and you're thinking aboutall the things you've got to get
done, all of the things thathappened the day before that
didn't go right, it kind ofhelps to cut that.
But yeah, I don't recommendparticularly if you're on
medications, I don't recommendthat you're just going and
grabbing a stress supplementfrom the supermarket.
You do need to speak to someoneto make sure it's the right one
(16:30):
for your needs.
So here are my final thoughts.
Is it burnout or perimenopause?
Chances are, some are both.
The good news is that once youunderstand what your body is
going through, you can supportit with compassion and not
criticism.
Your body's not broken.
It's just asking you to slowdown, tune in, make adjustments
(16:53):
that honor this new season ifit's peri, and honor yourself if
it's a chronic stress.
And you'll probably, deep down,know if you've got the chronic
stress sort of aspect of this,but it could be a combination of
the two if you're in thatperimenopause age range.
(17:15):
So you know, ask for supportfrom someone who gets it,
someone who's perhaps beenthrough it.
I mean someone like myself.
I guess I've helped hundreds ofwomen navigate it.
If you feel like that'ssomething you want to explore
with me, I'd love to invite youto book a free peri-weight loss
assessment with me.
The link's in the show notes oryou can go to my website,
(17:37):
suzygardencom, and check out thekind of work that I do on there
At the peri-weight lossassessment.
It's just a free videoappointment.
We chat about your symptoms,perhaps what you've tried in the
past to help support yourselfand, you know, help to start to
create a strategy that is justfor you and is there to support
(18:00):
you.
So if this episode resonatedwith you, you might want to
share it with a friend.
I love it when women share thispodcast.
My following has grown on thispodcast quite significantly and
I just found out last weekactually I'm in the top 20
perimenopause podcasts globally,so I'm super excited about that
(18:21):
and a lot of that comes fromsharing Women sharing.
You know this podcast by eitherscreenshotting it, popping in
their stories or just talkingabout it, and it just really
warms my heart when I hear thatfrom people, particularly people
that book in for theirperi-weight loss assessment or
come and see me in clinic andthen they say they found me on
(18:42):
the podcast or their friend toldme about my podcast.
I just love it because you know, I'm just a real person sitting
in my my office in my homerecording this.
I don't have, you know, aprofessional team that's
supporting me doing this.
It's all me.
So I love it if it's out therehelping people.
So please feel free to share.
(19:02):
Sharing is caring, all right.
So I hope you've enjoyed it.
Do let me know.
You can come over on Instagramthat the peripenopause path and
send me a DM.
I would love to hear from you.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you would like this episode,please make sure you click the
(19:24):
little plus button if you're onApple podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
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If you feel like writing me afive star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepark.
(19:45):
I would love to connect withyou.
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, I hopeyou're well and having a good
week so far.
I'm Susie Garden, your host ofthe Ageless and Awesome podcast.
(00:45):
I this week.
This is a topic I say this a lotthat this topic is one close to
my heart, but this genuinely is.
I mean, I'm genuine every timeI say it.
But anyway, burnout andperimenopause how to tell the
difference?
And the reason it's close to myheart is I truly believe this
is something that happened to mewhen I was in my corporate
(01:09):
career.
I thought I was getting burntout.
I was probably in burnout andin perimenopause at the same
time.
Now that I've learned so muchmore about peri and you see,
this is something I see all ofthe time in clinic when I'm
doing my peri-weight lossassessments women who are coming
to me feeling exhausted,frazzled, overwhelmed, you know,
(01:33):
teary, emotional.
And they don't know.
Are they burnt out, are they inperimenopause or is it both?
And it can take a little bit ofkind of detective work to work
out which one it is, or if it isboth.
And it can take a little bit ofkind of detective work to work
out which one it is or if it isboth.
And if you've ever wondered thesame thing, this episode is for
you.
So we're going to unpack theoverlap between burnout and
(01:57):
perimenopause, because you knowwhat they really look and feel
very, very similar.
I'll talk about the signs, theroot causes and, most
importantly, what you can do tostart feeling like yourself
again.
So let's get started.
So, firstly, what is burnout?
(02:18):
Burnout isn't just about beingtired and it's not just about
being stressed and over it.
It's a physical, it's anemotional and a mental
exhaustion caused by chronicstress.
So long-term stress, stressthat builds over time until your
(02:40):
body and brain just can't keepup anymore, until your body and
brain just can't keep up anymore, and often it's a little bit
like the frog in the pot ofwater, right?
You don't really realize howmuch it's impacting you at the
start, until either it getsreally bad or you leave that
situation and you realize howpoor you were feeling.
(03:03):
And that was kind of me becauseI did get retrenched but I kind
of already knew that I was inburnout.
But now that I know more aboutPerry, you know it was probably
a mix of the two.
So the kind of symptoms ofburnout can be feeling
completely depleted, even afterresting.
Often and if you're a client ofmine, listening, you know I'll
(03:25):
always ask about sleep and I'llask whether you woke up
refreshed or feeling like a slug.
And that feeling of waking,feeling like a slug, even if
you've slept well, that's one ofthe signs that perhaps your
cortisol is a bit out of whackand that's part of this burnout
phenomenon.
(03:45):
You can get a sense of cynicism, a lack of motivation, even
about things you're verypassionate about, brain fog or
difficulty with focus andconcentration, increased anxiety
For me I had a panic attackwhich was really bad Sadness,
(04:07):
sleep disturbances I mean, doesit sound familiar to you?
These are often symptoms that Italk about on other episodes,
where I'm talking aboutperimenopause.
But this is just about burnout.
There are other symptoms aswell, but these are probably the
more common ones and no, for me, I actually had this feeling of
I can't even describe it.
It's like a feeling ofheaviness or something in my
(04:29):
body, and I had it recently,just before I went on my holiday
to Peru.
So I knew I recognize it nowand I knew that, oh gosh, I'm
just starting to get that senseof burnout.
So you know, this is the thingwith burnout, as I said, it can
come on and you may not realizehow bad you're feeling until it
(04:50):
lifts or the situation changes.
But here's the thing burnoutcan mess with your hormones as
well.
So long-term stress elevatescortisol, which you probably
already know, and that candisrupt your sleep, disrupt your
blood sugar, your thyroidfunction and, yes, your sex
hormones as well.
So this is one of the reasonswhy it can be really difficult
(05:14):
to tell the difference betweenthe two, because, in addition,
one of the symptoms I had wasnight sweats, like I'd be waking
up literally in a pool of sweatand I wasn't hot.
It was just like sweat, andthat is a sign can be a sign of
burnout as well, of that highcortisol.
So it's interesting.
(05:35):
So if we flip the lens now andhave a look at perimenopause
which you, as you know probablyby now.
It's the transitional phasebefore menopause often can be up
to 10 years prior to your lastperiod that you have symptoms
and are considered to be inperimenopause, and that can
start in your forties.
(05:55):
It can even start in your midto late thirties and this is
where your estrogen and yourprogesterone are fluctuating.
In fact, what really happens isyour progesterone tends to dive
and your estrogen fluctuates,and it's not in a gentle,
gradual kind of way, it's aroller coaster, and some common
(06:16):
sort of symptoms or signs thatyou can experience in
perimenopause are are irregularperiods, very heavy periods,
light periods, hot flushes,night sweats, mood swings, anger
, teariness, irritability,anxiety or low mood, depression,
(06:37):
insomnia or waking at anywherebetween one and four for no
reason, not necessarily stress,just lying there, going why
can't I sleep Weight gain,especially around the middle
section, low libido and you know, see the overlap here.
There's a lot of overlap insymptoms.
(06:58):
It's no wonder many women thinkthey're in one and they're in
the other or just don't knowwhat's going on.
So here's the thing because bothcan happen together, many women
are dealing with both at once,and there is actually a key
reason for this because you maybe in a situation of chronic
(07:21):
stress, and then the hormonalshifts of perimenopause make you
more sensitive to stress.
When you lose that progesteroneI mean the brain loves
progesterone, it's very calmingto the brain and so you have
less of a buffer for stress.
And then estrogen gets erratic,so it surges and then it drops.
And then it surges and then itdrops.
(07:42):
That can mess with yourserotonin and your brain
chemicals, neurotransmitters andyour mood stability, that rage
that some women get, orperimenopause anxiety,
perimenopausal depressionthere's just so many moods that
can happen with this hormonalswing.
And when you add in poor sleep,pressures of work, family etc.
(08:06):
Then burnout can become almostinevitable.
Then burnout can become almostinevitable, which of course we
don't want, because it reallyit's not a good thing at all to
happen to you and it can taketime to really recover from.
So let's look at how to tell thedifference.
So how can you tell if it'sburnout or peri?
(08:28):
So a few key clues.
I mean timing's obviously oneof them, because burnout can
happen at any age at all,especially if you're under
chronic stress, whereasperimenopause typically starts
in your late 30s or 40s Period.
Patterns are a dead giveaway Ifyour cycle is changing, if it's
shorter, if it's longer, ifit's heavier flow, lighter flow,
(08:50):
that's a huge hormonal cluethat it's more likely to be
perimenopause.
But we know that high cortisolthat you're getting burnt out
sometimes can actually impactyour sex hormones which can
impact your period.
So it's not as cut and dried asit might seem, but it's probably
more likely if you're havingthose interruptions, physical
(09:11):
symptoms such as the hot flushes, breast tenderness, the brain
fog, although you can get thatwith both.
Midsection weight gain, youkind of can with both.
Night sweats, you can kind ofget with both.
So again, you kind of need tobe talking to a professional
that can help discern betweenthe two.
(09:32):
I probably think that theseemotional and mental signs are
probably one of the keydifferentiators.
So if you're feeling likeemotionally numb, unmotivated,
detached from things that youused to enjoy, that kind of
leans more toward burnout.
But that can also be depression.
So you do need to be again canalso be depression.
(09:54):
So you do need to be againtalking to a healthcare
professional about this.
But if your mood swings aresharp, the rage, as I mentioned
before, that tends to beperimenopause.
If those mood swings reallycome out of nowhere, that can
really be more of aperimenopause thing.
But remember, it doesn't haveto be one or the other.
Often it's both, and thesolution is really to support
(10:14):
both your nervous system andyour hormones.
And the good news is,regardless of if you only do one
of them well, it's going toinfluence the other one anyway.
So that's a really good thing.
So let's kind of get into somesolutions.
So, whether you're burnt out,whether you've got some hormone
shifting going on, or whetherit's both at the same time, we
(10:38):
need to stop treating symptomslike they exist in isolation.
We know that there's so manylinks in the body and you really
need to take a holisticapproach and make sure you're
getting into that underlyingcause, which, if it is burnout,
then we need to look at what'sthe cause of the stress.
What can we do to modify thator to help you modify and
(11:01):
regulate your own nervous system?
If it's hormone imbalance, thenwe need to look at well, what
are you eating?
What's your lifestyle like?
What can we do to support yourhormones?
Because you can take thesupplements, you can do the
meditations, but if the rootcause is not being addressed,
you need a plan that's going toaddress that.
(11:21):
So here are some basic thingsthat I recommend Now, remember
this is not individualizedadvice and, as I've mentioned
already, please, if you'rereally experiencing these
symptoms, it's probably a goodidea to speak to someone who
knows how to handle these and aprofessional.
So here's what I recommend.
(11:42):
So, firstly, I'd always go tofood and eat for blood sugar
balance.
This is absolutely foundational.
So what that means is you'renot skipping meals, you're
prioritizing protein, you're notgoing for the carbs, even
though you've got the carbcravings most likely.
Help support your blood sugarby prioritizing protein.
(12:05):
Have two bites of protein firstwhenever you start a meal.
Have healthy fats, have complexcarbohydrates that release
energy slowly and that will helpprevent energy crashes that
feed stress and hormone chaos.
And three meals a day no snacksis also ideal for maintaining
(12:28):
blood sugar balance, but theyneed to be, you know, good,
decent meals that are going tokeep you satisfied for like five
to six hours between breakfastand lunch, lunch and dinner.
Number two of what I recommendis to restore your sleep.
Go to bed at the same timeevery night, get up at the same
(12:51):
time every morning.
Even if you haven't slept verywell, the research tells us that
you should still get up at thesame time every day and that
helps to regulate your circadianrhythm.
Power down your screens atleast one, but preferably two
hours before bed If you'rereally struggling with sleep.
(13:13):
Create some sort of routinearound your sleep.
It's like any kind of training.
It just helps you train yourbrain to know that, ah, it's
time to sleep now and preferablymake this a calm ritual that
can be reading, it can be havinga shower.
I've started having a shower atnight and I love it.
(13:34):
Really helps me with stress.
It helps me to just disconnectfrom the day and I'm absolutely
positive, it's helped my sleep.
And the thing is, if your sleepisn't happening, your hormones
can't heal.
Hormone repair and hormonebuilding happens when you're
asleep.
So it's super, super important.
(13:56):
Number three I really recommendfor most people.
Magnesium Magnesium is one of mytop three supplements.
It supports adrenal health, itsupports your nervous system, it
supports hormones, it supportsenergy so many things.
(14:17):
It's like hundreds of thingsthat it supports.
Specifically, magnesiumglycinate for sleep and stress
it's calming for the brain.
Magnesium glycinate for sleepand stress it's calming for the
brain.
So make sure, if you are takinga magnesium, have a look at
what kind of magnesium is inyour product.
If it's heavy magnesium oxideit's really going to give you a
(14:40):
good bowel clean out, greatlaxative.
It's not going to give you theextra benefits to your brain for
calming down and helping withsleep extra benefits to your
brain for calming down andhelping with sleep.
So magnesium glycinate is onethat I recommend.
Cut the noise, say no, cancel,delegate, do what you can to
manage the environment aroundyou so that you can regulate
(15:04):
your nervous system.
Cut the stress.
You're not lazy, you're healingand sometimes you may really
feel like you're letting someonedown if you're having to pull
out of an event or having to sayno to something.
But you need to prioritize yourown mental health, your own
physical health, and sometimesyou just need to say no.
(15:24):
If you're looking at herbalsupport, then again, always I'd
recommend getting somepersonalized, a personalized
prescription from a uh like aherbalist, a medical herbalist,
a naturopath, et cetera.
Um, most people have heard ofashwagandha.
It's really funny because inAustralia we don't in the in
(15:46):
like the naturopathic or themedicinal herbalist world, we
don't really call it ashwagandha, we call it withania.
But ashwagandha has become verypopular online, so that's kind
of the language has changed, butashwagandha is fantastic.
Rhodiola is another one that isreally good for adrenal support
and passionflower is lovely forsleep, for calming the nervous
(16:08):
system, for stopping thatrumination.
If you're stressed and you'rewaking up in the middle of the
night and you're thinking aboutall the things you've got to get
done, all of the things thathappened the day before that
didn't go right, it kind ofhelps to cut that.
But yeah, I don't recommendparticularly if you're on
medications, I don't recommendthat you're just going and
grabbing a stress supplementfrom the supermarket.
You do need to speak to someoneto make sure it's the right one
(16:30):
for your needs.
So here are my final thoughts.
Is it burnout or perimenopause?
Chances are, some are both.
The good news is that once youunderstand what your body is
going through, you can supportit with compassion and not
criticism.
Your body's not broken.
It's just asking you to slowdown, tune in, make adjustments
(16:53):
that honor this new season ifit's peri, and honor yourself if
it's a chronic stress.
And you'll probably, deep down,know if you've got the chronic
stress sort of aspect of this,but it could be a combination of
the two if you're in thatperimenopause age range.
(17:15):
So you know, ask for supportfrom someone who gets it,
someone who's perhaps beenthrough it.
I mean someone like myself.
I guess I've helped hundreds ofwomen navigate it.
If you feel like that'ssomething you want to explore
with me, I'd love to invite youto book a free peri-weight loss
assessment with me.
The link's in the show notes oryou can go to my website,
(17:37):
suzygardencom, and check out thekind of work that I do on there
At the peri-weight lossassessment.
It's just a free videoappointment.
We chat about your symptoms,perhaps what you've tried in the
past to help support yourselfand, you know, help to start to
create a strategy that is justfor you and is there to support
(18:00):
you.
So if this episode resonatedwith you, you might want to
share it with a friend.
I love it when women share thispodcast.
My following has grown on thispodcast quite significantly and
I just found out last weekactually I'm in the top 20
perimenopause podcasts globally,so I'm super excited about that
(18:21):
and a lot of that comes fromsharing Women sharing.
You know this podcast by eitherscreenshotting it, popping in
their stories or just talkingabout it, and it just really
warms my heart when I hear thatfrom people, particularly people
that book in for theirperi-weight loss assessment or
come and see me in clinic andthen they say they found me on
(18:42):
the podcast or their friend toldme about my podcast.
I just love it because you know, I'm just a real person sitting
in my my office in my homerecording this.
I don't have, you know, aprofessional team that's
supporting me doing this.
It's all me.
So I love it if it's out therehelping people.
So please feel free to share.
(19:02):
Sharing is caring, all right.
So I hope you've enjoyed it.
Do let me know.
You can come over on Instagramthat the peripenopause path and
send me a DM.
I would love to hear from you.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you would like this episode,please make sure you click the
(19:24):
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 singleweek.
If you feel like writing me afive star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepark.
(19:45):
I would love to connect withyou.
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