Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Hormone Hub. In this episode, we are going to talk about the effects of stress on your [00:01:00] hormonal symptoms. This is something I talk about all the time. So the effects of stress during perimenopause and menopause are, you know, pretty varied, but they can include and they can impact us, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally, and, you know, there can be some pretty significant changes because of stress.

So we are looking at physical symptoms, you know, during this time it can be hot flushes, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, joint pain. And then when we look at the mental and emotional symptoms of stress, this can include depression, anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and sort of that brain foggy feeling.

Mood swings and sort of like increased feelings of just sadness. Okay. And then stress then sort of, this has a, a knock on effect where it can lead to changes in behavior. So, you know, we might start drinking more, or, you know, drug use, you [00:02:00] know, for some women. Changes in our eating habits, you know. Increased emotional eating, risky behaviors for some women as well.

So, you know, it can take, take form in many different ways. So it’s really important that, you know, during this time of life, we show ourselves some kindness and some compassion, you know, talk about it, you know, with girlfriends. Create a network, you know, there’s a lot we can do, but if we, we don’t recognize what’s happening and if we don’t recognize stress for what it is, you know, it’s just gonna spiral out of control.

So some of the, the different things that we can look at during perimenopause, menopause can include, you know, lifestyle changes such as exercise, relaxation techniques, uh proper nutrition. And just, you know, fyi, this is what I do, and you know, for some women medications, you know, hormone replacement therapy might be a good [00:03:00] option.

 Therapy and counseling might be a good option as well. Okay, so let’s dive in. So, menopause, as we know, it’s a natural transition in a woman’s life. It can be accompanied by a variety of different physical emotional changes. Stress is really common. It’s really common symptom of menopause. And like I said, it can have a significant impact on a woman’s mental and physical health.

Alright, so if we’re having a look at some of the symptoms, Like I said in the intro, physical symptoms can be fatigue. Okay? It can be insomnia, so not sleeping at night. Headaches, muscle tension, digestive problems, increased, hot flushes, increase in, you know, Period symptoms and PMS sort of symptoms as well.

It can be emotional symptoms, so feeling cranky, feeling snappy with the ones you know, you love around you, mood swings, anxiety, you know, [00:04:00] worrying about things that, you know, wouldn’t have bothered you before or wouldn’t ordinarily, you know, worry you. And depression is, is a big one as well. Now there’s a few reasons, you know, and a few things sort of going on.

So definitely the hormonal shifts, you know, during perimenopause and menopause. So when we, you know, have these big, you know, fluctuations in our hormones during perimenopause and that decrease in estrogen during menopause, it can cause these, these changes and they impact the way we respond to stress and they impact our resilience to stress.

So we get these, you know, fluctuating and decreasing levels of our sex hormones. And then, you know, stress causes our body to produce high levels of cortisol. Which is, you know, at one of our big, sort of stress hormones that keeps us safe. It’s, you know, it’s part of that, that stress response system.

But when we are chronically elevated in stress, it produces, you know, these excess levels of [00:05:00] cortisol, which then cortisol is one of our fat storage hormones. So, you know, we start to gain weight and we start to, you know, feel sluggish and not good about ourselves. And the reason why, you know, stress sort of has this impact on us, and I’ve talked about this before, but if we, you know, are, you know, undergoing a lot of stress, our body can’t tell the difference between big stress and little stress.

So we can be like, big stress is death, divorce, pandemics, changing jobs, moving, you know, things like that. It can be little stress like, you know, running out of coffee, like teaching your 16 year old to drive , nearly killing you, and then having him say, oh, just chill mom, you know, things like that. And it’s, our body can’t tell the difference. So when we are sort of up against that stress response over and over again, you can see how the, that cortisol just simmers away in our body. Now this has an impact on [00:06:00] our digestive system. So stress causes things to slow down, and this is where we get bloating. This is where we can get constipation.

It can cause anxiety because, you know, we don’t feel safe. We’re always sort of on edge. We don’t know why. So we’re not getting a restful sleep because our brain is busy. So we are constantly, you know, have that busy brain chatter. So we are waking up in the night. It’s hard to, to tune off and get back to sleep.

 And we get sort of stuck in this, this cycle. And one of the reasons why, you know, it’s common for women, you know, there’s a lot going on at this stage of life. So it’s, it’s common for women to experience changes. You know, our kids might be getting older, they might be moving out, so we might be looking at, you know, an empty nest, which is exciting and then not exciting at the same time.

 Some women can be looking at retiring, which is a big life change, or job changes, or feeling under pressure, you know, at [00:07:00] work because you don’t feel like you are, you know, functioning and performing the way that you would. So all of these things, you know, have these knock on impacts of the way we deal with stress. And then, you know, it’s lifestyle as well.

So at this, this point in life, you know, we might find ourselves feeling overwhelmed because, you know, we are looking after those, you know, teenage, young adult, sort of grown up children, you know, who still need us. We’re still trying to juggle those work responsibilities. You know, our parents might be getting older, so their needs have changed and, you know, we’re, we are trying to juggle all these balls and, you know, try and maintain a healthy lifestyle as at the same time.

So I get that, you know, it can be easier said than done, so I’m gonna come in and give you some sort of like, really, you know, just some basic places to start. So, okay, first up, let’s talk about exercise. Okay. So we all know the benefits of regular exercise. It can help reduce our stress, it can [00:08:00] help boost our mood, it can help flood our bodies full of those good endorphins.

 But what happens is because we’re stressed, you know, we’re tired, we don’t have that motivation to exercise, you know, and then if we’re not exercising, you know, there’s potentially weight gain and things like that. So it’s sort of, we get stuck in this vicious cycle, but I urge you to, you know, move your body.

Okay? So we don’t need to, you know, we can move away from the old, you know, we need to have a gym membership and we need to be sweating it out and we need to be jogging and running and doing all that sort of stuff. It actually doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are moving your body in a way that feels good for you.

So whether that’s walking, swimming, walking the dog, throwing a ball for the dog, you know, just get outside and move. And it’s a good way too to sort of shift that energy by shifting your locations. So if you are got an office desk or office job, if you are, or a desk job, if you work from home, if you, [00:09:00] you know, get out of the house, get out of the office just for 10 minutes and shift up that energy.

Yoga, stretching, Pilates, meditation. You know, while you’re moving is all good. 

Now next up [00:10:00] is eating. So definitely we all know what healthy eating looks like. We just don’t always do it. But eating a balanced diet is, you know, can help sort of maintain those hormone levels and give the body what it needs to stay healthy.

So we get our nutrition from eating real food. Real food gives us vitamins, minerals, it gives us, uh, antioxidants, it gives us polyphenols. It gives us all the things we need. It gives us fiber to keep our digestive system moving. So our body knows what to do with real food. Our body doesn’t know what to do with sugar.

Our body really doesn’t know what you know and doesn’t want to deal with wine. So, you know, alcohol is not part of a healthy diet. It’s gonna, you know, Work against you. Junk food, sugar, you know, that’s all gonna make you feel worse. And I’m gonna sort of like tap into emotional eating here as well because it’s part of that stress picture.

So when we are feeling stressed, you know, a lot of us [00:11:00] turn to food for comfort, you know, and again, it’s not doing us any favors and we know this on so many levels, but you know, we do it anyway. So this is where rather than me sort of say, That’s it. You know, cut out the sugar, stop eating, you know, stop eating chocolate or put no more, no more crisps, no more cheese.

You know, I don’t wanna sort of say no to you, but instead, what can we do instead to make yourself feel nice that doesn’t involve food. So that emotional eating component, like it’s very much, uh, when we were babies, we cried, our mothers fed us, life went on, you know. So it’s intrinsically in us from such a young age, but it could be, you know, do we light a candle while we cook dinner, you know, to make us sort of feel nice.

Do we buy ourselves some flowers? You know, and we see those flowers and we feel nice. Do we, you know, sort of have, you know, oh, at the end of the week, if, you know I’ve had a [00:12:00] sort of a really good week, I’m gonna treat myself to, you know, coffee with a girlfriend on the weekend. You know, so book in those coffee dates.

So have things that are gonna make you feel good and give yourself things to look forward to that aren’t necessarily part of food. Okay? Meet a girlfriend, go for a walk. You know, killing lots of birds with lots of stones with that. Stress can also, you know, it can increase our appetite for a lot of, you know, for some women.

So we wanna make sure we’re getting the right balance of whole foods. So are we getting enough protein at every meal? Are we getting enough healthy fats at each meal? Are we getting enough fiber? So this is gonna stop you being on that, that sugar craving rollercoaster as well. And by eating real food and by eating that balanced diet, we’re gonna help our digestive system.

Because when we’re under stress, like I said, you know, if we need to run from a bear, from a evolution point of view, we don’t need to stop and poop behind the [00:13:00] tree. So our, you know, Body is going to jam up. We are going to, you know, feel bloated, we’re gonna feel constipated. No one is happy when they’re constipated.

So we need to sort of identify what’s going on with your digestive system and start, you know, supporting your digestive system. Then the next thing we wanna do, so we’ve got exercise, we’ve got healthy eating, is we wanna have a look at the, you know, stress management techniques. So there’s a million, million mindfulness and, you know, meditations out, there’s apps, there’s all sorts of things that you can use.

My favorite is Insight Timer. They’ve got lots of sort of meditations that are 10 minutes and under, which are really beneficial. But also getting out, connecting with nature. You know, put your feet, your bare feet on the grass, put them, put them in the sand, go for a swim, you know, swim in the ocean, swim in the sea. Connect with people is a big one as well.

So find a support network, connect with other women [00:14:00] going through a similar sort of thing. And remember, you know, gravitate towards people who are gonna lift you up and make you feel good. Okay? We don’t want to sort of go in that downward spiral. We want to, you know, start to feel good.

Okay. And the other thing is too, sort of getting enough sleep and working on, you know, a good sleep routine, a good, so just like when our babies were little and we had to sort of train them to sleep, we have to train ourselves back to sleep as well. And again, you know, stress sort of, you know, It’s hard when we are stressed to get sort of deep restorative sleep.

So we need to sort of work on, you know, how do we calm ourselves down? How do we sort of chill everything out, you know, before we go to bed? So getting in a good, good nighttime routine there as well. And yeah, recognizing and managing those negative thoughts. So if we, you know, stress is very much a perception.

Okay, so we perceive stress. Stress doesn’t happen to us. [00:15:00] So while we can’t change what’s going on around us, we can change the way we respond. And, you know, by regular exercising, by, you know, eating a healthy, balanced diet, by, you know, addressing emotional eating by, you know, bringing in those mindful techniques, by connecting with friends, it’s going to help us change those thought patterns, you know, and this can have a really big impact on, you know, reducing stress. So I just wanted to sort of say, you know, this is, all of these things, you know, are what we do inside the Well Balanced Woman Program. So a lot of it is, you know, we get back to basics. So eating well, you know, how do we do that?

What does that look like on a plate? What works for your body? You know, how do we get your digestive system working? How do we get rid of bloating, constipation, and get you sort regularly moving. How can we incorporate exercise in, you know, what does that look like for you? What do you [00:16:00] enjoy? And then, you know, how do we sort of filter out those negative thought patterns and replace them, you know, with those positive mindsets. So it doesn’t happen overnight.

And you know, we do all of this over a 12 week period, so we work systematically and, and sort of holistically on every single area of your, your health, your mental health, your physical and emotional wellbeing, because that is, it’s that whole picture when we pull it together is wellness. It’s not a diet, it’s not a gym program, it’s not a supplement.

It’s all of these things, pulled together. So you don’t have to do it alone. Seek help. Alright, so menopause perimenopause definitely can bring about physical and emotional changes that cause stress. So it’s important to recognize the signs of stress and take the steps to manage it. So I hope these, you know, tips and techniques today that I’ve shared with you help you to get on [00:17:00] top of stress and yeah, maintain a healthy lifestyle during this transition.

Alright, my loves. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode, and I will speak to you very soon. Bye.