08 - 5 steps to manage peri-menopause
I’ve been feeling some subtle changes in myself for the last couple of years. More irritability for the week before my cycle. Disrupted sleep (also have a kid, that could be part of it!), irregular cycles. Two years ago I had some blood tests done to see if my hormones reflected menopause, but it was only recently they started changing. Sometimes the symptoms come before the hormonal markers. Luckily I have a pretty good toolbelt I can use to make the most of these years!
Manage stress
A few years back I asked a lecturer how I could be in a good position for wellbeing before entering peri menopause. She said simply: Manage your stress. Throughout my research in health I would add that this is key for almost every health condition. Want to improve your immune system? Manage your stress. Digestion problems? Manage your stress. And yes – want to keep peri menopause symptoms to a minimum and cope with them better? Definitely manage stress. When you consider that activating our sympathetic nervous system into fight/flight reduces the emphasis on our body healing, digesting and resting. So by making choices that reduce our stress levels and by using tools such as mindful breathing to restore our nervous system to the parasympathetic healing state, we position ourselves for a smoother ride.
2. Love your liver
While many symptoms of peri menopause are activated through the nervous system, the balance of our sex hormones is supported by a healthy liver. Our livers have hundreds of functions that keep us well – one of them is to metabolise our hormones. Keeping this system healthy means less mood swings, heavy bleeds and symptoms around our cycles. Our livers love us for drinking lemon juice in warm water, eating bitter foods and eating leafy greens and broccoli sprouts. Keeping over the counter medications, supplements and alcohol to a minimum give our livers less work to do.
3. Move it
Daily exercise – this one comes least naturally to me so I’m reminding myself. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity, often a by-product of hormone dysregulation at menopause. If we are weight bearing it keeps our bone strength stable. And it supports healthy neurotransmitter production for better moods. Every little bit counts – start where you’re at and build up your efforts safely.
4. Eat cleaner
Clean your diet. Well into my thirties I still ate like a teenager whose parents were away for the weekend. When I was young I could “get away with” eating rubbish – I never seemed to put on weight. Well, turns out I wasn’t getting away with it, my body was just storing it in my liver and sending things awry insidiously from the inside. Eating for health is a change in mindset that pays dividends for the rest of your life. Some overpaid influencer once said that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. I balk at “skinny” as a goal, but I will co-op this to say that nothing tastes as good as health feels. This goes double during peri-menopause!
5. Get checked
Have an annual thorough check up at GP and have a go-to naturopath to support you to optimum health. You don’t need to work out your health on your own. Make sure you have a great GP and health care team in your corner. As Kris Carr says – you are the CEO of your wellness. Make sure your recruit your team well.
I’m just at the start of this journey, so you can ask me in a few years what I think of my own advice! But this is the approach I will be taking and I’d love to hear what you think. If you are building up your health dream team, jump on a free discovery call with me here and let’s chat.