How Stress is Affecting Your Hormones in Peri Menopause!
How cruel is nature? As if dealing with hormonal changes wasn’t enough the peri menopause age is often the busiest in our lives! We might still be running after kids, sometimes younger and sometimes older, jobs are more demanding, parents are aging needing more help…all the freedom we felt when our kids got out of nappies and started to sleep through the night is chewed up with so many other life obligations.
And more recently, life has thrown us some extra stresses. Mortgage payments increasing, petrol prices rising, world events are being played 24/7 so there is no escape and throw in all of the natural and man made disasters going on we have a recipe for hormonal disaster.
Or not! Because if you know what is happening you can do something about it. So, let’s look at a small selection of symptoms that reflect how stress is affecting your hormones in peri menopause.
Sleep is interrupted for so many reasons but here’s the big ones. Early in peri menopause progesterone takes a dive well before oestrogen. Progesterone is our relaxing hormone so as it retreats, we find getting to sleep harder.
The nasty bit here is both cortisol (our stress hormone) and progesterone use the same starter substance. And in another twist the body prioritises survival by using it to make cortisol. So, our declining progesterone takes a double hit when we are stressed in peri.
Oestrogen takes a wild rollercoaster ride before is makes a final descent but this means our liver needs to work harder to metabolise and clear it
When we are stressed we often turn to self medication like alcohol or high carb or high fat treats all of which put extra pressure on our liver. If the liver is too busy in the middle of the night it wakes us up.
Moods can be really erratic at the best of times in peri menopause but stress can make this worse. The decline of progesterone and the roller coaster of our emotional hormone, oestrogen, create inconsistent moods, irritability and general heightened emotions. BUT add in stress and cortisol levels rise making this so much worse! Ugh.
Weight gain or difficulty losing weight is another symptom of peri AND stress. Cortisol is the stress hormone responsible for our stress bellies and increases insulin resistance. As I mentioned earlier, we are often chronically stressed at this time. Add to that the fact that oestrogen actually increases insulin sensitivity and once it starts to decline we lose that which doubles up the weight gain likelihood. It’s so unfair.
It's not a foregone conclusion! I promise. You can create stress resilience even at this stage of life. In fact, it becomes absolutely necessary in peri menopause!
Look after your liver and it will look after you. Give it a fighting chance to metabolise your hormones and keep them as balanced as you can by reducing or eliminating alcohol, reduce takeaways and prioritise self-care over self-indulgence.
Make up for the lack of progesterone, your calming hormone, by introducing other ways to stay calm. Meditation is fabulous, gentle exercise really helps our mental health so think yoga, walking, swimming, finding activities that let you be silly or have fun and laugh really help too. Release that stress and reduce that cortisol so you aren’t reliant on progesterone to be the heavy lifter here.
Eat a wholefood diet that is lower in sugar and carby treats but super high in good quality proteins and fats like extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, as well as fish oil, avocado and nuts and seeds. Create 3 balanced meals a day to keep you feeling satiated and your blood sugar levels balanced all day. This will also reduce the chances of insulin resistance that makes weight loss so much harder.
If ever there was time to prioritise self care and really take a long hard look at how you are dealing with stress it is in peri menopause. It’s the reason I put so much emphasis on it in The Sparkle Method and it’s also the reason I added the Emotion Release Technique (ERT) consults to the program.
If you are interested in learning more about The Sparkle Method click here: https://www.simplyhealing.net.au/the-sparkle-method
And more about ERT then click here: https://www.simplyhealing.net.au/services/#ERT
You’ve got this! Now is the time to look after yourself!