03: Protect Your Peace: Why Managing Stress Matters More Than Ever in Perimenopause

In this episode of Midlife and Glowing, sisters Alicia and Nicole discuss the impact of stress on hormone health during perimenopause. They explain how hormone shifts make women more susceptible to stress and its physical manifestations. The duo delves into the roles of cortisol and the autonomic nervous system, the importance of activating the parasympathetic 'rest and digest' mode, and practical daily strategies for stress management. They emphasize the significance of prioritizing joy, sleep, and self-care while addressing lifestyle choices like caffeine and alcohol consumption. Upcoming topics include nutritional needs during perimenopause.

00:00 Welcome to Midlife and Glowing
00:29 Understanding Stress in Perimenopause
00:52 Hormonal Changes and Stress Response
03:22 The Role of Adrenal Glands
04:52 Nervous System and Stress
06:40 Impact of Stress on Weight and Sleep
09:45 Importance of Stress Management
14:03 Daily Stress Mitigation Techniques
15:49 Breathing Techniques for Relaxation
16:13 The Importance of Prioritizing Sleep
17:14 Cutting Down on Caffeine and Alcohol
21:56 The Benefits of Magnesium
22:30 Saying No Without Guilt
23:15 Prioritizing Joy in Everyday Life
24:49 Managing Stress for Better Health
26:46 Conclusion and Next Steps

Get the Radiant Rest Yoga Nidra Sessions here 👉 https://stan.store/thedailyglowlife/p/radiant-rest-yoga-nidra-sessions

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Midlife and Glowing, where we're all about glowing through midlife with more energy, confidence, and joy. We're sisters, Alicia and Nicole, wellness lovers, beauty enthusiasts, and your new midlife Hype squad. Here we talk about the real stuff, wellness, rituals, hormone health, self-care, beauty style, and everything that helps you feel like yourself again, because midlife doesn't have to be a downward spiral. It could be your best era yet, let's glow through it together.

Nicole Maholy: 0:28

Hey there. Welcome back. So last week we talked about what's going on inside your body in perimenopause, and in today's episode we're talking about one of the biggest hormone wreck stress. We'll talk about why it hits differently in perimenopause and what you can actually do about it without adding more to your already full plate.

Alicia: 0:46

As I'm getting older, I've noticed that my body responds to stress differently. Mm-hmm. Is there a reason for that?

Nicole Maholy: 0:51

Yeah. That is actually really common in perimenopause and it makes sense because of the hormone shifts that happen in this stage of life. So, as I mentioned in other episodes when we're in perimenopause in our mid to late thirties, our progesterone levels start to drop. Progesterone is a hormone that has a very calming effect. So as that hormone drops, you're feeling less calm and you're more likely to have anxiety and just be more reactive to stress. Our cortisol levels are also often higher in perimenopause. And cortisol, if you haven't heard that word before, it's your stress hormone. It is one of your main stress hormones. So when you are in a stress response, your body kicks out this stress hormone. Cortisol is also released in a circadian rhythm, so it's released naturally throughout the day anyway, but more is released in response to stress. So in essence, in perimenopause, you are more sensitive to stress because of those changes in hormones.

Alicia: 2:00

Well, that makes sense. Yeah. So I've also noticed that when I have a lot of stress going on in my life, that I get these like red, painful bumps in my hands. Mm-hmm. And for me, that's been an indicator that I've been under a lot of stress. Mm-hmm. And I need to kinda get my arms around it Yeah. And do what I can to lessen that. Right.'cause it's starting to show In

Nicole Maholy: 2:24

your body, That's awesome that you have that cue for yourself to pay attention to. And that is a really important point for women to, I think in perimenopause, if we haven't been doing this already, we really need to get into the habit of listening to our bodies. Symptoms are cues of something that's going on internally. And if we can pay attention to those things, and address them as they pop up. It really helps in mitigating that stress response and mitigating the downstream effects of constantly having your fight or flight system, in overdrive.

Alicia: 3:01

You know, and that's something that you have to really be intentional about. because, you know, we have these busy lives and mm-hmm sometimes it's, it's hard to lessen the stressors in your life. Yeah. So if there's those things that you can pay attention to, that can help with awareness and,

Nicole Maholy: 3:20

mitigating these things. Yeah, definitely. And it really is important in perimenopause especially because, so let me explain too, the cortisol, the stress hormone that I mentioned is produced in the adrenal glands. If you haven't heard of the adrenal glands, they play a big role in your body's stress response. And the other thing that the adrenal glands do is after you go through menopause, they are the main producers of your sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone. So instead of the ovaries being the main producers of those two hormones like they are in your reproductive years after you go through menopause, your adrenal glands take over and really are the main source of those two hormones. So it's so important to develop that awareness around your stress response, develop that awareness around stress. And do something about it so that your adrenal glands are healthy and robust and can handle the estrogen and progesterone production that you're going to be asking of them after you go through menopause. So I mentioned the adrenal response, your hormone response to stress. You probably have also noticed that when you are in a state of stress, you have a nervous system response, right? Mm-hmm. And I want to explain that a little bit because I think it really helps in understanding this whole scenario, which is extremely important in how you're feeling, how your body heals, et cetera. So the nervous system response to, stress is handled by your autonomic nervous system. Now maybe you've heard the term fight or flight. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Maybe you've heard the term sympathetic, those are related to this autonomic nervous system, when you are in a stress response, that is your sympathetic nervous system, the sympathetic arm of your autonomic nervous system. So your autonomic nervous system has two components that relate to this conversation. One is your sympathetic response, which is your fight or flight mode. That is your stress response. That's your,

Alicia: 5:28

I feel like a lot of us spend time in our fight or flight mode.

Nicole Maholy: 5:31

Yes. Too much time so the opposite side of the coin there. The other part of the autonomic nervous system related to your stress system, is the parasympathetic nervous system. And that is also referred to as your rest and digest system that is your relaxation response. So. That is the part of the nervous system that we need to be activated more often. Too often we live in this chronic, mm-hmm. Fight or flight Mm-hmm. sympathetic overdrive, and you know, that's what governs our lives. But when you're in that state, your body cannot heal. You do not have healing capacity in sympathetic dominance. So we need to activate more of that parasympathetic, that relaxation mode, that rest and digest mode. Because that will allow your body to heal, recover, repair, and you know, get you feeling good, get you feeling calm, help you experience more joy in your life, those kinds of things. So that's really the aim, and when we activate the parasympathetic nervous system, it helps lower our cortisol levels.

Alicia: 6:40

High cortisol can pack on the pounds, right?

Nicole Maholy: 6:43

Yes. That's a really good point and very relevant to this conversation because a lot of times, women in perimenopause have a difficult time losing weight. I mentioned previously that estrogen decreasing as it does throughout perimenopause. Generally speaking, it goes up and down, but the general trend is downwards. And that means we have more insulin resistance, which means there's more insulin hanging around. High cortisol in combination with high insulin makes it virtually impossible for your body to burn fat and lose weight. Hmm. So we have to do something to mitigate our stress that we can lower cortisol, calm the nervous system

Alicia: 7:25

and get in that parasympathetic mode.

Nicole Maholy: 7:27

Exactly That relaxation response is what we're after. That's what we're looking for. So another part of this equation is that our body uses the hormone precursor to progesterone to produce cortisol. So it really impairs your body's ability to produce progesterone, having that cortisol level high. So being in that state of stress, that state of fight or flight impacts your progesterone production as well. And like I said, in perimenopause, we're already having a decline in progesterone. So if we put more demands on cortisol production, then we're impacting our progesterone that much more. Oh gosh. And we're, we're more likely to experience anxiety and have a harder time feeling that more calm.

Alicia: 8:13

So from what I'm hearing, I need to schedule a spa day,

Nicole Maholy: 8:18

I am definitely gonna go into some tactics, but yeah, spa day would be amazing. This scenario, the being in this sympathetic fight or flight, having that high cortisol especially at night, that also impairs sleep, So something else to know or pay attention to If you notice whether or not you have high stress levels before bed, because cortisol actually inhibits your body's ability to make melatonin. Melatonin is your sleep hormone. So if we're having experiences at night that are driving up that stress response, we're increasing cortisol and decreasing our ability to produce melatonin that, sleep hormone.

Alicia: 9:00

And that many people supplement. Yeah. Take that supplement to get sleep.

Nicole Maholy: 9:05

Yeah, Exactly.

Alicia: 9:06

Maybe work on your stress.

Nicole Maholy: 9:08

Work on your stress. stress. Yes, exactly. That is key for improving sleep and all kinds of other things. Right? When you are in parasympathetic activity, your body has the capability to heal better. You are going to experience more joy, you feel better. Mm-hmm. When you are, and you know that everybody knows that, right? Yeah. Like we know that when we're calm and relaxed, you feel better overall. But think about also internally what that's doing for your physiology. It's putting your body in a better state to heal and handle the demands of our lives. Right. Right. And I wanna reiterate how important this is and the reason that we're spending so much time on this is that 75 to 90% of illness is related to activation of the stress response.

Alicia: 9:56

Wow.

Nicole Maholy: 9:57

So. We've talked about things already that indicate, wow, this stress response is really impacting my hormones and impacting my sleep and impacting all kinds of different things. And hopefully you can see now why that is a statistic. 75 to 90% of illness is related to activation of the stress response. Wow. That's wild.

Alicia: 10:15

Our society is so, like, if you're not busy mm-hmm. Then you're lazy, right? If you're, you know, like we're always trying to stay busy and do all of the things. Yeah. And be everybody. Yeah. For everyone. Right. And then you're really just sacrificing yourself and you're leaving yourself wide open for these unnecessary illnesses. Mm-hmm.

Nicole Maholy: 10:39

Totally.

Alicia: 10:40

And then you're gonna stress yourself even out even

Nicole Maholy: 10:42

more. Exactly.'cause you don't feel like you have the capability to then do all the things you need to do that are still on your plate. Right.

Alicia: 10:49

So it's a spiral.

Nicole Maholy: 10:50

it's a spiral. And that is why it is so crucial to, if you've been, if you're somebody that's out there that's been kind of ignoring this part of your life, that you've been ignoring your stress levels, and you've been ignoring your body's needs. This is the time we have to get mm-hmm. Tuned into what our body is trying to tell us and act on it so that we can feel better. And again, I feel like it's about joy. Like what do you want in your life? You, we want our lives to feel like a joyful experience.

Alicia: 11:23

Right. And do have our health.

Nicole Maholy: 11:26

Exactly. So it's, it's crucial. It's so important. And you're right, we do have this sort of societal pressure of, if you're not productive or you're not doing this or that, or you're not at a certain place, then you know you're lazy or there's different stigmas. Mm-hmm. So I think it's really important to recognize that. And by no means am I suggesting that we need to eliminate all stress. That is like completely unrealistic, It's not gonna happen, right? Like stress is part of life and stress actually, I hope that the message that I'm sending isn't that all stress is bad because stress in and of itself isn't bad. It's our inability to address it that is the problem. It's not the stress that's the problem, it's our inability to address it. So many people are ignoring it or mm-hmm not doing something to mitigate the effects of that stress on our body. And that is the, that's the key, that's the problem. So, I just wanna make sure we all understand that the goal isn't to eliminate stress. It's to support your body in a way that allows you to handle stress or maybe perceive it differently. Right. we shared a quote the other day when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. And I think if we can change our perspective, if we can incorporate things that help us to handle stress, mitigate stress, we're gonna feel better in our bodies. And that's gonna lead to a more joyful experience in life. And I will also say some stress is actually even good for us when we think about exercise, that's actually a stressor on the body, but it's a stressor that's designed to help the body adapt and get stronger, right? We'll touch on exercise in another episode to understand how that might need to shift in perimenopause. But what I want you to know is that all stress isn't bad. Some stress is actually good in helping us adapt and respond to our environment. But the important key piece that we need to understand here in this conversation about stress is that we need to be implementing strategies that help our body shift into relaxation mode. Mm-hmm. On a regular basis. That is a key piece as well. A lot of times people think, oh, self-care is, once a month massages and while that's awesome. Massage is extremely beneficial for the body. Once a month is not enough. If you think about all of the stress that you have in a typical day, if you're gonna wait an entire month before you do something about it, that is not going to lead to a state of balance. Right. So it has to be techniques,

Alicia: 14:02

that you're constantly

Nicole Maholy: 14:03

that you're Exactly, I'm a big fan of daily stress mitigating techniques and I also want to mention that that does not mean that you have to sit and meditate for 45 minutes. It's not something that has to take a ton of time, it just takes intention, that's all. We just have to be intentional about it. Intentional about incorporating even just a few minutes of techniques that support that parasympathetic relaxation response.

Alicia: 14:31

Well, I think a, a few minutes a day is certainly worth taking the time. Absolutely. To work on that. Shifting more into that parasympathetic, the rest and reset nervous system.

Nicole Maholy: 14:42

Yeah. Absolutely. That is the part of the nervous system that we need to be making a more of a focus in our regular daily lives. And there are practical, everyday ways to do that. I mentioned meditation. Meditation is so helpful, valuable, but I do find that a lot of people don't like the idea or they think they're, that it's not for them and that's okay. It doesn't have to be meditation. Although there is a lot of research around all of the benefits of meditation. So, if you can try it, and you wanna try to incorporate that, that's great. Like I also said, it doesn't take 45 minutes to have an impact to have a result. Even just a couple minutes if you start with one minute a day. Mm-hmm. That is something. The other thing that I really like are breathing techniques. You can easily use your breath and breath work to tap into that parasympathetic mode extremely easily. And in our glow bite this week, we're gonna share a specific technique with you to show you how easy it is, how quick it can be, and it's a technique that you can do anywhere, and it's super easy.

Alicia: 15:49

I mean, it sounds like, you could do that in the shower. You could do it on your commute to work.

Nicole Maholy: 15:55

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, we're breathing all the time. Right? like it's not something that

Alicia: 15:59

you have to take this huge take a time out for,

Nicole Maholy: 16:01

right? right? But if you're intentional about the way you breathe, you can impact your nervous system, which I think is just extremely cool. That that's an opportunity for us to tap into that relaxation mode. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Prioritizing sleep. That's another really big one. When you are sleep deprived, your stress system is even more sensitive, so that is definitely something that needs to be a priority,

Alicia: 16:24

right?'cause sleep is the most powerful healing tool that there is. Absolutely. That's something that I'm definitely working to prioritize and Nice. It's. You know, it's, It's a journey, but I am, uh, definitely working on it.

Nicole Maholy: 16:40

Yeah. Well, that's great. When we're in perimenopause our sleep does get more challenging. Right. Women do experience sleep difficulties. Mm-hmm. So as long as you can work on it and we'll, we'll have another episode at some point where we talk more about how to do that. Different techniques that can be helpful there. but even just the basics of getting into a typical,

Alicia: 17:01

actually having a bedtime and a wake up time.

Nicole Maholy: 17:05

Yes, a consistent routine yes, is really helpful. So that's definitely a factor in supporting that parasympathetic activity is prioritizing sleep. Cutting down on caffeine and alcohol. This is another one that is really helpful and important and I can say for myself, personally, I've noticed that caffeine has a much bigger impact on my nervous system as I am aging. I noticed even this morning so at home, I have one third caff coffee, so I do reduce the caffeine in the coffee that I drink at home, but I stayed with my mom last night and so this morning I had her coffee and she has fully caffeinated. Mm-hmm. So I noticed this morning that my nervous system was definitely more revved up in a way that I did not enjoy. Like Right. I felt like I was in the stress response after drinking that cup of coffee because I'm so used to not having that caffeine. And caffeine can do that. Caffeine triggers more sympathetic dominance. So it can increase cortisol production and put you into that fight or flight mode. And it also does negatively impact sleep, of course. Caffeine actually binds to receptors in your brain that are meant for a molecule called adenosine. So when you are going throughout your day, you're burning energy. The cellular energy that your body burns is called ATP. Adenosine tri phosphate and the byproduct of burning that energy is adenosine, and that goes up to the brain, binds to these receptors and creates something called, sleep pressure. So throughout the day, the idea is that you want to burn energy so that you have enough adenosine binding to these adenosine receptor sites in your brain that creates the sleep pressure that you need to feel sleepy at night to fall asleep. Caffeine comes in and blocks those receptors, essentially. So that's why you feel more awake after you consume it. So that's one of the effects that it has. It actually has a direct effect on receptor sites in the brain. In addition to stimulating that, more sympathetic state. So caffeine can be a real problem. Once we get into perimenopause and things are changing and we are having more difficulties with sleep, it's not a bad idea to cut back on that and just pay more attention to it trying especially not to have it after noon. Mm-hmm. That's a big one.

Alicia: 19:18

Uh, Yep. I used to, when I would drink caffeine. I couldn't have it after a certain time of day because otherwise I would not sleep at all. Yeah, yeah. Now I'm not drinking caffeine at all and I will say that it's kind of a, a freeing

Nicole Maholy: 19:30

Yeah.

Alicia: 19:30

Thing because I used to be so, and I love coffee.

Nicole Maholy: 19:34

Yeah.

Alicia: 19:34

Love it. It's such a calming mm-hmm start to my day.

Nicole Maholy: 19:40

There's a ritual aspect associated with coffee for sure.

Alicia: 19:43

Yes. But I used to be like, could not talk to anyone, did not want to function until I had that Yeah. hit of caffeine.

Nicole Maholy: 19:51

Did you have the but first coffee T-shirt? Oh, yeah. You did? I actually do have one.

Alicia: 19:56

So, and I, I was tied to it and if I was traveling, you know, I traveled for work and I traveled for my son's hockey and it was like mm-hmm. When you're in a hotel room, you can't go down and get your Keurig running right away. Right. You have to, get ready and for me, I needed my caffeine the moment I opened my eyes. Mm. And now it's really freeing that I can do other things If I need to. Yeah. Or want to. Before I go have my cup of decaf. And that's just a fun ritual. It's not something that I need. Right. Whereas before it was like I was so dependent on that caffeine. Yeah. So it's really nice. And now it's not Impairing my sleep. Because I already have other things. that impair that I don't don't need anything else.

Nicole Maholy: 20:37

alcohol is another one. And that is something that also impacts our sleep. I think a lot of people think, oh, it would be nice to have a little glass of wine to help me wind down at night. And while it might seem like it's helpful maybe for getting to sleep in anyone. It does impair REM sleep especially, which is the type of sleep that happens more in the second half of the night, but in perimenopause it becomes an even bigger factor because we already have sleep impairment issues. We already have other issues impacting our quality of sleep. And then we add alcohol to the mix that decreases our sleep or ability to sleep well. And then also add to that the fact that alcohol for a lot of women activates hot flashes, so right. layer that in, flush cheeks and Yes. Right. Yeah. And you're already miserable in that scenario, and then you add more fuel to the fire, so to speak, and it just becomes a problem. So in perimenopause, really reducing alcohol, at least not being dependent on it as a nightly scenario, I think is a helpful thing to think about. The other thing that you could consider with alcohol is if you are going to do it. To try to make it earlier in the day because right before bed can be a real problem if you're already having difficulties with sleep. Magnesium, we've talked about this before, but magnesium is a really great mineral. It's very calming and most women are deficient in it. So that is a mineral that women often find helpful in supporting their stress system. Your adrenal glands need magnesium in order to function effectively. Actually, there's over 300 different enzymatic reactions in your body that require magnesium. So we need it. And when you're stressed, you cycle through it more. So it is a mineral that often women find helpful to incorporate into their life. Saying no more often without guilt, I think is another sort of easy, you know, I'll put it into the easy category because it's not something you have to take extra time to do. Mm-hmm. It is hard to do. It's hard to do, but as we develop that sense of intuitiveness about what our bodies need, if we can tune into whether or not we can handle the things on our plate and say no to the extra stuff that is not necessary right now, or that we know really is problematic from a stress standpoint. Mm-hmm. That I think is really an important thing to get into the habit of now. And will support your stress system in a more productive way. And then also prioritizing joy again, it's not something that takes extra time and it's relatively easy to do when you think about what is gonna fill my cup today? What is gonna bring me joy? What's gonna make me happy? It can be something as simple as paying attention to the birds on the bird feeder in the morning.

Alicia: 23:31

Mm-hmm. Love that.

Nicole Maholy: 23:31

Yeah. Or putting on your favorite music that you know uplifts you, doing something that brings you joy, makes you feel happy. Is an easy thing that we can all be doing and adding into our every day. I think we need to be focusing on joy every day. As part of our stress, management techniques.

Alicia: 23:51

Yeah. Even putting on a cute outfit. I know that always brings me joy. Mm-hmm. All of the things, even if I'm going nowhere. Yeah. If I have a cute outfit on, happy.

Nicole Maholy: 23:59

And that's a perfect example of a small thing that you can do every single day. And we've talked about this before, really 1% changes, right? Like it doesn't have to be a 45 minute meditation session. If you have the time and can do that, awesome. But if you just can be intentional about doing things that bring you joy. If it's putting on a fun outfit or putting on music that you love, or something simple and small, those small changes add up over time and if every day you can add those small things that support that relaxation response, support your parasympathetic nervous system, you're going to get more of that activity. That's healing activity. That's more time that your body spends in relaxation mode, healing mode. And you're gonna feel better. Mm-hmm. And then it's gonna add up and you're gonna feel that. So really, I think the points that are important to remember when it comes to your stress system is that stress will always be there. It's not about eliminating stress, it's about supporting your body's response. And if we can get into doing activities on a regular basis that support the relaxation response, that support your parasympathetic activity, small changes every single day on a consistent basis are really the key. Paying attention to what our bodies are telling us, developing that sense of intuition and intention around making our lives more joyful and stimulating that relaxation response on a consistent basis is really what's going to get us into a better place of supporting that nervous system regulation, and the adrenal glands, so that as we go through perimenopause and get into menopause, our adrenal glands are in a better place to handle the hormone needs of being post-menopausal. So, managing stress isn't just nice. It really is essential for protecting your hormones, your mood. And even your appearance, how you look. We've talked about the weight gain aspect of being in that high stress state in perimenopause, but the other factor is it even impacts your skin.

Alicia: 26:08

Mm-hmm. I've noticed that when I've kind of been in stressful periods of my life, I look in the mirror, I'm like, oh my gosh. You can tell you look a little haggard, you're looking a little, you got the bags, you got. All the things going on. Mm-hmm. And it is like, mm-hmm.

Nicole Maholy: 26:23

Yeah.

Alicia: 26:24

I'm sorry, I'm, I'm a little vain in saying that. I wanna protect my peace to protect my beauty.

Nicole Maholy: 26:31

There's no shame in that. I mean, I think we all want to have that, nice, beautiful skin, And just that glow, right? Mm-hmm. So we need to be addressing it and doing something small, every single day mm-hmm. To help support that relaxation response. If you're ready to give your nervous system a much needed reset, check out our Radiant Rest Yoga Nidra series. Yoga nidra is often called non sleep deep rest as it's a practice that's somewhat meditative and incorporates a body scan, but it's deeply restful, and this specific series we've created for you is designed to help you deeply restore, recharge, and reconnect with yourself during this season of change. It's a great way to support your nervous system and that parasympathetic activity that is so essential during perimenopause. You can find all the details in the show notes.

Alicia: 27:19

Next week we're talking about why your nutrition needs to shift during perimenopause, And what to start doing differently to support your body during this shift so you can feel amazing.

27:29

Thanks for hanging out with us on Midlife and Glowing. If you love this episode, it would mean the world to us. If you'd follow the show, leave us a review or share it with a friend who's glowing through midlife right alongside you. Let's make it our best era yet. We'll see you next time.