← BETTER! Muscle, Metabolism, Meals, & Mindset in (Peri) Menopause with Dr. Stephanie Estima
BETTER! Muscle, Metabolism, Meals, & Mindset in (Peri) Menopause with Dr. Stephanie Estima
Your Perimenopause Action Plan: Cut the BS & Do the Work with Dr. Mariza Snyder
01:16:54
Are you overwhelmed by perimenopause? Dr. Mariza Snyder is here to shed light on navigating this phase with grace, strength, and action! Ready to regain power over your hormones? Listen now for practical takeaways! Watch the full episode at https://youtu.be/pkacZmGjtu8
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- [00:00]
A
Perimenopause is the new it girl. I love it.
- [00:02]
B
It's the new it girl. It's the new popular girl at the party.
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A
And the reason why I think it's having a moment right now is that women had been terribly dismissed and gaslit during this transition. We were told, you know, be lucky you still have a period or you're not having hot flashes or low libido yet, then you're fine, it's just aging or it's your fault. Like that was very much the narrative. And I think women are like, they're demanding better, they're demanding to be heard. They're demanding a different level of care, a gold standard standard of care. And that is why I think everyone is talking about it.
- [00:39]
B
Hello my friends. Welcome back to another episode of better with Dr. Stephanie tis me, your host as always, Dr. Stephanie Estima. And today I am joined with my friend, Dr. Marisa Snyder. We are talking all about perimenopause and this is an episode that you want to listen to if you feel like you have been overwhelmed by all of the infobesity that is out there. You see people online arguing about is this exercise better? Is that exercise? Is zone 2, is it zone 5, is it oats? Is it not? Oats are legumes trying to steal all your nutrients from you, whatever it is. What I often find is that women are now spending more time trying to parse through truths rather than actually taking any action. And this conversation is filled with action. So we were very intentional when we were having this conversation to talk about theories, to talk about what are some of the physiology and what some of the things that are happening to our bodies in midlife. But also what are the key takeaways here? So if you are feeling overwhelmed and stuck, this is going to be a really great episode for you to listen to that is going to give you stuff that you can do today, literally, maybe even while you are listening to the podcast, you can start implementing some of the strategies that we talk about. So if you haven't heard of Dr. Marita, she is an advocate for midlife women. She has been in 17 plus years as a practitioner, an author and a speaker and she wants to spark a massive movement for women in perimenopause and beyond. She is also a podcaster, she has a top rated podcast called energized with Dr. Maritza and she is a trusted guide offering science backed solutions for perimenopause and metabolic health. So we talk today about movement, we talk about bones, we talk about speed and power. We talk about sleep, we talk about friendships. We talk about stress and how to identify it in midlife and what it does to us. This episode is chock full of great takeaways and action items. Most importantly. So without further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Marita Snyder. Perimenopausal women are notorious for being magnesium deficient, which can lead to lowered hormonal production. More than 80% of us are deficient. And even just having suboptimal levels in the body can contribute to symptoms. And that's because magnesium is related to over 600 biochemical and enzymatic reactions in the body. Many of these reactions influence the production of these key steroid hormones in the body, like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Insufficient magnesium levels can also disrupt your thyroid function. And magnesium breaks down cortisol and other stress hormones. So if you don't have enough, you are going to have poor hormone production and a poor stress response. Bioptimizers is my favorite magnesium supplement because it contains the seven best absorbed magnesiums along with cofactors like B6 that are going to help enhance the absorption of it. It's a simple, effective solution to a very big problem. I personally take two capsules every night for sleep support. For an exclusive offer, go to bioptimizers.com better and use promo code better during checkout to save 15%. And if you subscribe, not only will you get amazing discounts and free gifts, you will make sure that your monthly supply is guaranteed. Once again, that's buyoptimizers.com better and use promo better to save 15%. And I believe we are live. Dr. Maritha Snyder, my dear friend, welcome back to the show.
- [04:11]
A
Dr. Stephanie Ustima. Thank you for having me.
- [04:13]
B
Girl, what is this now? Is this your third, maybe third appearance? I think third or third or fourth appearance.
- [04:19]
A
It could be third or fourth, which I cannot tell you how deeply grateful I am to get to be back on the show and to get to see your beautiful face.
- [04:26]
B
Oh, thank you. We have been talking, we've been spending lots of time together recently around your upcoming book, the Perimenopause Revolution. So talk to us a little bit about it. Talk to us a little bit about what I wanted to talk to you about. There's a lot of conversation online about perimenopause. It seems like, you know, there's a new coach every week. Everyone's like, you know, I'm a perimenopause.
- [04:49]
A
Perimenopause is the new it girl. I love it.
- [04:51]
B
It's the new it girl. It's the new popular girl at the party. So talk to us about some of the changes in perimenopause. I know that you talk a lot about metabolic health and how we can sort of set ourselves up for success in that. In those years, those five to 10 to 15 years in. In perimenopause. So talk to us a little bit about Continuum. Yeah, the. The big continuum career. Yes, My career right now is managing my perimenopause. Right. Yeah.
- [05:17]
A
Well, I want to just celebrate the fact that it is having a moment. And then the reason why I think it's having a moment right now is that women had been terribly dismissed and gaslit during this transition. We were told, you know, be lucky you still have a period, or you're not having hot flashes or low libido yet, then you're fine. It's just aging or it's your fault. Like, that was very much the narrative. And I think women are like, they're demanding better. They're demanding to be heard. They're demanding a different level of care, a gold standard of care. And that is why I think everyone is talking, talking about it. You know, it's. I feel like it's a collective outrage of, like, how was this transition dismissed? Like, how did we not know about it? And I. That's why I feel like this movement is happening. This book that I wrote, the Perimenopause Revolution, is really about perimenopause being a window of opportunity, because it is a window of vulnerability, but more importantly, a window of metabolic opportunity. And when I think about metabolism, I think about our life force. I think about that. Every thought and everything that we do is really reliant on the quality of our cellular energy. And the time where we're most vulnerable is going to be in perimenopause as our hormones begin to erratically decline. The caveat is, without permission. Without permission. Nobody asked for this. I didn't. I didn't say one day, you know what? Estrogen, maybe just don't show up to the party anymore and let's see what happens. Like, oh, no, no, thank you. I would love for her to just keep doing what she does consistently every day. But no, that's just not. That's not the inevitability of it. It's. She's going to decline. And as a result, our entire body is going to go through a massive remodeling. That protective shield is going to falter. And as a result, we become Vulnerable. And luckily, there's so much that we can do to course.
- [07:04]
B
Correct.
- [07:04]
A
And that's what this book is all about.
- [07:06]
B
Yeah. I think to your point around maybe collective outrage, I think that what has happened for the longest time is if you are not. If your conversations with your provider are not around getting pregnant or reproduction, everything was kind of dismissed. Right. So even, you know, women who, like, didn't have. If you were having the hot flashes or you weren't having any of the things that you were describing, if it wasn't in the context of getting pregnant, it was like, well, you know, it's like you're aging. That's kind of what happens. You've already had your kids. And I think that, you know, we're more than certainly being a mother is by far the most. It is the best personal development course I have ever enrolled in. And what a journey. Yeah. But just because my, you know, I'd like to say, like, the shop is closed. Like, just because we are not going to be having any more children together doesn't mean that my reproductive health or the hormones that are related to that are any less important. So I love that. Yeah.
- [08:05]
A
Yeah. I was talking to my little. My five year, almost five year old, my four and a half year old. So I had a son in perimenopause. And yesterday he sat me down and he's like, mama, I would love a baby sister. I would love a baby sister. And I. Because I want to put. I want to have her in a bunk bed with me.
- [08:22]
B
It was so sweet.
- [08:24]
A
And I was like, how do I tell him that Mama, Mama can't have had children at this point, you know, at this age anymore? It was so sweet. But I kind of really broke down what it meant to have all of the love and all of the attention from mom and dad and how special that was and how, you know, with a sibling, although it's lovely, you know, his. That level of attention and energy will be spent on them as well. So I kind of was giving him a reframe.
- [08:54]
B
Yeah. That's so funny. Actually, my youngest son has done the same. So my, you know, my oldest son, he has a younger sibling. Right. So he has like, literally he's no desire for anymore. But my younger son's like, I want to be a big brother. I'm like, you know that that would mean that you're not the baby anymore and you would get less attention from mama. And he was like, really? I'm like, yeah. And then my attention would be divided into three instead of two. And he was like, huh? And he said, like, you know. Yeah. He was like, huh. Never considered that. Never.
- [09:21]
A
Well, and then I told him, I'm like, you'll be almost 10 years old by the time your baby sister would be in a bunk bed with you. You know, by the time it all works itself out, it's gonna be a while. I said, and I'm not sure if you're gonna feel the same way then that you feel right now.
- [09:37]
B
Yeah.
- [09:37]
A
You know.
- [09:38]
B
Yeah. And I think there's a lot, you know, you know, you're an example. I have many friends who are examples of women who are having children later in life for whatever reason. Right. Whatever. If it's career or just the inability, not. Not having a desire to have children until later, like, whatever it is. And so what we're finding now, and I find this a lot in my community, and I'm sure you're. You're seeing this in yours, and especially as a woman who's done this herself, having a child in perimenopause, it's like, which one is it? You know, like, which symptom? How do I. Is it postpartum? Is it because I just, you know, was pregnant for nine months and then delivered and then have the two years of. And maybe more of, you know, that healing that has to happen, you know, postpartum, you know, nutritionally, energetically, physically, pelvic floor, all the things. And so I'm finding that a lot of women, at least in my community, are like, I'm not sure which one it is. Like, I have young children. I decided to have children later in life. And is it perimenopause? You know, is it not? So how do we. What are some of the ways that you like to maybe tease out. Distinguish. Yeah, distinguish between like post partum symptoms, let's say, and something that might be more indicative of perimenopause. Or is there just a lot of crossover that you're. I mean, there is a lot of crossover, but how. How do we sort of piece together what is happening for us?
- [10:52]
A
Stephanie, I love this question because there are so many women having children in the. Their late reproductive years or even in perimenopause for a multitude of reasons. For instance, I always say that I am standing on the shoulders of my mom who fought so hard to just be in the room, to just be, you know, in like a CEO position or a COO position. And, you know, she had me when she was 19 years old, and here I am having. I had my first and only child at 41 years old. And it was because I could create this career and I could have this purpose and this dream and this vision. And, you know, I did. I waited. I was very intentional. I remember being 38 years old and getting diagnosed with Hajimoto's thyroiditis. And I decided that I was going to take a whole year to reverse those symptoms and to get my antibodies into range to basically put that autoimmune condition into remission. And it took the whole entire year of 38 to almost 40 years old to do so, because it was at the end of being 30. I was almost 39 years old when I got diagnosed. I remember it was because I was running full lab panels, everything, because I was getting ready to prime up to get pregnant at 39. Took the whole year off, started at 40. Ended up actually miscarrying with that first baby. And whether it was genetics or low progesterone levels, again, I was 40 years old at the time. I ended up getting on oral micronized progesterone, got pregnant three months later with my son Kingston, and stayed on that progesterone until I was in my second trimester, because, again, I was. I was in perimenopause trying to get pregnant. So even that journey in its own right, just priming up to conceive at that age, you know, poses its own being intentional. I wouldn't say its own challenges, but just being really intentional. Like, I didn't just hope I was going to get pregnant. Like, I really prepared to get pregnant. And then on the back end of that, obviously, we know that postpartum is going to be one of those big times where we are in a major neuroendocrine transition. We talk about mommy brain and all the changes that are happening to the brain, and we still don't know to the degree that our brain massively transforms to become a mother. But any mother will tell you who they are as a mother is an entirely different individual than who they were before becoming a mom. Right. We know that the brain and all of the physiological processes are pronounced and so, so obvious when we're on the other side. And in that low hormone state, Gosh, women can struggle with depression and obviously sleepish. This lack of sleep like that is, like, guaranteed for postpartum and all the things that are changing. And so, yeah, it can really be difficult to discern, discern and tease out. Is this still postpartum a year and a half out, two years out, when you're 43 or 42 years old? Or is this beginning to be perimenopause? And I think for so many women as they step out of those two years of postpartum, because I would say that it's a. It felt like two years for me. Like, I felt like I finally turned a corner when Kingston was two. I had about a four month Runway, give or take. And then these new but also very familiar symptoms began to take hold. I started to feel a lack of mental energy, physical energy. I was burning out after workouts again. I was noticing sleep issues all over again, mood changes. I just began to not feel like myself anymore. And initially, because I had kind of forgot what it felt like to not be in postpartum, you know, the two years prior to that, I started to like. I think what a lot of women will do is like, okay, well, what has happened to me in the past where these symptoms have felt familiar? Is it that I am deregulating my stress response system? Am I burning myself out? Is my thyroid antibodies up? Am I actually having a Hajimoto's flare? What could it be? And I remember running labs three separate times in six months trying to discern and connect the dots between my symptoms and it being perimenopause. And as you and I both know, there's no definitive test for perimenopause. There's no defining moment where perimenopause announces itself that. That hormones are declining because it can be so erratic and inconsistent. It's really hard to pinpoint. And so I, and I know a lot of women that I've worked with, a lot of my patients who happen to be moms who had children in late reproductive years or early perimenopause, who feel like it was just one big continuum, that there was never a break, that they just went from postpartum straight into peri. Or often maybe they had a good couple of months and then they moved into these other symptoms. And so I would say the number one thing I would tell women, whether they're trying to discern if it's perimenopause or postpartum, is one, track your menstrual cycle. And I will tell you, Stephanie, that it took me almost two years to get my menstrual cycle back postpartum. Like, I was breastfeeding my son until he was two and a half years old. But, yeah, so it took a while to figure that out. So. But once my menstrual cycle came back online, I was able. I was tracking it, the follicular phase, the luteal phase, ovulation I was like, am I even ovulating anymore? Like, what's going on? And it was because I was able to track my symptoms along with my cycle that I find can be the. I would say can be a. A clear sign that you're in peri. That those symptoms are cyclical, but they're just more exacerbated than maybe what you've experienced with your menstrual cycle in the past. And so it was those cyclical changes, not real big changes in my menstrual cycle per se, but symptoms that correlated with the late luteal phase that I finally realized that I was in perimenopause. And so that would be a good indicator of, like, are these symptoms consistent or are they more cyclical in nature that could identify postpartum versus perimenopause?
- [16:46]
B
Yeah. And I think the other thing to keep in mind for anyone listening who's like, yeah, I just had a baby and I'm 44 or 41 or whatever it is. Is that all? It's the. It's those three. It's the three P's, right? It's like the puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause. There's a lot of. There's a lot of commonalities there. So I remember hot, like, after giving birth to children, having hot flashes, like, waking up and like, bed. Like, the bed was soaking wet, my hair was falling out, I was crying at commercials. Like, I didn't, you know, like, what. I don't even know who I am, and I was sleep deprived. So all, you know, all the things sort of coming together. So know that there's going to be some overlap. Overlap in terms of. In terms of the symptoms, for sure. And.
- [17:26]
A
Well, it's a low hormone state. I will say that early, Peri. It's not necessarily a low hormone state. It's an erratic state. It just feels erratic. But, you know, postpartum for sure is a low progesterone, low estrogen state. And initially, plus just bringing that baby in is going to completely disrupt your. Your lifestyle habits, all the things that you were more consistent on. Now you've got this new baby, and it all kind of goes out the window. And so I think it's a cacophony of multiple things. One, lifestyle strategies that are maybe, like, you're not. You're not. You're not lifting heavy in the gym right now, you know, at the beginning of postpartum. You're not. You're maybe not even moving your body, you know, consistently the way that you were doing, but also that neuroendocrine transition is so vast. And I will say that those are very much the hallmarks between perimenopause and postpartum are the brain related symptoms that can feel. That can really be hard to tease out. And I have a feeling that, you know, with. Unfortunately, it's just a lack of research that we have. We don't have a lot of research on women in postpartum and perimenopause, but that hormones disrupted, whether it's postpartum or peri, are going to feel very similar. Yeah.
- [18:35]
B
And it's kind of a newer phenomenon like you were mentioning your mom had you 18, 18, 19. Yeah. So it's, it's more of a recent thing where women are waiting to whether it's settle down, get married, career, establishment, desire, you know, whatever it is what we're seeing now that more and more women are waiting. And I think for me, when I first had my children, I was not, Yep. Not lifting heavy. I was going for walks with the baby. I was just getting some sunlight. I was doing pelvic floor rehab because that was necessary. I had two very large children. Even if you don't have large children.
- [19:10]
A
You still need it.
- [19:11]
B
Yeah, yeah, you still need to do it. So that was kind of my exercise ish, you know, and then it was, you know, then I would start layering on. Maybe I got on a rebounder when I felt like my pelvic floor was strong enough to handle that. And then like you sort of progress from there. So if we're, if we're talking about this in the context of perimenopause, you have women who have had children or not, and they've just been busy. Life has been lifing and they're looking to think about how can I dial up some of the lifestyle changes that are easy. Low barrier to entry. I don't need to. Maybe, maybe I don't want to join a gym right now, or maybe I don't want to do some very complicated routine. What are some ways that we might think about incorporating necessary movement to heal and to become stronger, but we're not necessarily ready for the, you know, the barbell, you know, the barbell back squats and grunting and making sex noises in the gym. Because if you're not making sex noises in the gym, you're not having enough yet. What are you even doing? I agree.
- [20:15]
A
I mean, I was back in the gym at five weeks, six weeks, because I've always been in the gym. Yeah, the Second I got approval. I was in the gym.
- [20:24]
B
Wow.
- [20:25]
A
I've been in the gym since I was 16 years old. Like the gym is my thing.
- [20:29]
B
We're lifting weights. But you were lifting weights. Wow. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Let's talk about something super important. How your digestion changes in perimenopause. If you want more energy, better focus, less stress and to stop bloating after each and every meal, this starts in your gut. When your gut is out of whack, just everything feels off. Your mood, your digestion, your sleep, everything. And this is why I use and I love the Just Thrive probiotic. Most probiotics never make it to your gut alive. They are dead on arrival. But Just Thrive is clinically proven to arrive in your gut 100% alive and actually do what it is supposed to for you. That means less bloating, better immunity and that steady feel good energy to tackle your day. Here's my challenge for you. Try the just thrive probiotic for 90 days and it is 100% risk free and just see how much better you feel. Head over to justthrivehealth.com better and you're gonna save 20% on your first time order and start your 90 day just thrive challenge today. If you don't love the way you feel, if you don't see any changes in your gu health, you can ask for a full product refund, no questions asked. So again, that is justthrivehealth.com forward slash better. One of my foundational skin practices is daily red light therapy directly on my face. Red light therapy direct to the face will help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, scars, blemishes and it will promote a firmer, more youthful looking skin. I use the Bon Charge face mask every morning for about 20 minutes while I'm checking my morning emails and starting my workday. The mask is equipped with the most optimal wavelengths of red light at 630 nm and infrared light at 850 nm. Using red light therapy regularly on the face will help to reduce the appearance of scars and blemishes, redness and fine lines and wrinkles. So if you are wanting glowing younger, firmer looking skin this year with minimal effort or time, without really changing your usual day or night routine, head over to boncharge.com better and use the discount code better at checkout and that gives you 15% off your entire cart. But if you're looking to change the appearance of your skin, go for the face mask. I promise you will not be disappointed.
- [22:58]
A
I would just. I wanted to share that because I just wanted to open the door for what is possible. Like, you know, because some women, you know, they're able to get back, you know, six weeks out once. Once they got clearance to get back in the gym. And I was like, let's do this. And I had a gym built into my garage. I had a personal train. This was during COVID I had Kingston in 2020. And so I had my personal trainer on Zoom working me out in my garage. So I wasn't going into the gym. Gym. But it was nice to have someone who was walking me through workouts again. Maybe it's available. I'm just gonna put it out there.
- [23:31]
B
It could be available. I took my sweet time. Like, there's no right answer here. I took my sweet, sweet time. I was like, I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready. And then when I was ready, I was ready, you know?
- [23:40]
A
But, yeah, okay, no, yeah, yeah, be ready. But at the very least, I mean, again, this is the through line of the book. And I know that I'm not talking about postpartum and perimenopause in the book. I'll be honest with you. It's. I don't. But I do talk a lot about movement. Movement is built in all over this book because I believe that we need to build our lives around movement. Postpartum, pregnancy, wherever you are in the journey, movement is going to help your digestive system. It's going to help you regulate your stress response system. It's going to help you balance your blood sugar, which is so important whether you're pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, anytime in your life. Having optimal blood sugar, I think is so, so important. It's more so. I think about it as optimal cellular energy. And a really great gauge of good cellular energy is having good managed blood sugar. I think that those go hand in hand. And so movement is one of the biggest needle movers, whether it's walking or exercise, snacks or a couple of squats here, a couple of pushups here. Like, just being physically active throughout the day, I think is one of the most important things that we can do for any phase of our lives. To feel alive, to feel energized, to have good deep sleep, to have good mental clarity and overall have a good metabolic system. Right. Have a good. Have good cellular energy across the board. And so whatever that looks like for you, if it's yoga, if it's mobility, if it's walking, if it's Dancing, whatever. Like getting where you fit in. For me, when postpartum and pregnancy, I mean, I trained, I lifted in the gym until 38 weeks. I was in the gym, so I trained all the way. I remember my first trimester at 40 years old. I mean, Alex was pushing me up a hill. I had nothing, I had nothing in the tank. Like, I was like, I need a boost. Like, could you give me up the hill? Because we lived in, where we lived in San Diego was just all it was in La Jolla and it was, it was all hills. Like out, out the door of my house. There was no straight, there was no solid, like, flat path. Either I was going up a hill or I was going down a hill, which meant I had to go back up there.
- [25:39]
B
I had to go back up the hill eventually. Yeah, right.
- [25:42]
A
There was no getting away from climbing a hill in my, in my, in my area. And so I remember, you know, being, you know, 10 weeks pregnant, just like him shoving me up this hill, the, the hardest part of the hill. And so, so the point is, is that no matter what, I was building in movement every single day. Like, movement has been for me, the number one way to relieve stress. To feel, they just feel, like, connected to my body and to just feel like I'm a person, like I'm a real person, to feel okay in my body. And so again, and I don't know if that translates for every woman listening, I have a feeling your demographic feels the exact same way. That if they're not moving, they're thinking to themselves, like, I don't feel okay in my body. Like, I don't. My body needs movement. And so getting where you fit in, whatever feels good for you, just. Just move, move in a meaningful way so that you are getting all of the side benefits.
- [26:35]
B
Yeah. And that's why, that's why I was saying, you know, I, I really walked in the beginning. That's all I had capacity for. That's all I felt like I really could handle. And I think, you know, there's. We've talked about this before and I'd love for you to maybe expand a little bit on this idea of exercise snacks. Like you've already touched on a little bit, like squats and push ups and stuff. Like, when we actually look at the science, there's actually some pretty good science comparing exercise snacks to continuous exercise. So like one long bout in the gym that might be 60 minutes or 45 minutes or 90, however long it is, when intensity is equated between the two, they're Actually the same. And in some cases, exercise snacks actually win in terms of like, as you were saying, like the blood sugar regulation in terms of body composition in terms of energetic capacity and ATP production. So talk to us a little bit about exercise snacks, how they compare to like the one big session in the gym and then some practical advice for people. So if we are thinking about, okay, so if you can't make it to the gym to do 60 minutes or 90 minutes or whatever it is, what are some of the alternatives that you can do in a way that can integrate some of this, these move, this movement strategy that you're talking about into our lives?
- [27:39]
A
Yeah, I want to start with the practical standpoint of things because I'm talking to your beautiful community. I know that these are high achieving women that are holding a lot. They are running careers, they are running households, and they are running families. And I will tell you, there are days where I want to be walking after meals, I want to get that big workout in, in the morning. And some days it just doesn't work that way with a little child. And so this is kind of where I'm like, okay, where's the research? Where is the juice worth the squeeze? And you know, I remember growing up thinking I had the myth of you had to do the one big workout in the gym, the 50 minute workout or the 45 minute workout, or, you know, none of nothing else was worth the while. You know, I remember even, you know, people would walk and I'm like, why walk when you can run? You know, like that was always the mindset of like, no pain, no gain. And I've had to really reframe the way that I think about movement as I've gotten older because there's a lot of ways that we can get it in. But in terms of blood sugar stability, in terms of boosting your metabolic rate and even building muscle, lean muscle, and ultimately supporting your overall longevity. The research on exercise snacks is so compelling because what we know now know is that if you sit, if you and I, if I was doing this all day for six hours, which I actually am, I'm going to be in a car for six hours, driving to Arizona. Like, I pretty much negate that workout, that 50 minute workout, because I'm sitting all day living the sedentary life. But if I'm punctuating many bursts of exercise and I'm talking when I think about exercise snacks, Stephanie, I'm thinking like mini hiit training workouts that are one to three minutes or one to five minutes long so when I'm thinking about an exercise snack, I'm thinking jump squats, I'm thinking jack squats, I'm thinking push ups, I'm thinking switch lunges, I'm thinking walking up and down my stairs with weights, something that's really getting my heart rate up, really help. I'm not, I will tell you, I don't sweat. I glisten. I'm a glistener.
- [29:41]
B
Girl, you glow.
- [29:42]
A
I glow. I do not sweat. And so, and I'm so grateful because I could be in this outfit, I could do what I call, I, I call it a 60 jump squat buy in. So I do anywhere between 2 to 560 jump squat buy ins throughout my day.
- [30:00]
B
Usually 65 times. 2 to 5 times a day. Okay, okay, okay.
- [30:04]
A
Yes. And so I do, so how I break it down is I do 20 jump squats in a minute or less than a minute, but I basically do 20 jump squats per minute. So in three minutes I will knock out 60 jump squats and I will do it before an interview, after an interview, before or after a meeting? After, definitely after meals. And three minutes done and I'm back to doing whatever else I'm doing throughout the day. And what I love about it is I can feel my heart rate revving. I can feel, you know, I can feel my metabolism getting boosted. My cardio metabolic health is, is increasing. And I, I put a continuous glucose monitor on multiple times out of the year and I watch especially post meal, postprandial glucose. It'll just, girl, it is, it is stable, it is optimized, you know, and, and so, and the more the number one reason why I do the 60 jump squat buy in is man, my brain is firing on all cylinders. I have energy in the tank, I sleep better at night. I, you know that zombie lull that you can have after sitting at your computer for too long, like do a couple jump squats. Well, 60, I'm talking about not a couple, I'm talking about 60 do 60 jump squats and you're just back in the game. So to me the benefits just are so incredible across the board. And we're talking three minutes, that's it, three minutes and I am done. And there are definitely days where as badly as I want to get in the gym, it just is impossible. But I know that I can build in these exercise snacks throughout my day as a working mom and still maintain good cardio metabolic fitness until I can get back in the gym to lift weights.
- [31:35]
B
Yeah, and it's the, for me, I think that the biggest benefit is just what you said when you're sitting at your desk after, like, after a while, I'm just flipping between. Between tabs. I don't even.
- [31:44]
A
You're not even paying attention anymore.
- [31:46]
B
I'm not even paying attention to it. I'm on Instagram and I'm supposed to be working, so I'm like, yeah. So when I get up and walk around, so what I do, you know, working from home, I'll get up and I'll put some laundry or I'll do a dishwasher thing or whatever.
- [31:58]
A
Do some meat.
- [31:59]
B
Yeah, do something. And I find that that actually is a wonderful way for me to clear my head. I'm like, okay, yeah, I can get back to work and I can go back to the tab I was supposed to be on.
- [32:08]
A
Exactly.
- [32:09]
B
And actually work. So I like this idea of just a little bit of movement and you're just going to flood the, you know, the. The prefrontal cortex, the motor cortex with some blood and activity that's going to help you with that focus, which is what you're talking about. So I.
- [32:22]
A
If you do those jump squats, like you kind of go. Kind of go hard and heavy for a couple minutes, you. You will feel those endorphins too. Like, I always feel so good on the back end of that. And I will tell you, whether it's my trauma or it is how I'm built, I pride myself in efficiency and just getting stuff done. And so when I hit that lull, and I still have a lot of deliverables that I want to get done for the day before I go into mom mode doing, you know, again, many of us, we reach for coffee, we reach for a little something something. Maybe it's a treat. Whatever it's going to take to get our energy back going at that 2 o' clock or 3 o' clock slump. But let me tell you, moving your body, doing a couple push up, doing some jump squats, even jack squats, get started getting where you fit in. Or if you want something low impact, just walking around the block, but maybe do a speed walk around the block and then get back to it. And so I've trained myself because we're always one thought away. We're one thought away of grabbing the snack. And not to say that there isn't anything wrong, but if it's not what you were trying to do and you're just kind of on autopilot, we are always one thought away from doing the thing that's going to really Serve our body and maybe doing the thing that isn't going to serve our future self. And I will tell you, two or three o' clock in the afternoon, like clockwork. Some days my body's like, girl, a snack would be really nice right now. And I instead, I head down those stairs, I grab my sneakers, I grab my emotional support water, and I step outside and go for a walk.
- [33:50]
B
And you know what? If you still want the snack after the walk. No problem, no problem. Then you really wanted it. Right. But if it disappears after you do the 60 jump squats or what have you, it was just your body actually craving some movement. The other thing I wanna say, which I love, I was just writing down some of the types of, of so jump squats, jack squats, switch lunges. These are also training your type 2 muscle fibers, right? So these are going to keep power. So these are going to maintain power and speed. Because in order to do 20 jump squats a minute, you need to be inactive. Like, you need to be using these type 2 muscle fibers which tend to atrophy. They're the first ones actually to go. As we age. Yeah.
- [34:25]
A
We lose power. Yeah.
- [34:26]
B
We lose power and strength.
- [34:28]
A
Yeah.
- [34:28]
B
And speed. Yeah.
- [34:30]
A
And we're bashing bones, girl. I'm jumping.
- [34:33]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And bones actually respond. I mean, you know this, like, bones respond to impact. Like you can. I did a whole thing on. I mean, I love, I love a good weighted vest, but I think that there's been.
- [34:43]
A
I know, I saw, I read all the emails.
- [34:45]
B
I mean, some people that like weighted vests are going to cure everything.
- [34:48]
A
Everything.
- [34:48]
B
No, no, they, they can really help, especially for bones, specifically, if you're jumping, if you are using the weighting vest and you're jumping. So if you. So for example, if you have mastered what you're talking about, the 20 jump squats a minute, or the split, the switch lunges, the jump, the jack squats, you can put a weighted vest on top of that and then amp up. So that's like a metabolic. It's an increased metabolic demand. And you're also going to be helping the bone. So that's another kind of benefit to what you're talking about.
- [35:15]
A
Absolutely. And what I was doing for a minute is I have, I have, obviously I have weights all over the house too. I mean, we have, we have a. We have a gym in the garage. And I have, I have a rack of. From 50, 50 all the way down to 12 in my bedroom. I mean, because here's the thing. If I leave my room Sometimes it's over. I can't. Yeah, I'm now in, I'm in mom mode. And let me tell you, my son, my son loves to watch me work out and jump, just but like do things like jump squats. We do jump squats all over the house. But the second I get on, get weights out, it's all, you know, he wants to, he wants to get the weights, he wants to play with the weights. All of a sudden now I'm negotiating with this child whether I can.
- [35:53]
B
Please don't drop the weight on your foot.
- [35:54]
A
Exactly. So now I'm, now I'm in mom mode and I'm having anxiety about this child getting hurt with my weights. And so I keep it all in the bedroom as long as the bedroom shut. It's my time. And I can, gosh, I can be very intentional with 15 to 20 minutes where I'm just doing, I'm just focusing on lower body or upper body. It's amazing when you are just in the zone how much you can get done in 20 minutes and how 20 minutes is just a very small amount of time. Like in this. Like you, A lot of us are scrolling for 20 minutes. Like, like just to carve out that 20 minutes. So everything is in, in the bedroom. And what I was doing is I have weights by my office. Like literally I can, there's 15 pounds weights right here. There's 20 pounds by my other desk. And I was doing jump, my, my, my buy in, my 60 jump squat buy in with a front loaded.20 pound weight. Yeah, but what was happening when I was doing these, you know, three times a day, I was feeling it on my knees. So I was like, okay, okay. You know, girl's only 46. Like I'm trying to do these jump squats every day for years. So I actually backed off of with the weight because if I'm doing that many, so what I'll do is I'll do one 60 set, 60 rep set with the 20 pound weight and then the rest of them for the rest of the day. I do not use the weight. So something to consider when you are doing the weighted vest is see what you just, just be mindful of your, of your joints and your tendons and just, you know, let's listen to your body. If wearing that weighted vest gets you outside walking, more clocks, more steps. I am a full body. Yes to it. But I don't want women to think that just wearing a weighted vest is the end all, be all is the magic bullet to maintaining great muscle mass. Maintaining great bone mass and bone density. I don't, I don't want you to think that that is the number one thing that's going to preserve your muscle, bone and your longevity. Because it's not like you. We need to be lifting weights.
- [37:49]
B
Yeah.
- [37:50]
A
We need to be doing plyometrics and, and, and hit training and most importantly, sprint training.
- [37:56]
B
I couldn't agree with you more. Yeah, I mean, yes to all of that because I think if you can't, we can talk all about split squats and jack squats and if you don't have knees, you can't squat. So we have to really be thinking about. And this is my. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I will make joints sexy. Like I want. Like, because muscle's really sexy. Everyone wants muscle, right? We gotta make joints and ligaments sexy.
- [38:18]
A
Muscles are so sexy. I'm gonna stick with the muscles. I think just movement is sexy. I was, you know, I was thinking about you this week. I went to Pilates and girl, I am.
- [38:27]
B
I love it.
- [38:29]
A
Yeah, I love, I love Pilates. But if I had to choose, and I mean, I am in a season, I'm on a book launch season. So I'm on this podcast right now where I'm in a season where I gotta be really intentional and discerning about the type of movement that I'm building into my day because I don't have a lot of time. And I will tell you, it felt like an extra. It felt like a treat. The Pilates class felt like a treat. It didn't feel like a non negotiable for me per se. It was more of a self care strategy. And yes, you know, I will tell you that Pilates does challenge me because I've been a gym rat since I was 16 years old. I have been lifting weights for decades and that is what my body is. I am so clunky. Like I never would have been a ballerina. Let me tell you, it is. I am the girl that they're constantly, you know, fixing. And I'm like, I'm not, you know, part. There's areas where I'm in the Pilates class which isn't. I'm not there very often, but I'm just like, man, I should be doing some RDls right now. Like, I don't know what I'm doing.
- [39:27]
B
Your midlife lack of energy isn't a caffeine deficiency problem. It's a mitochondrial efficiency one. If you're finding your energy dips between meetings and workouts and those perimenopausal ups and downs. I want you to think more about optimizing your energy production rather than having more coffee. Meet troscription's Just Blue. This is a precision dosed methylene blue buccal trochee. And methylene blue works like a tiny electron shuttle for your mitochondria. It supports ATP production, which is the energy currency that our cells run on. And we are after cleaner, steadier energy and focus without the jitters. Early human brain imaging even shows that low dose methylene blue can improve attention and memory networks, which is exactly the circuits that suffer the most in midlife and that we lean on the most in our midlife transition. Each trochee is 16 milligrams and it's scored. So you can choose how much you can choose your dose. I would start with a quarter trochee and swallow it because you, you probably don't want a blue tongue or if you do, you can just let it melt on your mouth and in about 15 or 20 minutes you're going to feel that smooth energy lift and that mood lift as well. So one pack has up to 16 doses. This is a completely new way to optimize your health and I want you to give it a try@troscriptions.com better or just enter better at checkout for 10% off your first order. That's t R O S C R I P T I o n s.com better for 10% off your first order. I will always choose weights. So I. So I'm with you there. I will always. If I had to choose between pilates and weightlifting, it's strength training every damn day. And I think that when we are thinking about. So there's myself included when we're thinking about pelvic floor health and core, I think that it's a great add on. But the base of. If you were thinking about like what is the Maslow's hierarchy for working out for women in midlife? It's like it's got to be, it's got to be weights at the bottom. Pilates makes the list. But she comes after. There is a very sort of set in stone habit and ritual around weightlifting, strength training, cardio and mobility. And then you know, Pilates is in there as well.
- [41:40]
A
Yeah, yeah. So I just wanted to just mention that because I was thinking about you and I know that you go and do. I mean I just want everyone to hear that, you know, Stephanie is going and doing Pilates and so I was Thinking about you. One of my best friends is a Pilates instructor. And so I have a lot of, you know, a lot of deep respect for it. But like, again, my time is limited and most of the time, as much as I even want to get to the gym, gym, I'm usually training in my home, like, and getting. And just making sure it's quality, you know, when I'm doing it.
- [42:07]
B
One of the things you said that I just want to highlight is I love that you have things scattered throughout your house. I used to have this like psychological barrier that my house needed to look like some kind of Instagram. Like nobody lived in it and it was perfect. And I have recently been like, what am I doing? Doing? So I.
- [42:26]
A
That is not helpful for us as busy moms that it doesn't work.
- [42:30]
B
I really love that you have your weights everywhere. So I recently have brought my. So I had a bike in the basement and I was like never using it. So now I brought it up to where the family hangs out and I do the bike. I'll do like a little, like little sprint, like little.
- [42:42]
A
Are you doing the Carol bike in the living room?
- [42:44]
B
Yeah, I got the Carol bike in the.
- [42:45]
A
I have a Carol bike. It's. I have my peloton in the bedroom. The Carol bike is in the. Because we have the sauna and the big weight rack inside of the garage. The Carol bike is in the garage. So I'll, I will. I love, I love a lot of the research around strength training and then some cardio on the back end. I typically like to do a walk after a strength. If I can, if I can get it, if I can do it. If I've got the time, I will do like a 30 minute set and then I will go and take a walk because it's just nice. But if I don't have that 30, I don't have a 10 minute gap to do a walk. I will hop on that Carol bike and knock out a 5 minute sprint or basically two 20 second sprint difference.
- [43:21]
B
Like the whole workout. Sometimes I'll do that before a meeting. The whole program is like eight minutes. It's so easy. And I don't sweat more than an exercise snack.
- [43:28]
A
I mean like that especially if it's in the house. So yes, ladies, if you're, if you're thinking to yourself, should I not have the kettle ball or kettlebell in the living room or the 20 pound weights in the living room or no, have it everywhere, you freaking need to have it so that you're getting it done. Particularly if you are watching Netflix after, after dinner or you're chilling. This is the time to do the mobility. This is the time to do the stretching. This is the time to knock out your exercise snack routine.
- [43:56]
B
Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, that's what we made the family room sort of into this like health and wellness. We have the bike, I have a vibration plate in there. I have my mobility stuff, like all my rehab stuff from the clinic. So it just becomes this really a family activity. Like I'm stretching my quads, my kids using like the bond. Like we have like there's this company I work with, Boncharge, they have massage guns. So like he'll be like, you know, rubbing out his it band or whatever. So, okay, so we've talked about exercise snacks. I actually just want to, I want to pivot if we can. So we've been talking a little bit about the importance of movement. What are some of the other areas that women in perimenopause want to be thinking about? So I know that you talk a lot about stress. You've mentioned a couple times in our, in our conversation today around the impact that stress can have, but really just lay it out for people because I think that stress is still this very ethereal, like non tangible, like, oh, I'm stressed, you know. So what does stress do? Particularly when we're thinking about our hormones, our mood and our mood regulation, our ability to show up as mothers, our ability to sleep. Like what are some of the knock on effects if we are not managing stress appropriately? And then again, just because you are so great at actionable sort of takeaways, what are some tangible things that have worked for you, for patients, your community that you have found to be really helpful in managing the stress sandwich that kind of is midlife.
- [45:19]
A
I think that's perfect the way that you said that. The stress sandwich, the messy middle. I will tell you, we talk about the silent killer being hypertension, which it absolutely is. Please keep your eye on your blood pressure because it will creep throughout perimenopause, potentially for you. And so it's important to be looking at that. But I think about the most insidious silent killer is going to be that chronic stress that's become so chronic that we don't even recognize it anymore, that it just gets built into the fabric of who we are and the way that we live our lives. And I will say that I find that stress is really the tipping point. You know, people ask me all the time, how is it that perimenopause is having a moment now when women didn't really know it was going on several generations ago. And I say two things. Number one, that if we only considered perimenopause skipped periods of more than 60 days and it was hot flashes, night sweats, sleep issues, low libido and vaginal dryness, well, man, the other 40 plus symptoms of perimenopause were just being written off as women getting older or stress or motherhood or whatever else we were kind of attributing these symptoms to when it was perimenopause. We just weren't recognizing it as such. So number one, but number two, I think was. But what is making perimenopause a little bit more intense or the symptoms being more exacerbated is the level of stress that women are under more today than ever before. As I talked about earlier, standing on the shoulders of my mother and what she's built, we are doing it all today, more than ever before. And there is this tipping point where, you know, you feel steady, you feel sharp, you feel like you have it all together. The million tabs are open, yet you're handling those million tabs. And then those hormones begin to decline and it can feel like a rollercoaster ride where you don't recognize yourself anymore. But the thing that I think the underpinning, the underlying risk factor here is the constant stress that you were managing, okay, you were managing all right, until those whole body protective hormones began to falter. And then it feels like that foundation begins to crumble. What we know about stress, when we think about activating that stress response system, which is really in the brain, right, the HPA axis. So it's not adrenal fatigue that we're talking about. We're talking about the brain's response to a physical stress, an emotional stressor, you know, life, life happening, right? Whether it's demands of as a mom or it's career demands, it's timelines that you're trying to hit. You know, my son was late to school drop off today. I'm just trying to get them off to school while I'm trying to get to a podcast interview and trying to pack us for a six day trip to Arizona. That's all happening right now, today. And so like, you know, life is happening to all of us. And what we have to realize is when we do end up upregulating cortisol, that co elevates thyroid hormone, that co elevates insulin hormone that co elevates over overeating, consuming Calories, it messes with our sleep. I mean, the underpinning of that survival hormone, when it is deregulated due to the onslaught of everyday life, it is a wear and tear hormone on your body. And what we'll see is women will notice more mood changes, more irritability, perimenopause. You know, I always say that your stress resilience, your stress tolerance, just packs its bags and walks out the door without permission. Like, all of a sudden, we just have a more heightened awareness of the stresses and irritants in our lives. But ultimately, what that lends to is more symptoms, more mood symptoms, more sleep symptoms, maybe even weight gain and inflammation. You know, I was reading an article out of the Journal of Hormones. There was a 2009 article that looked at the result of chronic stress, and it talked about the co elevation of the other hormones, but most importantly, the co elevation of inflammation in the body and that it drives oxidative stress. And as a result, we do see these chronic conditions building over time. And so that's what I think. That's why I think perimenopause is such a window of vulnerability, is that it's co elevating the stress response system along with hormones declining at the same time.
- [49:36]
B
You were talking about stress as this thing that we don't even notice anymore because it's so pervasive. And when you were talking, it reminds me of, you know, sometimes I don't know if you ever do this, but. But there's something that needs to go upstairs. And so I'll just put it on the stairs. Yes. Every day, hoping that someone will say, oh, no, she wants that to go upstairs.
- [49:56]
A
I don't think anyone's taking it.
- [49:58]
B
I have a dying hope that I will put my son's. Whatever it is, oh, bless your heart, on the stairs. And he's gonna take it upstairs. He never does. I end up taking. But it's like you pass by that thing like a thousand times in the day or in the week, right? And you just almost forget that it's there.
- [50:16]
A
I don't forget.
- [50:17]
B
I don't forget, you know, but that's kind of what I. That's what sort of I feel like chronic stress is. It's like this thing that you just get used to. It's just there. You just, you. You kind of see it, but then it starts blending into the background, and then you lose the capacity to even recognize that. That seeing that little thing, all that, like the, you know, the soccer ball or whatever it is for me, you know, Soccer, dirty, the dining room table, whatever, that stuff.
- [50:40]
A
Right.
- [50:40]
B
You. You don't realize that that's actually, every time you see it, you're like, God damn, I haven't done that thing yet. Like, I haven't f it. Right. So how do we get better at notice, like identifying what are some of the. Maybe the smaller stressors and then what are the. Some of the bigger stressors and then what can we do? I mean, maybe the bigger stressors. Like, I remember always in the clinic, it was like we would. I would have to sit down with the patient. Like, listen, here's what's going to. You have to leave your job.
- [51:06]
A
Exactly.
- [51:06]
B
You have to leave your husband or.
- [51:08]
A
Both leave your job, leave your husband. So you're going to completely uproot your life. Well, and this is the thing about perimenopause, is it? It's. It is the time of discernment. All of a sudden we come into per. I always say that who you were coming into perimenopause is not who you're going to be heading into menopause and postmenopause because all of a sudden everything is up for review. So how do we identify that we are even stressed when we are living this very full big life? Number one, it's going to be sensations. It's going to be your body. Your body. Remember, your body keeps the score. Your body's going to cue you up. And so before it's even in your thoughts, you're feeling overwhelmed, you're feeling anxiety. Usually it's a tightness. It's a tightness. It's a. Like, for me, I find that I'm quickly trying to solve problems that aren't even problems yet. So I'm in a very reactive state.
- [51:59]
B
You're like Fruit Ninja. It's like the Fruit Ninja game.
- [52:01]
A
You're like, yeah, you're like trying to solve. I'm like, am I really creating problems to solve problems right now? I have a mantra I want to just share with everybody that has been so profound for me and that is. Is nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong because, man, I can find.
- [52:19]
B
Because it can feel like a lot is wrong. Yeah. All the time.
- [52:22]
A
There's always something to solve. If you're. Especially if you're a problem solver. Especially if you're. You're. You're CEO status or COO status. You're. I mean, women are CEOs all the time of multiple areas of their lives. And so there's always problems to solve, including that soccer ball at the stairs. Yeah, that's a problem to solve. Yeah, that's because someone's got to get that upstairs.
- [52:41]
B
And I am like, I wonder if he's going to walk by this time and bring it up. Nope.
- [52:44]
A
Okay.
- [52:45]
B
Next time. Absolutely no. And I just watches my heart just.
- [52:47]
A
Like, not see any of it. I'm like, do you not see the house right now? Do you not see the kitchen? How do you walk? How. You know, I. Oh, to be.
- [52:57]
B
I read something. I actually read something about clutter affecting women's stress. Like, there are levels of cortisol much more than men.
- [53:07]
A
Yeah, totally. I always say, the house is screaming at me. The house is always talking to me. Alex can just walk by. I'm like, how do you do that? That is a superpower that is not programmed into my DNA. I see everything out everywhere. And so it's really fascinating. So notice the physical sensations. Notice the shoulders creeping towards your neck and your ears. Notice the tightness, the contraction. That's where I'll notice. All of a sudden, everything contracts on me versus, like, feeling open, right? So notice the contraction. Notice. Are you snapping at everybody? Are you more irritated? Are you more. Are you what? Another thing is, are you sighing? Exacerbate, like you're exacerbated. Like, my son's been doing this recently. And I'm like, who did he get this from? Is it me? And like.
- [54:03]
B
Like, I. That's me. I turn.
- [54:08]
A
You know your sign. Like, you're most likely. You're. You're in a state of overwhelm and you're. You've activated that stress response system. So then what do you do? Right? It's about one, the second. It's really about first identifying and becoming aware. Once you're aware, you can shift your state. And that's what's going to need to happen at the this point is to shift your state. Right? We're not all gazelles. We can't just be running from tigers and all of a sudden sauntering back and trying to eat, you know, eat whatever is in the field. Like, we need a minute to reset. And so changing that state for you could be shaking it out. It could be taking a walk outside. It could be doing a couple jump squats. It could be walking up and down the stairs. It could be taking. Doing the four, seven, eight breath. Like, whatever works for you. Whatever can help you change your state. Another thing that I recommend is being preventative about this, and that is sending safety signals to the brain. One of the best ways that we can do this is Bookmarking our day or book ending our day with evening and morning routines. It's really challenging to be thrown off your game or to go into this spiral of the stress response system when you are really intentional about your morning. You have a gratitude practice in place, you have movement snacks in place, you have breath in place. Where you have built in a lot of what I call brain protective mechanisms where you're telling the brain constantly, everything's good, we're okay, everything's okay, we're moving our body, we're, we're shifting our state. So those, I would build those in. And then the other thing, especially if you're in that state, connecting and boosting oxytocin. Oxytocin is like the only hormone that can trump cortisol. And so whether that's hugging your cat or a dog or your kids or a partner, or even just sending a voice memo to your bestie or calling a bestie can boost oxytocin and also shift your state. So we know that when women have a chance to tend and befriend, it's one of the best ways that we can just kind of let all of that go. And so that's why one of the core pillars of the book, the perimenopause revolution, is building community, having those besties who understand what you're going through, who you can kind of just you know, release whatever you, you've got going on. You can, you can, I wouldn't call it complain or you know, but more so just kind of process with them. Even if it's in a two minute message while you're taking a walk. I will tell you between walking and voice memoing my besties, I am, that's probably my two best strategies for regulating my stress response system, which for me is automatic. I would say that my default mode is to go into a stress response state, a sympathetic nervous system state, more than it is designed to be in parasympathetic.
- [56:51]
B
Yeah, and I like that, that mantra, I wrote it down. Nothing is wrong. I think that's another. It's like, all right, we're okay. We're not, we're not dying. You know, Nothing is wrong. Yes, there's a soccer ball, yes, there's whatever out in the kitchen, but nothing is wrong. If you have a sweet tooth like me, you are going to love Manukura Manuka honey. I typically put honey in my tea in the evenings and when I drizzle it over my high protein Greek yogurt snacks and Manukura honey is A superpower of a sweetener. It has three times the antioxidants of typical honey for daily immune defense, gut healthy prebiotics to support digestion and fighting skin conditions like acne and eczema. Manicora features something called mgo. It is a unique antibacterial compound that makes Manuka honey special. MGO and Manuka honey is linked to beneficial health properties like wound healing, improving digestion and it helps fight acne causing bacteria. It soothes skin inflammation and accelerates wound healing. Every single jar is ethically produced in New Zealand where the bees harvest nectar from the Manuka tea tree and Manukora third party tests each batch for this MGO level and you can literally scan the QR code on each jar to see exact potency and the origin of your harvest. The over 200 is considered excellent and I just scanned my recent delivery and it was 912. So consider this honey with superpowers that you can actually verify. Head over to manicora.com better to save up to 31% plus $25 worth of free gifts with the starter kit which comes with the MGO850 plus Manuka honey jar, five honey travel sticks and a wooden spoon and a guidebook. Again manukora.com better to save 31% plus $25 worth of free gifts. I have talked about this idea as well of community and I think that the. I used to, I used to, you know, think I'm an island, you know, like I'm just going to do it all myself. I'm a self contained hamlet. I don't need, I don't need anyone. I can do it myself, I can do it better myself. And of course in my life and my own, you know, just lived experience like well actually that's not really true. It's actually really, it is very much an important thing for me to have my life be witnessed by other people and to feel like I belong somewhere and to feel like, you know, I can also have capacity and extend capacity to friends who, you know, when they need it. And I think that there's something really beautiful about that. I think that we can't at least my experience and maybe, maybe you can redirect me if you, if you don't agree. I think I had to get it right in my own body first. Like I think I had to get the exercise, I had to get the nutrition, I had to get all that stuff right by me first. And then once I sort of felt like, okay, I feel settled in my own meat Sack. Now I can start. Now I can start extending an olive branch to other people or extending and giving more of myself because I just didn't have any capacity personally when I wasn't. When those things weren't in order for me. Do you. Did you find. Do you find the same thing, or do you think that it's like, no, don't wait until that. Like, just start getting into community. What are your thoughts?
- [60:06]
A
I would say, you know, my through line would be to start getting into community because I find that that gentle connection and accountability from friends can help us move the needle to movement, to eating metabolically healthy foods, to really preserving our sleep and, you know, again, regulating that nervous system. So I think friendship has its beautiful place, and I think it just depends on how we were brought up. You know, I was brought up that I. You know, I. There's a lot of proof in my life, especially as a child, that no one's coming to save me, that I've got to do it all myself. And I fall into that pattern a lot, even though I have so many beautiful friendships and connections. But even in my business, if my team is overextended and I really want something, I'm like, I'll just go do it right? So my team is constantly like, marisa's an island, you know, over there. And I. So I desperately need the connection with my friends and to just feel sane, to feel like what I'm going through is normal. I can't tell you how many times I'm at a dinner party with a bunch of perimenopausal women, and someone's like, can you hand that thing over there? And I'm like, oh, your water.
- [61:08]
B
Like, you know, I knew what you were trying to say.
- [61:10]
A
I know what you're like. Always everyone's finishing each other's sentences because no one remembers the thing. I mean, the lack of word recall is so real. But I would say, check in with yourself. Do you feel like you need to be fully resourced to show up for the friends and to have those conversations. Conversations? Or do you find that your friendships really allow you to be resourced so that you step into those beautiful habits? It's probably a yes. And for many of us. I know one of my best friends, she just moved down the street. She is one of my workout buddies. We work out multiple times a week together. She's also my book bestie. You know, we're reading when we're recording this, we're stepping into fall. I know it's more fall for you than it is for me in San Diego. And it's a very witchy season in my life right now, girl. Besides the fact that I've got a book coming out. And so we are reading a bunch of witchy fall books together, you know, because that's what we do. And we're comparing and connecting about the books that we're reading. And. And it's. And. And we're also doing. We're also doing pr. We're. We're doing our personal bests on, you know, at the gym. You know, we're hitting our PRs. And so that's. It's really nice to get to do that together. And we go on walks, we put our feet in the ocean. We like. I'm so grateful for her. And I also just get a daily little update on what she's got going on, which is so wonderful. And so I think it can be a yes. And. But I will say, if you don't know this or you haven't been feeling this recently, we are wired for connection. We are wired for just, you know, especially women, to. To feel connected, to feel supported, to feel seen, as you said, and to feel belonging. And particularly in perimenopause, where society shames and blames us for what we're going through. If there was a time to double down on connection, the time is now. Because we know that loneliness increases chronic conditions, can drive further symptoms and can reduce our quality of life and also can increase mortality rates earlier. So premature death is associated with loneliness and isolation.
- [63:15]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Talk to us a little bit about sleep. I know this is a really big topic for you as well. I think that. And I think it becomes a big issue for many women in midlife when they're like, oh, yeah, I can't sleep well anymore, or you get a really good night's sleep, and you're like, whoa, is this what it used to be like?
- [63:32]
A
So good.
- [63:33]
B
Talk to us a little bit about what are some of the changes that we might experience in midlife in terms of sleep? And then again, action strategies. What are some ways that we can improve our sleep when we feel like we've lost it?
- [63:45]
A
You know, Stephanie, gone are the days where I can get less than seven hours of sleep and function. Sleep will make or break me. And I think a lot of women feel that same way, that when we're only getting five, six, maybe less than seven hours of sleep, we really struggle in our day. And it has a lot to do with the hormones that are declining. Right. We know that we're going through this profound neuroendocrine shift as we talked about earlier. But most importantly, we know that the areas of the brain that regulate sleep and our circadian rhythm, those hormones are vastly altering that area of the brain to the point that over 67% of women will struggle with sleep issues. Now, for some of us, it could be cyclical. So you may find that you're sleeping okay in the follicular phase of your cycle and then you get to the luteal phase of your cycle and you're just like all hell broke loose. Like, what is going on? And so it's important to be paying attention to, you know, if you are struggling with sleep issues. Is it cyclical? Is it happening at different times of your cycle? Once you're in late peri where you're skipping periods, is it more consistent? I think that type of data can really be helpful. But I will say that having a good sleep foundation is critical. I know you and I are dear friends with Dr. Kristin Holmes. She talks about sleep consistency all of the time as the through line for getting that deep, restful, quality sleep sleep. Gone are the days where we can just race into bed and fall asleep. Like I know we all desire and crave our twenties in that way where we could just go from college classes, late night studying, to just falling asleep and then getting back the next day and feeling okay. So we have to be really intentional about our sleep routine. And I always say protect your sleep routine like it is a million dollar meeting, because it is. There's nothing that you could be doing past 10 o' clock that is worthwhile unless it is a million dollar meeting. Like I just don't. No Netflix show, no conversation with your partner is going to move the needle. Like sleep is going to move the needle for you. And so I would say understand what a good bedtime is for you and be consistent with that. So go to bed the same time every single night, seven days a week, and get up at the same time every single morning, seven days a week. And then within that hour, get some morning sunlight. We are diurnal beings. We're supposed to be out in sunlight during the day, it's supposed to be dark at night. That's how we're built. And the more consistent you are with that sleep routine, that sleep consistency, you will notice over the course of the next 10 days, 7 to 10 days, you will start to experience another, like a new sleep cue. You will have that urgency to actually go to sleep, that cue to go to sleep and if you are still struggling, I would say it's time to bring in some sleep. A, you know, start with Magnesium glycinate, L theanine 5 HTP, you know, you know, some. Some nice gentle supplements. Have a good sleepy tea. There's some, you know, what is it? Mama's Little Helper or one of those. I forget. There's a couple different sleep teas that will just knock you the F out, you know what I'm saying? And so build those into the routine. And if you're noticing that it's cyclical, even in perimenopause consideration, bringing in oral micronized progesterone cycle in that oral micronized progesterone. And I will say, I know there's a lot of discussion or discourse around continuous use of oral micronized progesterone versus cycling oral micronized progesterone. And I would say, like, do what is best for you. Currently, I am cycling it because I noticed that my sleep issues are mostly in the luteal phase of my cycle. So oral micronized progesterone is a game changer for mood, for stress, for sleep. But if there comes a time where my sleep is inconsistent throughout my entire cycle, I am probably gonna move to a more continuous dosage. So those would be some recommendations I recommend. But again, I think a lot of us, like, be. Be very honest with yourself about your sleep routine and your sleep consistency. And if that needs to get cleaned up, clean it up first before we really bring in a bunch of sleep aids. Aids.
- [67:38]
B
Yeah. There's. There's been a couple times where I've had just the most glorious sleep. And I'm like, is this how it used to be? Did I always just sleep like this? And, you know, so I still sleep very, very well. But there's. There's a couple of, you know, it'll happen like, once. I don't know, like every two weeks or once a month where I'm like, wow, that was like a really. I feel like I can take on the world. If only I could do that every single day. Like, you know, I would be unstable. So I think that, yeah, dialing in your sleep routine is certainly, certainly one. Like, it's like, it's the first and it's the easiest thing that can move. Like, all you got to do is put your phone away like 15 or 20 minutes earlier, you know, And.
- [68:14]
A
And for some of us, like I always say, I think about my son's sleep routine that starts in the bath, which is literally Almost an hour before lights are off. And I, that's what we, we need to all go back to that. And I'm not saying you need to take a bath, but once Kingston's asleep and he's, he's literally, lights are off at 8. He's usually fully asleep at 8:15. I have about a half hour before my routine starts. So my routine usually starts at 8:45, nine at the latest. I want lights off at 10pm and it starts with supplements. I take a lot of nighttime supplements, I'm not gonna lie. And that's because that's my individual needs. So I'm usually taking my omegas. I'm taking magnesium glycinate. There's a couple different things that I'm taking at night before going to bed. But that tells my body, oh, she's gearing up, she's, she's getting ready. And then I fill up my emotional support water because gosh forbid, I don't have that at bed. At bedtime as well. And once the door in my bedroom is shut because my Alex and I are, we are sleep divorced. I'm just gonna say it. That's where we're at. You know, someone's sleeping with Kingston, it's usually Alex. So we co. Sleep with Kingston, we as in my husband. And then I'm in the big bed by myself in my room. And once that door shut, don't you dare walk in the door for anything. Like, even if he has to grab some underwear. I'm like, why didn't you do that before? I shut the door. Like I'm, I'm so, I mean I really preserve. And again, everyone do what you got to do, make it work. But there's no TVs, there's no screens in the bedroom. I have books by the bed that I'm rotating and I, I wash my face, I brush my teeth, I do all those things. The lights go dim. We have black blackout curtains all over the, all over the room. I have an amber, not, not fully amber, but kind of amber like light that I'm reading by. And then I usually feel the sleep cue around 9:45, 9:50. Lights are off by 10:05. And so I have about a 15 minute window every night where lights are off. And then I wake up like clockwork at 8, at 66 or 615 every morning.
- [70:06]
B
Nice. Yeah. For me it's, it's been what I always found easier was a morning routine. I always found that easier. It's like go to the gym and then come home and have breakfast. But I think in recent years, for me, it's been actually developing a skincare routine. So I'll do more like in the morning it's just, you know, moisturizer, sunscreen, done. But in the evening, it's like, all right, now I'm going to put this serum on. Now I'm going to do this gua sha. Now I'm going to do. Now I'm going to wrap my hair up in leggings and I'm going to do my serums. So there's, you know, I can do a bit more of an elaborate kind of beauty routine, which is, you know, makes me feel good. Makes me feel good.
- [70:38]
A
It's paying off.
- [70:39]
B
Girl, you're too kind.
- [70:41]
A
You look gorgeous.
- [70:42]
B
I will venmo you the money for that. Thank you. I appreciate it.
- [70:45]
A
That's going to be the sound bite.
- [70:47]
B
Yeah, that's. But that's my cue as well, right? It's like, okay, it's skin routine and hair routine time. And that sort of takes me about 30, 45 minutes. And then, you know, my. I have a theory. You know, the uglier you go to bed, the prettier you wake up.
- [71:01]
A
I love it.
- [71:02]
B
I look completely hideous as I'm going into bed, but I have the mouth tape, I have the fuzzy socks, I have my hair and leggings. I have all my serums and my masks and everything. And that's my evening routine. And that's a way for at least for me to anchor. Okay, so now it's like a 30 minute minutes. Ish. Where I'm getting ready to go to bed. So by the time I am ready, I mean, even though I am doing that under lights, even though that's. Even though I'm, you know, when I'm done, I'm pretty much ready to go to bed. Like I take, you know, when I look at my.
- [71:29]
A
Yeah, no, once you put your tape on your mouth, you're pretty much.
- [71:32]
B
Good to hear. I'm ready to go. Yeah, I'm not talking.
- [71:34]
A
You know, I have dim lighting in the bathroom too. We have regular lighting and dim lighting in the bathroom. So we have multiple lights. And. And I'm also a big. I don't know, I'm curious. Stephanie. I love to set my future self up for success. So if I'm going to get to the gym, let's say sometimes I get up at 5:45 and I'm in the gym by 6:15, I have all my clothes laid out. I have my water downstairs by the door. I have the keys by the door. I have basically everything. So I, I can, from waking up to being out the door, I can do that in less than 15 minutes because it's all laid out. And so I love that because I know my son loves, loves when he wakes up, he wants to see me. And so that means I have a very small window. Usually he's up at like 7:15. Like I need to be in the gym and out of the gym within 40 minutes, give or take, and. And then I'm home so that when he wakes up, I'm there. And so, you know, because that's just the season that I'm in. Like, I want to work out in the early morning, but I also want to be there for my son when he wakes up. And so I, whatever I can do to create efficiency in my morning, I usually set myself up to win the night before because it's really, you know, it takes me 10 minutes to set myself up for the morning. I even have my, my protein coffee, my doctor Stacey Sims protein coffee in the fridge ready to go. Like, I just grab everything and I'm out the door.
- [72:46]
B
That's fantastic. Yeah, I think, you know, there's all these little tips. Like, I've really, as we've been talking, you've been so generous with a lot of these little actionable strategies because I think people just need examples. You know, it's like one thing to say, we need sleep. And it's like, okay, I get it, I need sleep, or I get it, I need to drink more water. But how do we.
- [73:02]
A
How do we do it?
- [73:03]
B
Yeah, but how do we do it?
- [73:04]
A
And as mom in perimenopause, who are running careers and have kids, like, how do you actually do it? And I. That's why this book is my love letter to you. Because it is the literally how I'm in it. I'm in it with you. It's the how I'm making it happen. And I'm not gonna lie, there are some days where I'm barely pulling it off, but I'm pulling it off. And I think that's important. And I think what's more important than anything is your non negotiables. What are the three non negotiable that you are not willing to part with? For me, it's that sleep routine and making sure that I get deep, restful sleep because I want to show up for the people and the mission that I am committed to that mean the world to me the next day. And if I don't get the good sleep, I'm not going to be able to do it. Number two, it is moving my body in a meaningful way because the benefits. My body craves movement. Like I am not who I need to be again if I don't move, you know, and ideally that's lifting weights, but sometimes it's just exercise, snacks and walking, like getting where I fit in. And number three, it is voice memoing my besties. Like, I just, I have to have that. I gotta. I woke up this morning, I had three or four voice memos from, from my friends. And I'm just like, I cannot wait to listen to these. I cannot wait. And so those are the, those are my non negotiables. Obviously eating metabolically healthy foods is really important. That, but it, that is very much. That's just who I am. I've been doing that for so long, I don't even think about it. But those three things are extremely intentional and I make sure that they go down.
- [74:32]
B
Fantastic. Fantastic. I love them. I have to define my three non negotiables. I would probably say for me, it's like a cute gym outfit. Because if I have a cute gym outfit that's directly proportional to how hard I'm gonna work out at the gym. I love it. Yeah, I would say, I mean, gym for me is like, it's my lifeline. Sprinting and lifting heavy weights. It's like stay fast, stay strong, stay, you know, stay powerful. But yeah, I think that's actually a really good exercise for me to do as well. It's like three non negotiables. I got one, you got one, which.
- [74:58]
A
Is a big one.
- [74:59]
B
Cute gym outfit which leads to better outcomes at the gym. But I gotta think about those other two. But in the meantime, tell us where we can find the book. Tell us where we can find more about you and is there a program like you tell us about the. Tell us a little bit about the book. You said it's a, you know, love letter to women in perimenopause. Tell us where we can find the book and all the good things about it.
- [75:19]
A
Yeah. So I want women to know that this book is built on action. It is built on wins. I want you to feel like a different person in seven to 10 days. That is what I want for you. I'm telling you right now. If you just commit to exercise. Snacks every single day, you will be a different person in seven days. If you commit to a evening routine and treat that sleep routine like it's a million dollar meeting, you will be a different woman in seven days. If you create more community for yourself, same thing. So it is built around you. Experience wins. Because goodness knows it's the one thing I want to give every single woman is I want them to feel like they're winning because they have more confidence, they've got more joy, and they're more motivated to keep it up. So whether that is the cute gym outfit, like go to viori today.
- [75:59]
B
Okay.
- [75:59]
A
Okay. Do what you gotta do. Like get. Get the thing that's gonna move the needle for you in a meaningful way. The book is chock full of that. So three things you'll get from the book. One, you're gonna know if you're in perimenopause. You're gonna understand how your symptoms are connected to your future health outcomes. You're gonna have the pillars and the science back research to move the needle in those pillars, including hormone replacement therapy. And then there is a five week program that puts it all together, including the mindset. This is so important. We've got to reframe how we think about this time because you are rewriting your midlife story. You are stepping into the most powerful chapter of your life on your terms, with your discernment and your intention. And I have the juiciest question that you get to ask yourself so that you are living the life that you were always meant to live. And that is this. That is stepping in to this new beautiful chapter of your life. And then I've got workout videos, I've got workout plans, I've got exercise snack videos, I've got core workouts all built in. I was in the recording. I was in a gym recording for days so that you have that I can just meet you where you're at to get started. And then I've got recipes and meal plans and symptom trackers and lab guides. Anything and everything, wherever you want to start. Morning routine, evening routines. It's all built in. So even if you get this book before it's out and available, all those bonuses are built so that you can get started today. Because I don't know about you, Stephanie. When I decided that I am making a decision about my health and wellness, now is the new later. I am ready now. Like, if I don't have the now things, I'm a little pissed. So I want to make sure you have everything you need to get started, that you don't have to wait for this book. You can get the bonuses and start changing your health trajectory today.
- [77:43]
B
Fantastic. And we will make sure that there's a link in the show notes for everybody to follow along and of course your Instagram and we'll have all your details as well so people can find you.
- [77:50]
A
If you want to giggle about Perry, come to my Insta Rmarissa. The book bonuses is drmarisa.com book perfect.
- [77:59]
B
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, your energy, your focus today. I know this is going to be very valuable to our community.
- [78:04]
A
Me. Thanks. Love.
- [78:07]
B
A welcome to the Afterparty, where I tell you what I really thought of this episode. And of course the Afterparty is my moniker for menopause because that's where we all are going to end up and we all want to be invited to the Afterparty. And of course, here you are in the afterparty of this podcast. So I thought that Maritza did a really good job overall, really inviting us in to Here are the first really important steps that you need to make as a woman who is probably mid to late 30s, early 40s, not kind of sure if you're in perimenopause or not. These are the things that we really need to solidify and sort of get in order in order to navigate the. The journey ahead, whatever that journey might be. Now, Maurice has been very candid about her struggles in perimenopause. She mentioned, she's mentioned them on podcasts before. She mentioned them briefly on our. In our conversation in terms of like her brain health and some of the things that she's overcome in perimenopause and having a child when she was 41. Of course, that's a huge. I have a suspicion that is a huge, you know, my best Donald, like, huge. That's my best Donald Trump impression. Huge portion of our community in terms of like, yeah, women are having kids later in life and sorry, I apologize, I can't do any impression. Well, so that's. I think that there's a lot of women that have had children later in life and don't actually know what is it. Is it perimenopause? Is it postpartum? Is it both? So I think that, you know, Marita, that's her lived experience, right? She had a child when she was 41 and really got hit hard with. She had a couple of confounding things, Hashimoto's and. And a few other things happened to her that that made perimenopause very difficult. And so these were some of her lifesavers and I think that they can potentially be lifesavers for you as well. Especially when there's. When we're in this era of, like, infobesity. I know I keep coming back to that, but there's so many people talking about the same thing in different ways. And what can end up happening is you have women that are literally spending their time trying to figure out, like, who's right rather than actually doing anything right. So you're like, is oats, Are oats bad? Are oats good? Let me try and read the science. And then instead they don't do. And like, they don't have oats or they do have oats or whatever. So I think that this was a really good conversation for that. I definitely loved the conversation at the beginning around postpartum and perimenopause and the overlap between those things. The movement snacks, the bone density discussion with jumping and impact and some of the things that she's. That she does, like the jack squats, the jump squats, the switch lunges, and these 20, you know, doing 20 of them in a minute, I think that that's accessible to everybody. Maybe if you have joint issues or hypertension, you can certainly just, just do a body weight squat. You don't have to add the jump in there. Like, the jump definitely adds an element of intensity. Loved the Nothing is wrong. That is a really. It's such a simple. It's such a simple little moniker. But it can be very powerful in moments where you do feel like a lot is wrong. You're like, the dishwasher has not even been unloaded yet and I have so much laundry and. Or oh, my God, I forgot the laundry and now the laundry smells moldy and I gotta do it again. And the kitchen always looks like people live here. Why can't I just live in a house that looks like nobody lives in it? So I think that that moniker like nothing is wrong, I really like that. I actually wrote that down in my notes. And then the sleep and the community conversation, of course, sleep, very, very important. You've heard me talk about that before. We've had sleep experts on the show treating sleep like it's a million dollar meeting. I think is a really great way to reframe something that we can always just like, oh, just one more episode. And we just want to binge this Netflix series like, just one more episode. And then that episode's like 35 minutes, 40 minutes. And then now you're 35 or 45 minutes, sort of, you know, quote unquote behind when you should have been getting ready. So I do like that treat the sleep like it's a million dollar meeting. I thought that was really great as well. And the three non negotiables, I kind of I'm curious for you Betty. What are your three non negotiables? I got one so far. It's my cute outfit because I know that it is directly proportional to the effort that I'm going to put in at the gym or on the track. And I I'm going to define my next two, but I'd love to know yours. So let me know in when you leave a rating or a review on this podcast if you feel like it is worthy of your time to do so. I would love to know what your three non negotiables are for your season in midlife. So with that, I bid you a gentleman you and we'll see you next time. All right, all right. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and I must give you the obligatory legal and medical disclaimer here. This podcast, Better with Dr. Stephanie, is for general information only and the advice recommendations we discuss do not replace medicine, chiropractic or any other primary healthcare provider provider's advice, treatment or care in the consumption of this podcast. There is no doctor patient relationship that has been formed and the use and implementation of the information discussed are at the sole discretion of the listener. The information and opinions shared on this podcast are not intended to be a substitute for primary care diagnosis or treatment. In other words, guys, be smart about this. Take it with a grain of salt. Take this information to your primary healthcare provider and have a discussion with him or her to make the best choice. That is for you. Remember, I am a doctor, but I am not your doctor and these conversations are meant for educational purposes only.