¶ Balancing Hormones and Lifestyle in Midlife
What do you mean by staying balanced ? What's your definition of balance ?
So balance means to me a lot of different things . So you know , there's like this thing , like do you have a balanced life ? That's not what I'm really talking about .
I'm talking about how can you balance your health with your life so that you are present for the things that you love with your life , so that you are present for the things that you love , and that balancing the idea that taking care of yourself is the best gift that you could give anybody and the more things that seem important , those are the things that put
us out of balance hi , I'm glennis woods mullins and I love to help women to vibe , to be more vibrant , intuitive , beautiful and empowered in midlife .
So come on , let's vibe . We've had a lot of talking lately about menopause and there's so many different things that you can do to deal with the symptoms . You do not have to be in misery . Those days are gone , and I'm so glad that that's the case , and that's why I'm more than happy to introduce you to Marjorie Nass , and she is amazing .
She has come up with a method that is truly groundbreaking it's paracycle balance method , and she's really committed to helping busy women thrive through perimenopause and beyond . And I can't tell you how important that is because so many of us , marjorie , have gone through the throes of menopause .
And you know , in my generation because I'm pretty sure I'm a little bit younger than you are my mom was raised in the late 30s , 40s , you know , went to college in the 50s . There was definitely no discussion going on about menopause back then , okay , and then my mom passed away at 56 .
So we didn't get a chance to have that conversation either , not that I'm sure we would have . We definitely had the conversation about the period , but not necessarily I never heard her talk about menopause .
Now people are beginning to talk about thanks to the Internet , probably thanks to COVID , because people were sitting around talking about stuff , but now it's a thing that people want to know more about . So tell us how you come to the point that you wanted to create a special program to deal with this , and why have you become ?
so passionate about it . Yeah , so thank you for having me first of all . So my stories started when I was in my 30s and I had a super busy corporate job and I really wasn't well Emotionally , physically . So many things were going on and I was fortunate enough to find yoga , and yoga helped me heal in so many ways .
And yoga's wellness branch called Ayurveda and I know there was recently an Ayurveda practitioner on , which is fantastic . That's yoga's wellness science . So I healed so much that I wanted to share that with everybody else . So I became a yoga and a wellness teacher and left corporate and became an entrepreneur and basically I sailed through perimenopause and menopause .
It was like a non-issue at all . And when I when the women that I was working with were having so many issues themselves . So what I recognized was that what I had been doing for the previous 10 years really set me up in a way that my body was balanced . Of course , everybody's hormones change .
That's what happens , just like our hormones change in puberty and then they change in perimenopause and menopause as the sex hormones change . So I knew that what I was doing was working .
It was working for me , so I started bringing that into my practice , my wellness practice and retreats and classes and private lessons and the women that I worked with started having amazing results , and also the women that weren't yet having symptoms . They didn't get symptoms over the years , like whether it was two years , five years they didn't have symptoms .
So I knew that these lifestyle , if you will , these adaptations to the body , are really what make the difference .
And this is a time in our life that things are changing the difference , and this is a time in our life that things are changing and so adapting how we live in this next cycle of our life is really what's going to help us , because if we're suffering from all the symptoms perimenopause , menopause it's hard to be happy , it's hard to look at the big picture of
your life and what you want and we can get , you know just very sucked into that . So that's why I love working with women in perimenopause and menopause and I am like eight years post menopause , so I've been through the whole , the whole cycle myself .
So I feel like I'm really a person that can relate to women who've been through it and I know what that person that can relate to women who've been through it and I know what that , what that period of time is like period no , no pun intended , and you're right .
You know that stage of life is all full of transition . You know you become an empty nester , maybe your marriage has been recommitted or the marriage is gone . You were maybe climbing the corporate ladder , but now you're wondering do you want to do this anymore ? There's just a lot of questions .
We ask ourselves , a lot of things that we go through in transition and you also take a look at maybe some of your lifestyle habits . And I wanted to ask you in particular , because we live in a very stress-oriented society Stress is a lifestyle . It's a part of our lifestyle . Unfortunately it is so .
Why do lifestyle habits make a difference and how does stress impact us when it comes to perimenopause ?
These are such great questions and stress as a lifestyle . I've never heard that before .
It pretty much is when you think about it .
Yeah , so we all have stress . Right , we all have stress in our life . Life happens . There are going to be busy times , people that we care for , busy times at work , things with our families . It's how we respond to the stress that matters . We're going and going and going and you could call it type A if you want .
When we are constantly in that mode , that is the stress response . We're living in that stress response and when we're stressed we cannot be in the rest and relaxation mode at the same time . So from a perspective , it's called the parasympathetic system rest and digest , rest and respond and then the sympathetic nervous system which is fight , flight or flee .
So if you're running to a meeting and eating on the go and staying up till 11 o'clock on your computer , your body never really has a chance to go in that deep sense of rest and repair . So our sleep , no matter how many hours is , it's not going to be as restful .
Our digestion isn't going to be as good , our skin is going to change and when we're not sleeping , that clarity of mind , that focus , that's not going to be good and we're going to be more irritable . So the more the less we are able to manage our stress through lifestyle factors , and we can go into that .
And if we haven't adapted our life in our forties and fifts , if we're still living like we were in our 20s and 30s the same pace , the same food , the same exercise it doesn't work . It doesn't work anymore . Our bodies are different than they were and we've got to keep up with that .
We've got to adapt in order to future-proof our health , because all of this is not about just getting rid of our symptoms . It's about setting ourselves up for the greatest health that we can , the most optimal health that we can , and what we do every day matters .
So you mentioned setting yourself up . It made me think of setting yourself up for success , but what are some of the setups ? What are some of the things that we can do to have a better outcome , as we're going through perimenopause ?
Yeah . So the sooner and I think some of this is hopefully getting better but the sooner we can start to make these shifts , these adaptations , the better .
So what I mean by that is women's hormones are changing , sometimes as early as the late 30s into the 40s , and a lot of women don't realize that they're in perimenopause until they have a hot flash , because that's like the one thing , that's like the typical or most common symptom . But there are already changes that are happening .
So one of the first things that women can do is recognize that that's what this is and to start shifting , to prioritize themselves more . And I hear , you know , I've worked with thousands of women and it's really hard . It's really hard .
They're used to doing everything for everybody else and not putting themselves first , because they feel , understandably , that when they do something for somebody else that's going to be better for that person .
But ultimately , them taking the time for themselves , they're going to be a better person , they're going to be a better mother , they're going to be happier , they're going to be a better partner , they're going to show up more at work . So it's like , even if it's only 15 minutes more to yourself , just to be and not to do .
That is one of the very first things that we
¶ Optimizing Health Through Balanced Lifestyle
can do . So I always start with sleep . I always start with sleep , because without sleep , without quality sleep again , it's not about quantity , it's about quality sleep Everything the body just goes off kilter . And it's very interesting because I have a new puppy and so my sleep is very , very good .
But the first few nights the puppy was up in the middle of the night . The first two nights it was twice . And I'm such a good sleeper . I noticed it like my body didn a good sleeper . I noticed it Like my body didn't feel as good . I was hungry .
I was so hungry because I hadn't slept well and I was , you know , just kind of like dragging a little bit and he's got his little cute face , so that lifted me up , but I was a little more achy , like I was achy in a way , and so everything is harder when we haven't had a good night's sleep .
So prioritizing sleep means like having a cutoff , so you could say whatever time it is , make it a little bit earlier than what you're doing now . I never say to somebody who's going to sleep at midnight to go to sleep at 10 . That's like that's just way too big a jump . So very , very small shifts , like by 10 minutes .
So okay , so you have 10 minutes to yourself . What can you do to get rid of the day ? How can you allow yourself to feel gratitude for the day and start your evening of sleep in a more relaxed state , whether it's from breathing there are all kinds of breathing techniques and definitely putting the phone away .
So it's not , it's not just about what you're , what you're getting on your phone , it's that stress response . So you get the ding I'm reaching because my phone is you get the ding and it's like and it's like this stress response . What is it ? You know it used to be and you know also I'm dating myself .
It used to be that the only thing that you would find out is if somebody came to the door or the phone rang and somebody could only call if they were somewhere where there was a phone Right , right , exactly . So now it's like every little thing that could be like a jump , like is something wrong or who needs me now ? And so putting that away .
So the few minutes before you go to sleep , your body starts to go in that rest and relaxation mode , whether it's gratitude or writing or breathing . Teach all of these things . It puts the body in a state that's more receptive to that deep , deep rest .
And when we have that deep , deep rest and it's not about the hours our body can go into a deeper level of repair , which means detoxifying properly . And when we're detoxifying properly , our hormone levels are not as are are going to have the best chance to stay balanced without the impact of the symptoms .
What do you mean by staying balanced ? What's your definition of balance With respect ?
to .
Well , the name of your program is called Peri-A-Cycle Balance . What does balance mean to you ?
So balance means to me a lot of different things . So you know , there's like this thing , like do you have a balanced life ? That's not what I'm really talking about .
I'm talking about how can you balance your health with your life so that you are present for the things that you love , and that balancing the idea that taking care of yourself is the best gift that you could give anybody and the more things that seem important those are the things that put us out of balance .
So when I say out of balance about the body , it's not optimal . We're not our body . For example , if we have a late dinner and we go to sleep , you know , we've all heard this Don't go to sleep on an empty , on a full stomach .
Well , it's not just about the heartburn , it's about the fact that our body isn't going to be able to go into a deeper level of rest and repair If our body is busy digesting our food . Ah that makes a lot of sense , and so , when the food isn't digested properly , that is going to be stored in a way .
It can be stored as fat , it can be stored as toxins , which , in Ayurveda , is a big thing that we talked about yeah , your guest talked about doing the detoxes and so balance means making choices that are going to serve us not just for today , but for the next decade , the decades to come , and that's so important too , because I always say that you're either
going to pay for it on the front end or the back end , but guaranteed you're going to pay , and the back end , in my way of thinking , is funeral services .
You don't get a chance to enjoy any of that . Why not take the money you would pay for a funeral and apply it to your health , because it's that important , especially as we transition into a midlife wellness journey ? As you said , things have changed and so you want to change with it and you want to get the tools to compensate for the change .
What about HRT ? There was a time where HRT was like a big fat . No-no , but I know some things have changed . How important is it that we make a decision around HRT ?
Well , it's a personal decision and you're right , there was a study that was based on women in their 60s and it was a very , very small , a very , very small sample , and that's . You know , in the early 2000s people went away from that .
Very big doctors on the internet that they have percentages that the vast majority of symptoms can be managed by lifestyle changes , by habit changes , by routine changes .
So my attitude is and it's very you know , if somebody wants to go and do something with a quick fix , Okay , but try something first , like try some changes first , because menopause is not a disease .
Yeah .
Not something that needs to be fixed . It's like I'm not sure I've never used this analogy before , but it's like while we were going through puberty , like puberty is uncomfortable , like people get bone pains in their bones and stuff . Like what if there was a hormone that we added ?
Then , like there are things that we can do in the healthier somebody is and the more they're taking care of themselves , the better they're going to feel . There are all kinds of studies that overweight women are having more serious symptoms . Overweight women have worse hot flashes and night sweats , and so so many of the lifestyle diseases that we have .
Most of those can be controlled with changes , with changes in diet and sleep and nutrition and movement . I don't call it exercise , I call it movement .
You know , I love that you talk about sleep , because that's something I think that most midlife women are sleep deprived because of all the years of when we weren't sleeping . You know , really catch up , really catch up with that .
But what you can do is to make it a priority , because that's the only time your body gets a chance to break all the way down , and being able to figure out how many hours you need for a deep sleep which is restorative is so important . I , I'm one of those people that I need to have six hours of sleep .
If I have five hours and 55 minutes is not going to be enough . It's got to be at least six hours of sleep in order for me to function . And you know before , I would just you know before , I would just , you know , push my way through . But now I'm like , okay , I didn't sleep that well last night , I'm tired , I'm going to go take a nap .
I've given myself permission to do that . I used to beat up on myself thinking nap , I should be doing this , I should be doing that . But in order for me to do this and that might have to take a nap , and studies have shown that . You know , 20 minutes , 30 minutes is so refreshing .
I'm not saying you take a nap and you're gone for the rest of the day , you know , because like where's Mary ? She went to take a break and now she's in there in the lounge snoring . I don't mean that , but giving yourself an opportunity just to close your eyes , disconnect and maybe you're in REM or something .
But it makes such a huge difference , not just for your overall well-being , but is an integral part of weight loss . For those of you who are going through the perimenopause thing and you woke up one morning , it seems like you know , all of a sudden you had an extra butt back there . You don't know what's going on .
There's so many tweaks around what you can do , but one of them is sleep , and you now have permission . Everybody , all the women who are listening to this podcast in particular you now have the permission to sleep . It's okay for you to sleep in or to take naps .
Yeah , yeah , and I use the term underslept for so many women . They have not been sleeping enough for years , for years , and so we don't remember what it feels like to feel rested because there's just this low bar of how they've been feeling , or tons of coffee or whatever it is .
So it becomes this sort of a default and once you start sleeping the right time , you know getting without and without a full stomach and all these things you're going to feel amazing . My clients tell me I woke up , I don't need an alarm anymore . I woke up before my alarm . I didn't need that second cup of coffee .
I had energy all through the day and they never did so . It becomes , unfortunately , it becomes a default . So one of the things that I teach is about what the messages are your body sending you and what are you ignoring . So you have to go to the bathroom . Please go to the bathroom Like you wouldn't like hold it for hours , right ?
I hope not , but if you're tired and you're not going to sleep for hours and then another hour , your body gets really confused and then when you try to go to sleep , it's not going to be ready to . Yeah , so there are these cycles that we have that are the best with sleeping .
So not in addition to prioritizing sleep , it's about when we sleep , and this can get , you know , a little controversial , but the , the and going to sleep earlier . It's always going to be easier to go to sleep earlier than it is to get up earlier .
Absolutely . But , marjorie , you are a wealth of information and I love the whole idea of the periopsycho method . Now , for people who want to get in touch with you , I have put your links in the show page so , everybody , you can go to the show page and go ahead and check out this periomenopause program .
It's fascinating because she's come up with a way that can help you to basically balance your lifestyle in such a way where you have positive results as you're going through this transition , and she does it with some wonderful modalities that we all know about , but it's the way she's put them together . So this is fantastic .
Marjorie , thank you so much for joining us on the Vibe Living Podcast . It's been wonderful having you here today .
It's been my pleasure . I love speaking with you .
Thank you , thank you and thank you to all of you for tuning in to the Vibe Living Podcast . I know there's so many podcasts out there you could be listening to and I really appreciate you taking out the time . I am going to ask for a favor , though Make sure you follow me on social media .
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