Feel like the energizer bunny who’s run out of batteries?
Like the busy bee who’s lost her buzz?
Listen up, beautiful midlife warriors (bees & bunnies), if your energy levels are tanked, you struggle with brain fog, memory, sleep, persistent overwhelm, and an overall lack of motivation, this one's for you!
Fatigue during perimenopause is a real thing!
Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
So, let’s shed a little light on this energy decline and see what we can do to recharge those batteries!
Why am I so tired?
Declining Estrogen Levels: When our estrogen levels decline, so too do our energy levels. Estrogen plays a critical role in regulating various bodily functions, including metabolism, sleep, immune system function, and ATP conversion. Furthermore, estrogen helps us regulate our sleep cycles. As estrogen declines, women become more susceptible to sleep disturbances, insomnia, and difficulty falling back asleep. If that’s not enough, estrogen is also responsible for the regulation of many other hormones including serotonin, which influences mood, energy levels, and motivation.
Perimenopausal Symptoms: As we fall prey to the many other perimenopausal symptoms: hot flashes, night sweats, joint aches, difficulty focusing, and mood fluctuations (to name only a few), these symptoms will further influence your ongoing ability to mobilize and move through your day the way that you used to.
Stress Levels Increase: Fluctuating levels of both estrogen & progesterone, combined with the overall decline of both of these hormones creates increased stress levels. Women often experience symptoms of anxiety, overwhelm, ADHD, and an inability to focus and stay on task the way that they normally would. Increased stress levels will naturally decrease energy levels. Instead of utilizing energy for the normal day to day activities, work, kids, & life, our energy is being redirected to try and help us manage the added stress of rollercoaster-crazed hormones. (yep, good times!)
The Good News?
There are many holistic strategies that can help support you through this transitional time so that you can gain back a little pep in your step and start feeling a bit more like the busy-bee/energizer bunny that your used to (but maybe with a little side of slow-er-down and take-er-easy honey pie 😉).
So let me start you off here by saying: You, my lovely midlife Queen, have changing hormones; they are operating differently than they used to. And in order to honour this incredible time of transition, we must accept that we are changing. Thus, we must respect the body (the heart, soul, & mind) and accept that her needs might be a little different than they were before.
I’ll say it again:
You are changing.
And in order to avoid suffering through this transition, you must first accept the change.
And proceed to look after yourself differently than you may have in the past.
Here’s Where You Can Focus:
Nourishing Your Body
Get Rid of the Energy Zappers: I know you don’t want to hear this, strong-willed beauties, but you already know what I’m going to say here: it’s more important than ever before to be mindful of foods and powerful substances that negatively impact your energy levels. Those extra coffees, chocolate croissants, and glasses of wine are only going to get in your way at this time (I’m very sorry to say). You’re smart and you know yourself, so I’m just going to nudge you to consider what you might be consuming that is draining your energy stores. Things like: refined sugar, refined flour foods, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, baked goods, and candy/junk foods, are all going to rob you of your energy. AND they will also negatively impact all other symptoms from hot flashes & night sweats, to joint aches, weight gain, moodiness, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Do your best to reduce these energy zappers and consider eliminating them all together, if that’s what feels needed.
Eat Real Foods & Lots of Them! The upside here, my food loving friends, is that good food is necessary at this time. So go ahead and eat your little heart out! Provided you are choosing good foods, healthy fats, quality protein, including lots of plants & plant diversity, rotating your proteins, eating organic as much as possible, and making food at home using quality ingredients - eat the food!!
Want to learn a bit more about what foods to eat? Grab this FREE Guide: 5 Foods to Eat Daily During Perimenopause
Work with Your Metabolism: One of the absolute most impactful places to work, when talking about fatigue during perimenopause, is working with the changing metabolic rhythm. This decline in hormones will naturally create a decrease in metabolic capacity. Therefore, for most women, we often see issues with energy levels, unexplained fatigue, and lack of motivation during this time of transition. One of the best ways to support yourself is to facilitate better metabolic balance. While I will be honing in on this topic a LOT in my upcoming 30 Day Perimenopause Program, here are a few things that you can try in order to encourage better metabolic rhythm and increase energy production & maintenance throughout the day:
Eat every 2-3 hours throughout your day
Do not skip meals (especially breakfast)
Eat most of your calories between the hours of 10am and 3pm
Do not eat after 6pm at night
Go for a 10 - 15 minute walk after meals
Support Good Digestion: You may not think that what’s happening in the GI tract is affecting your energy levels, but they are absolutely connected! How well your digestive system is functioning will directly impact how much energy you are able to absorb from your food and how many micronutrients make their way into your cells (providing mitochondrial energy). If you are suffering from poor digestion, have had a few rounds of antibiotics in the last year or so, have had a parasite or a bacterial infection, or have simply not been consuming a very nutrient-dense diet, you are likely impacting your energy levels in a big way. Again, we will be providing a more indepth focus on Digestive Health & Perimenopause during the PeriMeno-Plan Program, but here are a few things you can do right away to encourage better digestion:
Chew your food well
Slow down with your meal
Calm the nervous system before eating (a few deep diaphragmatic breaths)
Choose easier to digest meals: soups, stews, curries, chili, steamed vegetables
Include fermented foods in the diet regularly
Limit processed foods & refined oils
Support the Nervous System
Get Real About Your Stress Levels: When I work with women, I find that most of them tend to downplay their stress levels. Myself included, women (and lots of men too) have this tendency to accept higher functioning stress levels as the present day “normal” and we run with answers like “it’s all good” or “I’m fine”, when it’s not and we aren’t. Something I like to ask of my clients is to make a list of your top 3 stressors (maybe it’s work, or health, or money, or a relationship), then rate each of these stressors on a scale of 0-10. Then address each one by unpacking it a bit, listing what exactly is stressful about it, when it’s highest, what helps, what makes it worse. Then reflect. Might there be a little wiggle room to make adjustments so that the number can decrease a little? Can we take a few extra days off work, enlist the support of a therapist or a financial coach, or can we prioritize a date night? Where can you make a few little shifts?
Slow it Down: Living in that fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system dominance, exacerbates symptoms of all kinds, particularly when it comes to hormones. In reaction to stressors, the body releases hormones such as cortisol, causing a temporary increase in energy production, oftentimes at the cost of other bodily processes, such as digestion, immune system function, and hormonal processes. Stress can disrupt the natural hormone cycle, contributing to increased symptoms of moodiness, sleep irregularities, shortened, or more frequent periods, excess bleeding, anxiety, symptoms of ADHD, overwhelm, headaches, hot flashes, & night sweats. If your stress levels are getting in the way of balanced health, maybe it’s time to take a load off: reduce your load at work, let go of an extracurricular responsibility, take a day off to have a long bath and read your novel, meditate, deep breathe, and get yourself to that Restorative Yoga class you keep avoiding!
Stress Reduction Techniques: While I may not be much of a “woo-woo” type of gal, I do respect & understand that stress reduction techniques are rooted in science and can make an incredible impact on daily stress levels. Plus, for the most part, they are FREE and do not take up a lot of time or energy. Daily stress reduction techniques, like breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, or even walks in nature, are an absolute MUST for your perimenopausal management regime, and can greatly impact your energy levels. Start with 5 minutes a day and see how you feel!
Move Your Body
Too Tired to Move: Sorry my beautiful ladies, but I call BS on that one! Because movement is energizing, not the opposite! If you’ve fallen far from your exercise motivation train, but know deep down that you’d be better off hopping back on, start small; start with something doable that you’ll enjoy. It can be as simple as a 15 minute walk after dinner each day. That being said, the more often and regularly that you exercise, and include many different kinds of exercise, like weight training, cardio, HIIT, yoga, dance, biking, hiking, etc., the more energy you will gain. I can’t say this enough: choose things you enjoy! There are many options out there, join a dance class, a kickboxing class, hike on weekends with your bestie, or run up a mountain with your favourite furry friend. Just move! I always recommend a goal of at least 30 mins/day with longer commitments on the weekend. The more you can make it a part of your life, the more benefits you will see.
I Don’t Have Time: Again, I call BS! Make time. You are a woman in your power. You get to decide what’s important to you and, if it isn’t your health, you’ll have trouble keeping up with anything else. Carve it into your daily regime. Attend hot yoga after work, get up at 5am (like me!), squeeze it in during your lunch hour; do what you have to do to make it a steady, important part of your life. The more you move, the better you will feel. I promise.
Prioritize Sleep
Establish a Solid Sleep Routine: You know who you are: crawling into bed with good intentions at 9:30 pm, but scrolling or watching reels for an hour or so, or accidentally binge watching old Grey’s Anatomy episodes, finally asleep maybe by 11pm, but up a few times to pee or because you’re way too hot (then way too cold), only to screech a decent stretch of sleep to a screaming halt when your alarm goes off at 6:30 am.
I see you!
I get that it’s hard to change these kinds of habits. And I also get that at the end of a long day, sometimes we just want to crawl into bed and zone out on the screen for a bit. The thing is that during this very volatile time for women, sleep is of utmost importance and if we are not prioritizing quality sleep, we are setting ourselves up for intensified symptoms, increased fatigue, and a much better chance of letting loose both the midnight cookie monster and the daytime wicked witch from the west (insert cackle).
Try to wind down about 1 hour before you actually get under the covers. Brew some calming tea, run a bath, turn down the lights, put on some calming music, listen to a meditation, or my personal favourite, stretch or roll your sore muscles. Do your best to keep the screen out of the bedroom!! If you want to binge watch some Grey’s Anatomy, girlfriend, by all means, go for it! But do that on the couch or while you are cooking or cleaning up the kitchen. Save the bed for sleeping & sexy times only.
Set An Earlier Time to Get to Bed: Most of the women that I work with that are struggling with fatigue are going to bed too late at night and struggling to yank themselves out in the morning. There is a simple fix to this that honestly just requires adjusting your schedule a bit in the evenings. If you normally wind up asleep by 11 pm, but know you’d really benefit from an extra hour, then begin your wind down at 9 and aim to be in bed by 10. Just try it for a week or so and see. This very simple adjustment can impact your daytime energy a LOT more than you may think!
Lastly, dear Beautiful Women, Go Easy on Yourself!
This Perimenopausal time is not a time for pushing through. Your body is asking you for more patience, more attention, more acceptance, more grace. As you move into a more mature version of yourself, remember that with maturity comes responsibility: you are responsible for your own health, your own schedule, your own priorities, and you can write your own story on how this powerful time of transition will go.
Be kind. Be gentle. Be patient. And let go of perfectionism and the ridiculous drive to do more and busy yourself at all times. The body needs to feel more in balance, not in high gear all the time.
Things are different.
Allow them to be.
Work with Perimenopause, not against it!
If you’d like to learn more about Holistic Strategies and Perimenopause,
Grab my FREE Guide: 5 Foods to Eat Daily During Perimenopause
Better yet, join me for my 30 Day Program, The PeriMeno - Plan!
This program runs June 1st - 30th and will provide you with an incredible amount of information, tools, inspiration, recipes, food & supplement specifics, metabolic shifts, & motivation, to help you get off the rollercoaster, regain your energy, and feel better in your body & your mind throughout this beautiful time of transformation and beyond ♡