No nonsense - 6 habits that WILL aggravate your Peri/menopause symptoms and solutions to help

Here is no sweet talk, straight up advice for you to make some changes and feel better straight away.

Low self esteem. Anxiety. Hot flashes. Menorage. Sleep Irregularities. Blood pressure. Depression. The list never ends. There are about 34 symptoms officially but really there are more like 50+ symptoms.

Do you know that unknowingly you might be contributing to the severity of your symptoms?

1. You are always putting other people first and not yourself.

Oh but I have a child! and house work and who else is going to do the cooking and cleaning. My family needs me!

You deserve a medal for being the best mother, wife, daughter, sister in the world but nobody will give it to you! Not saying your family is ungrateful, just saying when it comes to self care, it is in your hands. You need to look after yourself when you are going through Peri/menopause. Don't be a martyr and feel sorry for yourself, take action! Make self care a priority.

2. You are drinking way too much alcohol.

I love my evening with my galfriends and I only drink Thursday to Sunday.

Alcohol is the number one aggravator of symptoms. It can ruin your sleep pattern, aggravate night sweats and is also a diuretic – causing you to need the toilet more. Low estrogen causes low metabolism so the body cannot process alcohol easily.

Start to cut down and slowly replace alcohol with other fun beverages and see how much better you feel. It is not easy if you have spent your youth in london pubs and bars (like me) but I am doing it and so CAN you!

3. You are eating a heavy meal or skipping meals at dinner time and eating late.

Waiting for your partner and kids to get home and eating with family is great but how late? or storing belly fat so eating too little?

Either is extreme, you need nourishment so don't skip meals rather replace heavy meals with light soups or salads and eat at least 3 hours before bed.

You can eat earlier and then spend time connecting with family/partner/kids at the table if official dinner time is later in your household.

4. You reach for ice cold water when you have a hot flash or need cooling down.

Aaah, but ice cold water feels so good when you are having a hot flash? It is making matters worse!

Due to changes in hormones, blood vessels start to thicken and constrict preventing good blood supply. The body's thermostat the brain and the skin cannot regulate when you get a hot flashes or vasomotor symptoms. Drinking ice cold water further cools the body down temporarily but prevents the blood vessels from opening up even more. Instead drink: warm water; herbal teas; room temp water.

5. You are on your mobile or laptop till late hours in the evening before bed.

This is my time to have the evening to myself and catch up on facebook and check the gossip in other people's lives!!!

Being on the phone is like being sucked into a black hole! you need your brain to switch off and be able to sleep so that you feel rested and 100% able to combat the next day and its symptoms. My rule is at least 2 hours before bed. Devices and mobile off. As many days as you can. On days you have to work late or check up on your loved one overseas, you cant help it and that is ok.

6. You are not neutralising your cortisol levels.

Work, kids need to be taxied around, bills don't pay themselves. Recession. Ukraine war. Hot flashes. Must block partner's nose in the night, and that idiot who overtook me on the road... AAAAAAAarrgh .......

Due to lower levels of estrogen, cortisol doesn't get regulated in the body. It starts to store, this is why even when you eat healthy, walk, exercise, run, you still start to collect belly fat, that and the body trying to produce more adrenaline. But we are not bothered about belly fat because we are happy, confident and intelligent women right? We are worried about cortisol levels because it is HARMFUL for us in other and worst areas like: heart attacks, blood pressure, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression etc.

Modalities like yoga, meditation, pranayam, breathwork, mindfulness is a MUST.

All of these are well researched and studied points. All these are experienced and implemented by yours truly and I have seen the results of what happens. That is why I am sharing.

Let me know what out of these habits do you need to rethink and also what symptoms are most aggravated for you and see if I can come up with a simple solution for you.

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