4 Ways To Prepare Your Body For Menopause by
by Dr. Erin Fix
The menopausal transition can seem daunting—for some women the transition is less remarkable, yet for others it feels like a rollercoaster of hormonal chaos. While not all symptoms of perimenopause are within your control, knowing what’s to come and being armed with practical changes you can make to best support your body during the transition, can help you feel more empowered while stepping into this next phase of life.
1. Optimize Sleep
Sleep is a time for recovery and regeneration. It’s critical to feeling energized, focused, and motivated during the day. Disrupted sleep is a common complaint during perimenopause. If you’re wondering how you can support your body now so you can transition with ease later, getting your sleep in order is a great place to start. Are you in the habit of keeping you room cool, quiet, and dark? Do you have a nighttime routine in place? Need to break that habit of scrolling social media before bed? Now is the time.
2. Tackle Stress
A great approach to stress is to start with the 3 Rs—reduce, reframe, resilience. First, spend some time reflecting on your current stressors. Are there any that are self-inflicted—AKA things you can totally do something about but haven’t? This could be a boundary you need to enforce, a conversation with a loved one you’ve been avoiding, or a task you can delegate. Second, for the stressors you can’t control, spend some time seeing if you can reframe them. Are there any positives about the stressor? If so, write them down as a reminder. Third, let’s talk about building stress resilience. Research shows the best way to do this is through social connection. It’s why we’re hard wired to seek support during difficult times. This can look like counseling, weekly lunch with a friend, or volunteering in your community.
3. Build and Maintain Muscle
Building and maintaining muscle mass is not only critical for bone health, but it also helps ramp up your resting metabolism—making it easier to manage your weight in the long-run. Because muscle mass declines with age, is important to start to think about ways you can support muscle building and maintenance, especially for women entering perimenopause and wanting to best prepare their bodies for the hormonal transition to come. To build and support muscle, focus on getting a palm size serving of protein with every meal (yes, even breakfast) and be sure to include some form of strength training to your fitness routine.
4. Understand Insulin Resistance
As estrogen and progesterone levels decline, the female body becomes more insulin resistant. Insulin is a hormone released when you eat carbohydrates, and its job is to help move sugar from the blood into your cells to be used as energy. In a state of insulin resistance, the body isn’t listening as well to insulin’s signal. This means more insulin needs to be released to get the job done. The problem is, insulin is a signal to the body that it is in a “fed state.” As a result, this hormone completely shuts down fat burning, which in turn can make it very difficult to maintain or lose weight. The #1 thing you can do now to combat this is to start including protein, fat, and fiber at every meal.
Fat: olive oil, avocado oil, nut butter, coconut, organic cheese, avocado
Protein: poultry, beef, pork, eggs, fish, shrimp, tofu, tempeh, edamame, Greek yogurt
Fiber: vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils
Please reach out for further questions!
Dr. Erin Fix
