Soul Sustenance: Stress, Women, and Menopause

 As we approach the holidays once again, it can be a time of stress - especially with the pandemic continuing on. I had a chance to interview Paget Rhee. She is Director of Operations and a multi-unit franchisee with BeBalanced Hormone Weight Loss Centers, a non-medical, holistic weight loss and stress management franchise. As a stress management expert, she provided great information about stress and women.

1. As the weather gets cooler, how can women dress for both hot flashes and chills?

Of course, layers are always best as you can quickly respond to the immediate temperature changes. However, it's most important to look at how these hot flashes are being initiated and be proactive to avoid these initiating factors. Hot flashes are a result of a hormone imbalance as are many other symptoms that we deal with ranging from weight gain to low libido, and more. 

We often think of hot flashes as a purely menopausal issue and, due to a high instance of hormone imbalances as we age, that is somewhat accurate. However, in reality, hot flashes can happen at many different ages. The hormone imbalances that can cause hot flashes can be due to estrogen and progesterone not being in balance, but it can also be a result of an insulin or blood sugar concern. 

2. Celebrations often include rich or spicy food and alcohol - what do women need to know about how they affect menopause symptoms?  

This is again an indicator that the imbalance that needs to be addressed is primarily a change in blood sugar that affects the hormone insulin.  When we indulge in wine and spirits, it will raise our blood sugar and those changes can then initiate hot flashes. The same effect can happen if we overindulge in certain foods over the holidays. It is important to be sure that you are eating the appropriate quantity of protein and quality vegetables in a day to be able to anchor your blood sugar so that the occasional holiday indulgences will have less of an impact.  If you go long periods of time without eating, a drop in your blood sugar can have an equal effect to a rise caused by to too much cabernet.

3. What do women need to consider about exercise during menopause? 

As we age, our stress threshold of what our body can manage will decline while, at the same time, much of our external stress rises as we deal with work, family, and changing bodies.  At BeBalanced we are passionate about educating women to understand how to support their bodies through stress with nutrition, excellent supplementation as well as a balance of relaxation and exercise.  For some women, the days of hard cardio may be over; this type of exercise can add to their stress and play a large part in the way that hormones become unbalanced in the first place - adrenal stress.

4. How can women manage stress levels and know when to seek help?

It is important to give ourselves permission to recognize that we all carry a lot!  At BeBalanced we understand that "Just because she carries it, does not mean it's not heavy!"  We want to walk with women on a journey to understand holistically how their bodies are responding to the pressures and stress of daily life and offer actionable solutions to successfully provide their bodies with the resources and support to live the highest quality of life at any age! Many of our clients have told us about conversations with their doctors complaining of feelings of low energy, weight gain, headaches and hot flashes. They are then either offered a synthetic hormone with questionable benefits and a host of possible side effects. We want to offer natural and sustainable solutions.  

When seeking to understand your stress, it is imperative that we prioritize some kind of relaxing type of activity such as Yoga, guided meditation or a walk in nature.  If our goal in hard exercise is stress reduction or weight management, these can create opposite benefits from what we seek as we age. Once we begin to relax and honor our bodies, we start to come back into balance with our gut health, our adrenal support and our mental health.  We would also recommend some intentional supplements that can assist in maintaining this balance.  

If you regain balance, additional strength resistance training can be valuable, but only when used in coordination with the relaxation techniques and not in place of.  Our bodies are like a well-tuned car and the symptoms we experience are similar to the engine light on your car.  They are identifying the problem, but they themselves are rarely the problem.  As we age our bodies need grace and stress is an initiating factor that causes the engine light to appear.  We always need to look deeper to identify the root cause and hormone imbalances are often at the top of the list!

Mental health has been part of the national/international conversation lately because of the pandemic and other challenges of the last several years. The holidays can be particularly triggering, particularly for women who are experiencing changes with their bodies. Rhee - as both an expert and someone who experienced this first hand - can talk about ways to combat these common stressors, and BeBalanced's method to help women through menopause and high levels of holiday stress.