Hormones or Burnout?
This blog comes off the back of a run of discovery calls where I’ve spoken to lots of women struggling with perimenopause and menopause symptoms, who are also doing A LOT.
These women have completely different lifestyles and commitments, but the same pattern keeps appearing so it felt worth highlighting.
Each of them had come to me because their symptoms were becoming increasingly problematic, weight gain, joint pain and sleep issues bothered all of them the most.
I looked at their daily routine alongside their symptoms and a similar picture emerged.
Many were working full time, also caring for young kids or teenagers, sometimes both. A good number were also in the "care sandwich," responsible for elderly relatives too.
Boundaries were non existent, especially when it came to self care, time to rest or have fun.
Several were doing some kind of qualification or part time study, as a form of security against AI and an uncertain job market.
Whilst these may be deemed necessary steps in times of real pressure, the body doesn't know the difference. It just simply reflects how much load it's carrying and that it’s too much.
What clients are asking me
Almost every one of these conversations arrives at the same set of questions:
1) What supplements can help?
2) How can I get rid of these symptoms?
3) How can the weight gain be stopped?
4) Should I go on HRT, or increase their dose? * I don't advise on HRT but it comes up often enough in these calls as they want my opinion on natural alternatives.
What I notice in all of these questions is the same underlying belief that they need help doing more. They want to keep going at this pace and stop their symptoms getting in the way. The problem here is we are bypassing and ignoring the body’s innate intelligence.
The number one thing I actually prescribe
For most of my clients right now, the most important intervention isn't a supplement.
It's actually more rest and just “being” not “shoulding” and “doing.”
Easier said than done but I promise we do always find a way to rebalance where energy and focus is directed across the week.
I specifically recommend rest that promotes self connection, like a yoga nidra or a somatic (body based) meditation practice.
These practices are not just about lying down for twenty minutes and feeling instantly better (although they do have that effect). They also facilitate a connection between your body and mind.
Your body wants real health, it’s where your natural instincts, memories and truths are based. Hence the term ‘gut feeling’ and ‘heart felt sense.’ When you set aside 10-30 minutes daily for a mind body practice you start to see things differently.
The body is much wiser than your mind and helps you reconsider choices. Many clients naturally come to the conclusion they are spinning too many plates and “This isn’t the way.” after using these tools.
Each practice cultivates more self worth and starts to remind you what really matters, you begin to find solutions that ease the pressure and put your needs back on the agenda.
Why burnout and hormones are so easily confused
This matters because burnout and hormone imbalances stand in overlapping territory. For me it’s become genuinely hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Disrupted sleep, brain fog, irritability, exhaustion, flat mood, or anxiety could be hormones or a chroncially stressed nervous system.
Similarly, having low resilience, weight creeping on, skin and gut symptoms flaring for no clear reason - could be either.
Oestrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate of course but a nervous system that has been activated for years impacts our experience of these changes, not to mention the intensity of them.
If life has been relentless for a long time, the body is already primed towards a more reactive, more inflamed state, regardless of what your hormones are doing.
What this means is that working upstream of hormones with mindfulness and nervous system support is likely to have a beneficial impact on balancing your hormones and any symtoms you’re struggling with.
An exercise worth trying
One thing I’ve done with clients is ask them to write down everything they expect of themselves in a single day. And I mean everything. Not just the big visible things like work and childcare, but the washing up, hoovering, the school run, the WhatsApp messages, life admin and paperwork.
Almost everyone who does this properly is bowled over by where the list ends up. It's often thirty or more at least and many of these tasks require 30-60 mins. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see where the problem really lies.
Once it's written down in full, it becomes much easier to see why there's no room left for a curveball, an illness, a bad night's sleep, or anything unplanned, the day was already completely full.
Three Things That Can Help
If you're struggling with symptoms, it's worth stepping back for a moment before reaching straight for a supplement or a suppression strategy.
Consider what your body has actually had in the way of rest lately.
You don’t need to make big moves like a resignation or packing your bags and leaving everyone to it, simply start thinking about these three things:
How can you incorporate more rest into your week, a 20 min yoga nidra three times a week is a great start.
Can you delegate more? Be strong here. Many of us love control and are doing more than everyone else because we choose to, challenge yourself to outsource more of your ‘To Do’s.’
Embrace imperfection more, if you can really get on board with this you instantly gain back hours of your life which you can invest in self care. Part of your peri/menopause journey may also involve confronting your addiction to perfection. That’s a whole different article for sure.
If this sounds familiar
This is exactly the work we do together inside the Mindful Body Method: learning to listen to your body, rebuild your boundaries, prioritise your needs and reconnect with the parts of yourself that have been pushed aside.
If you recognise yourself in any of this, come and join us. You can find out more and become a member hereor if you'd rather talk it through first, book a free discovery call with me here.
