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Tag: fatigue

Mini Pause #66: Why You Shouldn’t Always Listen to Your Body

Posted on by stephanie-estima

TL; DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Our bodies often mislead us, nudging us toward overeating, under-exercising, or mistaking thirst for hunger. Surprisingly, elevated cortisol from poor sleep can enhance strength training by reducing perceived effort, and lifting during the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle is especially beneficial.

WHY

Our evolutionary wiring prioritizes energy conservation and calorie intake for survival. These biological instincts often clash with our modern wellness goals, tricking us into consuming more calories and being less active than we need to be. Additionally, hormonal shifts and sleep disturbances, common in perimenopause and menstrual cycles, further skew our internal signals.

WHAT

Common ways our bodies trick us:

  • Hunger masking as thirst (leading to unnecessary calorie consumption) 🤤
  • Fatigue signaling you to skip workouts (promoting inactivity) 🥱
  • Cravings for high-calorie comfort foods under stress (often due to increased cortisol) 🍕
  • Avoiding challenging workouts because they “feel too hard” 😭

Interestingly, elevated cortisol from a poor night's sleep can sometimes be beneficial, as it reduces your perception of heaviness during strength training sessions, potentially improving performance temporarily.

During your menstrual cycle, specifically the luteal phase, consistent strength training helps manage PMS symptoms, supports mood regulation, and maintains muscle mass.

HOW

Practical strategies to counter misleading body signals:

  • Hydrate first if you're hungry, then assess if you're truly hungry. 💧
  • Schedule workouts proactively to avoid deciding based on fatigue levels. 📆
  • Recognize cravings related to stress and cortisol—opt for balanced, protein-rich snacks. 😋
  • Leverage days of higher cortisol (after poor sleep) strategically for strength workouts, recognizing reduced perceived exertion. 💪
  • Maintain regular lifting routines, particularly in the luteal phase, to support hormone balance, energy levels, and overall mood. 🏋️‍♀️

NOW

Notice … have these tricky body signals ever confused you on what to do?

➡️ If you're hungry:

  • Try drinking some water with electrolytes and waiting 15 minutes to see if the “hunger” persists.

➡️ If you've had one bad night of sleep:

  • Use it to your advantage and use all those stress hormones for a great strength training session.

➡️ If your menstrual cycle feels awful:

  • Lighten the weights, but add volume in terms of reps and sets. This will release more anti-inflammatory compounds, helping to improve both your mood and your body.

What I Recommend

RED LIGHT SOLUTIONS FOR MIDLIFE HEALTH & RECOVERY

If you want to improve your skin, speed up your recovery, and enhance your sleep, red light is your midlife go-to. I depend on BON CHARGE devices because they deliver the targeted support and healing I need during perimenopause.

Here are a few favorites I recommend: Shop the Easter Sale Now to see all the choices and save 25%.

  • Red Light Face Mask + Red Light Neck & Chest Mask: My skin has never looked better!

  • Infrared Sauna Blanket: Targeted (and cozy!) relief after a hard leg workout in the gym.

  • Infrared PEMF Mat Max: When I’m stressed, have scrimped on sleep, and am worn out from work demands, this mat with its grounding frequencies is my saving grace.

  • Red Light Panels: These are the newest additions to my midlife recovery toolkit. The Mini Red Light Therapy Device is great for spot-healing aches and pains, while the larger Super Max benefits my whole body after a workout or before I go to bed.

BON CHARGE offers a red light device to fit your health needs and your budget. You’ll get 25% off storewide automatically applied to your order when you shop the Easter sale now through Monday, April 21, 11 p.m. EST.

VENISON FOR THE WIN: BEST PROTEIN-TO-CALORIE RATIO OF ANY RED MEAT

I've recently discovered what might be the most efficient protein source for hormonal health and metabolic flexibility. Maui Nui Venison provides the highest amount of quality protein in the fewest calories of any red meat–nearly twice the protein-to-calorie ratio of conventional beef. For women navigating hormonal shifts, this efficiency means supporting essential hormone production without excess calories that can trigger insulin resistance. Maui Nui’s wild-harvested, stress-free approach preserves compounds critical for thyroid function and metabolic health.

Visit mauinuivenison.com/stephanie and experience what truly wild protein can do for your hormonal balance. The nature of their work limits supplies, so secure your access to this amazing nutrition now.

KEEP WELL HYDRATED WITH BALANCED ELECTROLYTES

Now that spring is in full swing, I'm walking outside more. With the warmer temperatures, I have to remember to up my hydration, including proper electrolyte balance. This is where most people fall short. LMNT makes it easy with their single-pack flavor add-ins, which contain the balanced levels of sodium, potassium, and magnesium you need for optimal hydration.

Grapefruit is my personal spring flavor of choice, but Watermelon is my entire family’s favorite! Find your favorite flavor at LMNT and get a free sample pack with any purchase.

🌟 Love these recommendations? Find more resources to support your health in midlife in my Health Toolkit!

Mini Pause #13: Adopt Recovery Practices to Manage Your Energy

Posted on by stephanie-estima

Ways You Can Better Manage Fatigue and Recovery During Perimenopause and Menopause

TL,DR (too long, didn't read)

You deserve to recover. Not half-assed recovery. Full ass recovery. Using techniques like walking, thermal manipulation, and sleeping are mostly low-cost or no-cost ways to upregulate your capacity to recover. I’ve included some options I personally use, as well.

WHY

Recovery and fatigue management become essential pillars to master in perimenopause and menopause.

Truthfully, I don't think women were ever meant to work themselves into the ground and burn out, but words like hustle and hack have made their way into common language. Women are told they are just as good as the guys are… and then oops, here we are, pulling all-nighters, saying yes when we should be saying no, and living off of a To-Do list with a bad attitude and angry at the world.

Now don't misunderstand me – I DO want women to seek out and achieve all they desire and dream about.

Just not at the expense of health, joy, and pleasure.

Life humbles you as you age. Gone are the days of forgoing sleep for partying (or in my case studying), and you begin to cherish sleep, time alone, and a nourishing diet of food, people, and sacred spaces in your home.

Mastering recovery is key for body composition, mental grit, progression in the gym, and, dare I say… happiness at large.

You deserve to recover.
Fully.

There’s no half-assed recovery here, Bettys. We only recover with our full ass. Let’s dive in.

WHAT

SLEEP

There is no better glute builder, waist trainer, or happiness serum than a good night’s rest. It is the panacea of recovery. For perimenopausal women, sleep can evade us like the patriarchal moving target of beauty.

Our society is notoriously bad when considering our diurnal rhythms. We avoid sunlight like vampires, we eat late at night, and we bathe in artificial lights. The knock-on effects pervade our sleep quality and quantity.

Sleep affects every aspect of our lives. Mood, emotional regulation, physical repair, metabolism, glute gains, and wrinkles. For example, what happens when you only sleep for four hours for six days in a row during a particularly busy week? Your blood glucose spikes, your cells stop responding to insulin, and your glycation levels skyrocket.

Here in the Bettyverse, we want to sleep (and recover) like the goddesses we are. So, here are a few general guidelines, many low or no cost.

Go to Bed and Wake Up at the Same Time. I know this is glaringly obvious and potentially reduced to the ridiculous, but you would be AMAZED at what this does for sleep. Set your alarm clock. Do a wind-down routine an hour before bedtime. Dim the lights.

Go Outside. Rain or Shine. Again, at the risk of sounding ridiculous, going to a window is not being outside. Being in a car is not being outside. Going outside is going outside. No matter the weather, inclement or sunny. Buy some fun slip-ons and go out onto your balcony, terrace, or stoop. It doesn't matter as long as you can see the sun.

Make Your Bedroom a Sanctuary. I talk about this in The Betty Body: invest in dark curtains, pick your laundry up off the floor, and sleep on beautiful linens. Do whatever it takes to make your bedroom feel like a resting place fit for a queen.

TEMPERATURE MANIPULATION

In our efforts at modernity, we have forgotten that humans have never existed eternally in environments that were constantly 72F / 22 C. We have baked-in mechanisms to help uplevel our capacities based on whether we are cold or hot.

Cold Plunges. Sanctioned by biohackers and optimizers alike, there’s quite a bit of literature to support getting cold regularly to uplevel mitochondrial function and augment recovery. While women do not need to get into temperatures as cold as men, we can still reap many benefits from cold water immersion. This has become one of my favorite recovery tools that I use each morning.

I outlined a few low-cost ways to cold plunge in Mini Pause #2. I also invested in a portable cold plunge tub in my home but did so only after several months of cold water immersion in my home bathtub.

I am very happy to report that this winter I never used my winter jacket once! I would go to the store, to and from the gym, and everywhere else without my winter coat. My cold tolerance has steadily improved and I am super proud of it.

Heat Exposure. Heat is another way we can augment recovery via activating heat shock proteins. I recorded a BETTER! podcast #357 on heat science for my dark roast Bettys, but here are the high-level takeaways. Heat exposure:

    • helps promote cardiovascular health
    • activates your natural endorphin system
    • helps with muscle repair and soreness
    • helps to grow muscles (useful if you are training or to preserve tissue while injured)

Many gyms offer saunas as part of their service packages. If you have room in your home, you can invest in a home sauna. If you don’t have room in your home, there are portable sauna blankets. I love this as an option because, like a blanket, it just folds up after use so it doesn't require a dedicated space in your home.

ZONE 1 AKA WALKING

Maybe the most underrated recovery tool of all time is walking. Besides the metabolic and mood benefits, this is a great way to recover from a grueling leg day at the gym, an argument with your partner, or a bad night’s sleep.

Walking delivers oxygen and nutrients to your legs, replenishes glycogen stores in the legs, and helps to remove the build-up of metabolites like lactate that cause soreness in the first place.

I always try to go for a walk in the evening with my family in the warmer months of the year after dinner. And I always walk on the days following leg day to help reduce DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness). The first few minutes are uncomfortable, especially if I'm really sore, but as the blood starts moving and my legs get warmer, it becomes much more pleasant. My recovery from leg day is always better when I walk the same day or the day after that workout.

For all the Type A Bettys who need to ‘feel it,” you can certainly dial up the intensity with pace, hills, or rucking with a weighted vest or backpack.

HOW & NOW

Decide that you are worthy of recovery, rejuvenation, and rest! This may be the hardest task of them all. But trust me, you are worth it. Even if you don’t always believe that to be true. You are.

Build on sleep habits. Once you establish regular sleep/wake times (including weekends!, prioritize getting early morning light, and jeuge up your bedroom, you also can think about supplementation. I like to use magnesium supplements about an hour or so before bedtime.

Get your progesterone levels tested. This is one of the more common hormonal reasons we see sleep evade us in our 40s and 50s. Micronized oral progesterone is often the standard of care. Talk with your physician to determine if this might be an option for you, especially if you’ve mastered basic sleep hygiene and you’re still having difficulty sleeping.

WHAT I RECOMMEND: Recovery Tools

I’ve mentioned several recovery tools in today’s main article. Feel free to explore these options and determine if any may be a good fit for your lifestyle and budget. Use code DRSTEPHANIE with the links below to receive a special discount.

Question of the Week

Q: What is a solid alternative to birth control for my daughter?

I am a big fan of FAM, the Fertility Awareness Method. FAM works by tracking your basal body temperature and possibly cervical fluid secretions to determine ovulation. You can do this manually, or with modern apps. By doing a simple web search, you’ll find a plethora of information on FAM.

I often recommend a Daysy fertility tracker because it’s easy, and the app does all of the calculations for you. You take your oral temperature every morning on waking, enter menstruation days (if applicable) into the app, and it does the work for you.I love this because it’s a blend of modern science and natural cycles. You’re not taking anything exogenously that alters your natural hormone production, and it allows you or your daughter to get in touch with her unique rhythms. She will learn the length of her cycle, and eventually how her mood, sleep, and desire change throughout her menstrual cycle.

YOUR TURN!

I'll be answering your questions every week right here in the Mini Pause! Let me know what's on your mind. I'll be checking for both questions and feedback at support@drstephanieestima.com.

P.S.

HEALTH TOOLKIT: I’ve compiled numerous resources for you on my brand new website. These resources are for my Bettys who are still cycling, experiencing symptoms of perimenopause, or going through the menopause transition. Everything I recommend, I use myself. That’s my rule. I invite you to look around!