We're living in a fast-paced, high stress world, with lots of competing demands for our attention, time and energy, coupled with the stress we sometimes *unknowingly* place on ourselves. Our body’s fight or flight response is constantly being activated, so I want to dive into the stress + perimenopause connection.
In this episode I’m covering another very common symptom that women struggle with as their hormones decline: anxiety. Women are about twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and take anti-anxiety medications. About 15% to 50% of perimenopausal women may experience anxiety, often accompanied by depression, insomnia, and forgetfulness.
Today's episode is about your mood in perimenopause, particularly, the irritable, moody bitchiness that comes before your period. So typically, women experience mood swings, irritability, a short fuse, if you will, the week or so prior to their period. But let me explain what’s happening in your cycle so you can better understand how it’s all connected.
If you're like the thousands of women in my community, you may have noticed that your sleep isn't as good as it used to be. And you probably hear everyone on social media saying you need to get 7-9 hours of sleep, sleep is absolutely vital, and so on. But you’re like…uh, yeah, I tried and I can’t sleep. So let’s break it down, shall we?
One of the most common symptoms women experience in perimenopause: fatigue. In fact, in a study that was done to evaluate the dynamics between stress and fatigue experienced by women during the menopausal transition, a whopping 46.5% of peri-menopausal women reported symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion.
So 1 in 8 women will develop thyroid issues in her lifetime. We are 5-8 times more likely than men to develop thyroid disease, and hypothyroidism and perimenopause often occur together. In fact, about 26% of women in perimenopause or midlife are diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This can be due to decline in progesterone and fluctuating estrogen. So in this stage of life, it’s a bit of a double whammy. And both need to be addressed.
