The Wellness Inspired Podcast

Guiding Women Athletes through Menopause with Grace, Grit, and Resilience | Istra Bauza

• Sheri Davidson • Episode 44

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Have you ever wondered how menopause impacts a woman's health, athletic performance, and well-being? We're taking a deep dive into this hot topic with the help of Istra Bauza, a triathlon coach, PT2 lifestyle coach, USMS Swim Coach, Clinical Mental Health Counselor in training, Ironman triathlete, and Mother. With her wealth of experience and personal anecdotes, Istra provides a fresh perspective on navigating menopause and its challenges, from handling physical symptoms to dealing with psychological barriers and lifestyle changes.
 
 In our conversation, Istra touches on the importance of self-awareness, self-compassion, and stress management. We also discuss the impacts of menopause on weight gain and explore the role of sleep, strength training, and nutrition in managing these transitions. Istra emphasizes the power of self-care and the need to prioritize our needs during this transformative phase in a woman's life.
 
 Whether you're an athlete or just interested in understanding more about this phase of life, this episode is filled with valuable insights and practical tools. Remember, you're not alone in this, and with the right strategies and mindset, you can navigate menopause with grace, grit, and resilience.
 
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Speaker 1:

Hi Wellness Friends and welcome back to the Wellness Inspired Podcast, a place where you can find inspiration, motivation and empowerment in the pursuit of a wellness lifestyle. I'm your host, sherri Davidson. I'm a wellness coach and acupuncturist in Houston, texas and I am deeply passionate about health and well-being. And, as always, I am here with my co-host, finn. And if you're new to the podcast, finn is my Terrier, mix, rescue Dog, trailrunner and Loyal companion. He is also a therapy dog and greeter at Element 5, acupuncture and Wellness. Today we have an exciting episode for you.

Speaker 1:

Have you ever wondered how menopause impacts a woman's health, athletic performance and well-being? I sat down with Ystra Balsa to discuss this life transitions effect on women athletes. Ystra is a triathlon coach, pt2 lifestyle coach, us MS swim coach and she's also a clinical mental health counselor and training Ironman, triathlete and a mother. And with her wealth of experience and personal antidotes, ystra provides a fresh perspective on navigating menopause and its challenges, from handling physical symptoms to dealing with the psychological barriers that hinder lifestyle changes. In our conversation, ystra touches on the importance of self-awareness, self-compassion and stress management. We also discuss the impacts of menopause on weight gain and explore the role of sleep, strength training and nutrition in managing these transitions. Ystra emphasizes the power of self-care and the need to prioritize our needs during this transformative phase in a woman's life. What stood out the most to me after this conversation was that this phase impacts every part of your life. It's not just about the physical and emotional signs and symptoms like night sweats, frequent and urgent urination, hot flashes, anxiety, depression and stress. I see these symptoms frequently in the clinic. An acupuncture in Eastern medicine can manage these symptoms quite effectively. However, I did not connect how influential this phase is to the overall mindset, and I think this is incredibly important when you're trying to accomplish goals, big or small, career or sports. This phase can be transformative, but awareness is the first step. So, whether you're an athlete or just interested in understanding more about this phase of life, this episode is filled with valuable insights and practical tools. So remember you're not alone in this and with the right strategies and mindset, you can navigate menopause with grace, grit and resilience.

Speaker 1:

Before we move forward, I just want to mention one thing. I am planning a European Wellness Riverboat cruise in 2024. My friend, tammy Heroka, is a travel concierge and friend. She's been on the podcast we talked about wellness travel, but she's helping me plan this adventure. I have yet to commit to a river, but I'm thinking of a seven night cruise on the Danube River. We will cruise through Austria, germany, hungary and Slovakia. There will be active sightseeing, so hiking, biking, maybe some running, if I can get that in there. There will also be yoga, wellness talks, relaxing and locally sourced cuisine. So stay tuned for more details. I've already have many people interested and I have yet to do any marketing except for here. So get ready to grab your spot. All right, are you ready to embrace this transition in life with grace and grit? Well, let's go. I introduce you to Easter. Hi, easter, welcome back to the podcast. Last time you were on I don't know what episode that was, but we talked about sports. We talked about women in sports.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me back. It's an honor to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, you're also a friend, and today we are still on the subject of women and athletes, but we're going to be talking more about older athletes and menopause?

Speaker 1:

Yes, and I think this couldn't be more timely because it is in the forefront of people's minds right now. I see on TV I see there's a drug company that advertised for hot flashes. There's all kinds of articles coming out about women and menopause. The Wall Street Journal put out an article saying what if we could get rid of menopause. This past weekend that I read, the New York Times magazine came out with an article called women have been misled about menopause. So there's a lot of talk going on about menopause.

Speaker 2:

So it's very timely that you're here and we're going to be talking about it, to tell people who you are and your story, thank you, and yes, I agree that menopause has become a product, a big, you know, lucrative product, and you see it if you listen to Spotify, if you're watching movies, if you're watching shows, if you're listening to music, you're always going to be targeted to see that this. Here we have the solution for you, so, yes, yes, everyone has a solution, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, but we're going to. We're going to address some of these things, but first let me just introduce myself. Thank you for having me. I'm Isstra Bousa. I am a counselor intern at two universities. I'm finishing a master's in clinical mental health counseling, but before that I am also a triathlon coach and triathlete, and now I'm doing a lot of a lot more cycling these days.

Speaker 1:

You're doing more like road, not road, trail, trail yeah, I'm doing a lot of like off road, off road I was looking for.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, off road gravel riding and mountain biking and I'm going to talk a little bit about that, my love for that. But yeah, basically my goal in working with some of the clients and some of the athletes that I work with is help them develop lifestyle modifications as they enter, because I work primarily with women. I would say like 75% or 80% of my clients are women and I like to help them. I've been helping them for about seven years with coaching, multi-sport coaching running, swimming, biking, you know, riding, training plans but now I started seeing a lot more of the mental health issues and struggles that women face, so I decided to try to combine these two disciplines.

Speaker 1:

So. So what's the average age that you're coaching?

Speaker 2:

So the average age generally it's 40 and up, yeah, 40, 30, late 30s, all the way to, like you know, late 50s, early 60s.

Speaker 1:

Are they mostly triathletes?

Speaker 2:

A lot of them are triathletes and a lot of them used to exercise and now they're not exercising, so you find that they're lacking motivation to go back to establish a regimen after they have entered, you know, either perimenopause or menopause.

Speaker 1:

So these are, these are women that you've been coaching, and you coach them when they were active and then they started going through the transition and they became more inactive. Is that yeah?

Speaker 2:

So I have that and I also have women that are simply they. They said yeah, I used to do five Ks. I used to do running. I used to run, have marathons, and now I'm coming back because I just lost, or I'm in the process of losing weight, or had gastric bypass, or the sleeve, what they call, this lead, which is weight loss surgery.

Speaker 2:

So some of these women come with all sorts of issues, but primarily the theme and the the main issues that they come with typically is that they're dealing with a lot of symptoms. I'm saying when I say symptoms, I say biopsychosocial everything, everything, anxiety, depression hot flashes, not sweats, not sleeping or sleeping.

Speaker 1:

That's a big one, especially when you're training the sleeping, which is like my top top.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, so these women come with yes, I want to immediately there. They come to you saying the immediate things, like I want to lose weight, and I always say, okay, let's go back and see where you are at in this. All these other areas, the weight will come off. Generally speaking, when you address lifestyle issues, lifestyle, the whole holistic spectrum of lifestyle interventions that you do with clients I'm saying areas, holistic areas, such as sleep, like you, mentioned it's huge nutrition, exercise relationships, social supports we're talking about the whole holistic and the whole area within a woman's life and the mental health aspect.

Speaker 2:

Before entering this degree in working with women in mental health, I never really gave too much thought as to how impactful it is to have some sort of clarity when you're training, some sort of support system at home where you're feeling like you have some safety, some predictability in your life, and how these things affect and how they become pronounced and become more challenges during menopause.

Speaker 1:

Give us an example of an athlete that you've recently worked with. Take us through that process of how they came to you and said you know like I used to work out and I don't work out anymore. I'd like to gain that motivation back. I would like to sign up for, like a sprint triathlon. So what is your process? Going through that?

Speaker 2:

So yes. I know everybody's different but, everybody's different and that's something very important to remember that as you enter this stage of life, everything, all the way, everything manifests, is very unique to everyone. So I have a client that she's no longer competing but at the time that I was training her, she came to me because she lives, she's, in the Northeast and she used to run marathons and in her mid 30s, early 30s and at the time she approached me she was she's still, she's in her early 40s. She has three children.

Speaker 2:

She works part-time as a marketing assistant. She also is a part-time comedian. Yes, she was super, super busy. She also suffers from anxiety, perfectionism and also was on medication for ADHD. She came to me with all these things and her goal was she wanted to race, she wanted to do a triathlon and she wanted to, ultimately, to lose weight. That was her reason. That was her reason to come to me.

Speaker 2:

The motivation yes I heard that you train athletes or clients to complete these races. Here I am. I want a complete one. So we started looking at her lifestyle and how she manages her day. Of course there's factors there, you know, that have to do with ADHD and like organization structure in your day, things like that.

Speaker 2:

We worked a little bit with that and trying to incorporate exercise, strength training, into her day because she was extremely busy. We started like that kind of like looking okay, so what can you do? We didn't start with, like you know, the usual training okay, this is 18, you know, eight weeks or she was doing a sprint try and then she did an Olympic. We did not use the approach, the regular approach I'm just going to write this plan for a woman, you know, trying to complete a sprint. I actually went with her and explore what can you do? What time do you have? These are the goals. So we started working with the space she had and that basically progressing to her to the point that sometimes she couldn't train and she would like have to skip weeks because she had like comedy shows and things she was traveling. She'll be really happy that I'm talking about her here.

Speaker 2:

We don't know her name yeah, yeah, I'm not going to say her name, yeah, but she was a great client and then, ultimately, she competed and finished the race. Then we were working with something that I always like athletes to do we do a race recap, you know, and not only just to inform the world what you did, also to do a little bit of you know, reviewing your progress reviewing your reflection.

Speaker 1:

Your reflection because so many people do those things and they're all. They're on to the next race.

Speaker 2:

Exactly so a little bit of taking time to reflect on what happened, what were the lessons learned and how to move forward. And she made that list. She did it and then we moved forward and she completed another one. She was very proud of herself and this helped her gain competence and, you know, it builds a little bit of resilience. You feel better about yourself. Did she lose the weight?

Speaker 1:

She lost some weight.

Speaker 2:

She lost some weight, but of course it wasn't enough for her. She's like well, yeah, I understand, I'm glad that I lost weight, but I want to lose more weight. So, yeah, but that's the goal, wasn't? Her goal was lose weight. For me, my head, I was thinking she needs to establish a pattern of like you know a habit, establish a habit and, and you know kind of continue on, even if she's not training for triathlon, so she can build a real habit that stakes stakes?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because that's the consistency, is what gets you where you want to go. Yeah, Exactly, and everybody could even me to build better habits right, yeah, everyone can definitely form habits and sometimes you do surprise yourself.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I was in her forties and was she going through any kind of menopausal phase when she came to you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so she was not aware or maybe she did not share those things with me, but I know she had like a lot of anxiety. She was off, of course, on medication for various things, and then that's something we had to address before, during training, before the race and after the race she had some issues with, you know, supports at home, for example. So we explore some of the things like who helps?

Speaker 2:

you who takes your bike, who where you buy it, where you get it. Also, I mean, she was a beginner triathlete. We have to sort of, you know, allow her. You know, help her to find resources. As to other groups of people, like they're doing open water and swims, she was terrified of it. Then she did it and she was, she was very happy with her performance. At the beginning she was terrified of it, and so that was all. These things were creating an increase in anxiety. Anxiety was already there, but the fear factor during the, during menopause it's you know has the potential to increase. Yes.

Speaker 2:

And it's very this is a very specific area of menopause. Yeah, that if you, even if you have, if you come from with an anxiety let's say you have anxiety or you have a diagnosis this is going to, it's going to grow up during this stage.

Speaker 1:

You know it's interesting in Chinese medicine we sit in a very simplistic way. We call menopause a yin deficiency, and when you're having hot flashes and night sweats we'll say it's a yin deficiency with a deficient heat. But it's all related to the kidneys, and the kidneys and five element theory is the emotion related to that is fear. So it makes sense, right, like if you're having this yin deficiency and then sometimes I know at night, just I mean, I'm getting older and I'll wake up at night and I have, like these really crazy weeks here, thoughts like they're fearful thoughts, but nothing.

Speaker 1:

that it's, you know, like I can go back to sleep, but I'm like man, I don't think this way during the day. So it's real interesting to observe that and, being a Chinese medicine practitioner because it is the yin time, right, it's night and it's the probably I'm probably doing this in the kidney time as well. So I just find that really interesting that you brought that up. Yeah, fascinating stuff.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so fear is a reality for entering the stage. Also because we know that estrogen has has a you know, modulates the chemistry in our brain and we have to look for other alternatives to finding.

Speaker 2:

You know, the lack of estrogen impacts our receptors you know our receptors in the brain and all these things that used to cause anxiety. Now they become a little more pronounced. So in her case, yes, she was experiencing more fear and more has she became more hesitant as well. So we worked a little bit with, like you know, not throwing ourselves into it, but basically exploring that too. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, which I think is really cool, because a lot of the times it's the attitude like you're getting in there and working with that right, where a lot of the times it's just just jump in and do it. Just jump in. You'll get over your fear. Just do it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah, so I like your approach because it's like well, maybe it's not about just jumping in and and and dealing with your fear. Maybe there's something to be discovered there and something that you need to work on to get to that root cause of why that fear is there in the first place. I mean, obviously everybody has fears of getting kicked in the face and during the swim which most of the people I know at some point were scared of that. Yeah, especially in the beginning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you're, you're, you're absolutely right. Um, I even in my own experience in the last couple of years like not a couple of years, when I was raising more in, like 2018 and 2019, I started noticing that I would be more fearful of open water and getting a little panicky more than usual. I also started like overthinking during the racing, which has never happened before. I was like, okay, so what if I have to use the restroom here and then I can't? All these questions in my head, um, became overly cautious and I started, as soon as I started doing the off-road stuff, like mountain biking, rather racing, I became. There were times where I was like not allowing myself to go out the door because I was thinking, well, what if I fall? You know it's slippery if it's muddy. So I became a more cautious athlete because of this, uh, basically a menopausal onset of anxiety and fear that is more obvious now. So, yeah, it manifested in the last few uh, pretty busy seasons I had. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if you noticed that. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it's hard for me. I mean, I feel like I'm a pretty self-aware person and I'm kind of constantly monitoring myself, but I think that sometimes it gets hard because I'm like that was cycling like road cycling.

Speaker 1:

I used to love it and I love going fast, but I have gotten to a space in the past couple of years where, especially riding out in the woodlands, like there were so many people and so many close causes that if you wreck on a bike, there's a good chance you're going to be out for a while, yeah, and so I've started self-preservation.

Speaker 2:

You become more self-preservative.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like it's like. I know it's kind of like cost benefit, like right Is it worth? Do I love it that much? You know to get out there and to risk that you know. So I don't know if that's more it or if it's more of a entering, and maybe it's all it's all kind of intertwined and all one thing, but I definitely have become more cautious of that.

Speaker 2:

It's funny that you say cost benefit analysis, because we do that with my clients. I do that with my clients, especially when it comes to facing fear or facing challenges. You know getting sick during the season during the season or having setbacks.

Speaker 2:

So we do a cost benefit analysis and it's it always produces something positive out of it and it's something I highly recommend people do. And this is something you're going to find yourself if you haven't started doing it. You're going to find yourself, you know, finding the benefit from doing it during this time. Yeah, like, for example, this athlete was considering doing a second race and she was like getting a little fearful and we sat down and we talked about, okay, so what are the benefits, what are the costs? You know, and she ended up racing again with less fear because she made the right, the right choice. Yeah, versus just going on a prescribe, what society is telling us to do and what the coach is telling us to do sometimes. Yeah, we had to. Really, this is the time for you know, really stopping and reflecting physically, mentally, like you say, doing a body scan, that type of thing. Yeah, yeah, I love that cost benefit.

Speaker 1:

You know, when I did comrades in South Africa, I got sick on the plane on the way over there and I started that race with a fever and I went 45 miles and then I stopped. I started that race with a fever and I went 45 miles and then I stopped because I was having a lot of stomach issues and vomiting. So I stopped. But it was almost like I had PTSD from that because anytime I travel now to do a race I go through this like because I'm an acupuncturist so I see people and I see people up to the day that I like, up to the day before I leave, right, so I have to do that cost benefit.

Speaker 1:

You know it's kind of like, well, I could not go, would I be happy? Like I have herbs, I could wear mask. You know there's a lot of things I can do, so I have to like talk myself through it every single time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it really it's a great tool. It's a great tool, yeah, and the question for you would be like would you have done it differently If it would have been right? Now you go into comrades getting sick.

Speaker 1:

What would I do differently? Yeah, oh, I would wear a mask. I would take all my herbs. I would, I don't know. And then at some points like well, that's just part of the, it's part of it. You can't choose what kind of weather you get during a race. Right. And it's just part of being an athlete.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think where you mentioned a couple of really good things, points that it's we're, we're sturdy and we're.

Speaker 2:

we've done a lot of sort of facing our fears through, you know, endurance training and endurance you know athletics, and when you, when you really say no or you, or you tell yourself you can't, it really means it now Like before, it's like, oh, I'm not sure, like no. You know what I know it's like when you quit a race, like, for example, this year I had one DNF, one deferral, not this year. Last year I had one deferral and one DNF, both in the same year. I had never experienced that before and I realized I'm not, I don't regret any of those two, because it was the right call. Yeah and I. That would not have been the case eight years ago.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. What do you think would have been different eight years ago?

Speaker 2:

I could push through what we were talking about earlier today. Yeah. I could push put, had the motivation to push through and I was like that costs benefit. And now you're like you know what four hours in the sun. Four hours in the sun, getting cramped afterwards. Possibly GI issues, Maybe not.

Speaker 1:

Maybe not. That's what happened to Azores. I was like if I go, if I climb 10 miles of stairs, I might be out, for who knows, it could be six months I'm out. I'm like I'd rather just keep moving.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, that's a great, great example. Yeah, making that decision to how much do I really want to be completely out, or? Do I want to continue to be active, and then you have to stay. Take a few steps back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

In your journey.

Speaker 1:

Where, if I was younger, I might have pushed through that and been, you know, injured for. I'm sure. So is that part of menopause Like, is that perimenopausal? Is that that mindset that you get?

Speaker 2:

Self-preservation. Self-preservation, it's like because in, you know, ultimately perimenopause and menopause is a time for gaining, losses and gains. So speak a little bit more about that. Yeah, so you know the gains, the losses we can. Everybody knows about the losses. I'm just going to go over a little bit. We know we have real biological challenges. You know night sweats, hot flashes, some people get really bad for many years. Yeah, mood.

Speaker 2:

Mood Injuries A lot more injuries were in this phase. Self-esteem Sometimes, even if you have stuff like body image issues, you enter the stage and all these things come back with a vengeance, I would say. But there are some major gains, and one of them is precisely what we're talking about. It's, you know, the ability to discern when things are good for you or not good for you. Yeah, making, putting things in a balance is like is it worth my time? Is it worth the effort? What are going to be the rewards of these behaviors? Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So self-preservation, yeah, it's a good thing for us at this age.

Speaker 1:

I like that. I've never really looked at it that way, so I appreciate that perspective. If I think about myself, compared to some of my younger friends that are running like they're pushing the boundaries right, they're pushing and they're doing great. There's a lot of injuries that are coming along with that, but the reward for them is the accomplishment of these huge races. For me it's like Really. Like it's super cool, but as I've gotten older, that's not how I used to be, so I appreciate that perspective yeah thank you.

Speaker 2:

I mean you brought the example. I think it's interesting that we were talking about a little earlier and you just mentioned all these things and like, oh yeah, absolutely all that. So yeah, so there are real side of menopause and perimenopause, at least from my personal perspective, because I know there's the science, there's research. But I want to say that out of everything that I've read in the area of mental health and in menopause in general, there's still we're still breaking ground ourselves with what we're doing. I go to my doctor, to my, my gynecologist, and she doesn't answer my questions. I have a long list of questions. We're still facing misinformation.

Speaker 2:

We're still facing medicalization of. Of the only thing we know is the medical side of menopause, the biological effects. The other stuff is just starting to come out. The research is just starting to come out. We are doing, we are doing the experiment, you and me.

Speaker 1:

So I really I believe that. I saw my gynecologist last Monday and we had a very I had a lot of questions too. For me it's like you know they're like oh, you should gain anywhere between what 15 to 20 pounds. It's like that's normal. It's like, okay, well, is that really normal, is it? You know, like I was asking her, how can we push the boundaries of? Don't just tell me I'm supposed to. You know, go for dress sizes up because that's not going to be okay with me. Okay, acceptance.

Speaker 1:

We talked about acceptance, yeah yeah, I guess my point is it's like what is? Normal. I don't know if I believe we're supposed to gain 20 to 30 pounds and that's okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm not sure. I believe that she told me. She was sure. We just, we really don't know. That's what she told me. Yeah, she goes we really don't know. So just to add to your comment that it's. It's true. We're just starting to understand.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is. I mean, these were just on the surface and we, first of all, we're facing stereotypes, bias, society, expectations of women aging. It's all over everywhere, everywhere around us. You know, women get old and they should like step back and cut their hair or whatever, you know, stop exercising or and now we're starting to see, you know, Dr Stacy Sims and all her research and all these other there's a couple of people locally here, really yeah, that are also, you know, focusing on menopause and for active women. Yeah, but this is not a. There's not a whole lot of information out there.

Speaker 2:

So the research starting, and now we know that, no, it's not a time to stop what you're doing. It's a stuff to start adding, adding important interventions. This is the time of your life where you it's the perfect time to make important adaptations, to adapt adaptations to the way you exercise, the way you eat, the way you live, the way you self care. It's a super important window for longevity.

Speaker 1:

So what are some suggestions that you would give someone to live with the changes right, like you just said, look, reflecting on your lifestyle, your diet, your activity. What would be some general kind of universal suggestions?

Speaker 2:

So okay. So first we talked about we mentioned this earlier, but I would say my number one is sleep. Yeah. People don't, a lot of people don't. They underestimate how important sleep is and the fact that because we're not producing or our hormones are fluctuating, you know progesterone and estrogen going, you know, open down their impairment and eventually, you know, decreasing Um the impact that has on our brains and our ability to, you know, have the rest. Even when we're sleeping, we don't rest. So the important deep sleep that we need, we're not getting.

Speaker 1:

So and that interferes with recovery. If you're racing, yeah interferes with recovering.

Speaker 2:

You're getting more prone to injury, but also you know how do you combat that, how do you work with that? You have to be very intentional about your sleep hygiene at night, what you eat, what you eat before going to bed, how active you are during the day and all kinds of interventions you can implement. Some of my clients on the clinical side of mental health use everything from, for example, in the morning, someone that has not slept well like would use do like face, uh, ice face dunks. She would like dunk her face in an ice bucket or an ice sort of you know bowl or something to basically wake up yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then also this is from Dr Stacy Sims research uh drinking dark, uh Tart, sorry Tart cherry juice at night before going to sleep.

Speaker 1:

I know what helps with inflammation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that's one of the things that she writes about in her research. Um.

Speaker 1:

I didn't know it helped with sleep.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and also there's many, many others. But there's other other things, such as, like, you know, no electronics after a certain period of time, uh, really completely turning off everything that you do electronically computer, you know, phone and things like that. But I mean it's like you could try and we, what we do with clients, we tried different things and everything that you do. Well, everything doesn't work for everybody, so you will like test out different things, unless you have like sleep apnea, apnea or something else, like some other major condition, which is a whole different thing. But if you're having issues with sleep, I would suggest that will be the first, the first part, the first area that I would, yeah start looking into your sleep patterns.

Speaker 2:

Get the apps, get the little ring. Yeah. Try to investigate how you're sleeping.

Speaker 1:

Cause that's like what I run into in the clinic is um. People are practicing great sleep hygiene but because of the hormones they're still not sleeping. I'll have like they're frustrated. They'll come in here and it's like I've done it all. Sherry. I've done everything and cause. I think that's a great place to start to. Right. So what happens when someone comes in and says you know what I'm doing all of these things, but I still am waking up at night?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah you, there's so much I know the regular person can do, but I was going to say, like, if you work with clients from, like you know, in areas of clinical mental health areas, you know, in this area of, like, anxiety, depression, stress, you got to look at lifestyle too. Yeah, are you? How are your relationships? How are your support systems? Are you relying on yourself for everything? Are you?

Speaker 2:

taking time off to just take care of yourself. You know we don't look at those things. We're always compartmentalizing our lives, thinking that nothing relates to things are not related, related to each other. But you know, things always are linked. Things are always linked. So you know it could be work. It could be your, your stress level at work. Maybe you need to set boundaries at work. Maybe you could set boundaries with your kids.

Speaker 1:

As I say, you could be a mom. You could be a mom Mom's. We take on everything. I know. I was like you have a mom brain. You know the mom brain.

Speaker 2:

Exactly the mom, the mom brain. Yeah, for sure they're worried about everybody.

Speaker 1:

They, they, they take it all on.

Speaker 2:

We have a aging parents Um, we have children, aging parents. This is an age where women, um have so much on their plate that you have to sit down and you know even finding mental health care. You know sharing these things with a coach, someone who can help you sort through what it's. I mean, because the reason why people don't sleep it's biological, but it's also lifestyle and it's something in your life that you need to address.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I agree, I agree, uh, but a lot of people just want to pill. It's a lot of work to do all of that, when, when you look at things holistically and sometimes, uh, people, for whatever reason, they don't want to go that direction. Um, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's the one pill. Like I keep thinking, uh, and I keep hearing that, yeah, we have this pill for this, this disorder, and we have these other pills.

Speaker 2:

and that brings up something that I know, that I've been hearing from my clients the fact that we go to the doctor, and even we're the one of the first things. Now I see, and it's kind of shocking to me now that I, you know, I'm I'm learning more about, you know, psychological, the psychological part of menopause and things like that, is that people go to the OB gene or they go to the doctor and one of the first things that they prescribe is anti-depressants.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Um quite a few friends.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and it helps some people, but you you're not really addressing a core issue. If you're on an anti-depressant, you might as well be in therapy. I say that because I know it's been, it's been researched and I know it helps some, but it's. There's also very, something very particular about not producing estrogen and what comes the anxiety that comes from not producing estrogen. Yeah, so there's research on um anxiety being specific to menopause even in women that don't suffer from anxiety. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I have three friends right now on that that have been prescribed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, even before HRT, because people still have stigma over HRT. Yeah, yeah, right now, the the main um, the main sort of go to in terms of menopause is HRT bio identical hormones. Anti-depressants are used quite a bit in GABA, gaba pentane. These are all like things that doctors are using, but still is the one pill. We're going to solve it.

Speaker 1:

How do you feel about hormone replacement therapy?

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I know there was. There's a lot there. Oh, there's a lot and there's also a lot of research. That that was it 2002, the one that scared all the women and doctors.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, scared everybody and we're trying to recover from that. So in my practice I used to be against them. Um, and I'm starting to kind of open up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm opening up to them for different reasons.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but I'm just curious how you feel about them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I feel a little bit kind of the same way like when I wasn't suffering from, when I have wasn't experiencing all these symptoms, you know, sleepless, sleeplessness, or my my core being super warm even when I'm not, you know exercise in the middle of an interview like what's going on.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, all these things, um, I have to say that I've been managing them with exercise, but I have been considering, looking into and I started researching, doing my own research on HRT and bioidentical hormones which I hear it's like um, a very popular kind of like a good feedback from some people that I've I've known that are on it, that I mean. In the end I keep thinking I'm, I don't want to medicate myself. That's me. That's my personal, uh way of doing things.

Speaker 2:

I like to do the natural things first try to change lifestyle, be more intentional about everything, and if that doesn't work, then going with the medical uh side of things. Yeah. Um, but but then again, this is another menopausal and a different way of thinking once you enter menopause again, uh, where you're more flexible with the way you fit you think. I think that's an area that needs exploration. You become more flexible and now, because I'm more flexible in the way I think I am considering thinking HRT why suffer?

Speaker 1:

Why suffer? Well, and they are starting to show there are so many health benefits uh the prevention of strokes and certain types of cancers where I know that was a scare before. But they've also found that if you use estrogen with Pogestrone then it lowers well, it doesn't lower your risk of cervical cancer, but it doesn't give you the cervical cancer that they once thought. That, yes, that just estrogen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I was going to say, yes, progesterone and estrogen, they're an interplay. And they're an interplay there because one is the one is the defender and the other one is the driver, Right. So, estrogen the driver, progesterone the defender. So if, but you have to look at your unique physiology physiology, yes, and you have to go to your doctor, and they have to go all this with you, yes. So yeah, but I do agree, but we've come so far.

Speaker 2:

Yes we've come so far in the, you know in the in finding ways to treat. I'm just going to say that overall that the one pill wonder of menopause does not exist. You really need to work individually with your doctor and your coach and your mental health, and I like that holistically looking at your lifestyle is the number one step. Yes, absolutely the number one.

Speaker 1:

I do a lot of herbs, prescribe myself a lot of herbs, and so I think I've I've done a really good job at, you know, managing some of the signs and symptoms, but sometimes sleep is still an issue. And weight I have gained a little weight and we can talk about weight.

Speaker 1:

We can talk about weight. I don't mind gaining a little weight. I just don't think that it should be 30 pounds, right. So I have an issue with that piece, like I don't need to be. What I was when I was 20, you know five which I've always weighed 128 to 130. That's my whole life, until two years ago.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that same here. Yeah, so, yeah. So that's the part where, like the research that Dr Stacy seems and like the whole, like vice you know the podcast that I follow, feisty Menopause, which is a great one.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I need to listen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean they're, they're bringing in the experts and this is like a very common sort of like either topic in that in that podcast. But you know, we know, but based on the research, that we're going to definitely gain weight and because our cortisol, basically the body, has more inflammation, because estrogen protects you and now your body's producing more cortisol, right, so your stress is less managed, is less, is not being managed by your hormones, right? So what you have to be intentional about how you manage your stress. So what happens is that you're, you know you enter the this, this face, and why was I saying that? Lost during the thought. See, this is one of the symptoms right here Brain fog.

Speaker 2:

So now, what I was going to say is, like, some of the interventions that you for gain weight and this is done, you know, I've seen it over and over is strength training, weight bearing exercises. You know, keep your cardio. Yeah, we love our cardio, cardio. We're triathletes, we're, you know, endurance runners and cyclists, but and but we need to do heavy weight. She has this say, it's called like lift heavy. I love it, I know that yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I looked at this morning. You lifted yeah, good for you. Yeah, I've been doing spelt. Are you familiar with? Spelt. So I do spelt, so it's a hit class. Yeah. But, I don't know if it's lifting heavy but, I, do lift, but I did lift. I did a sculpting class today.

Speaker 2:

So that's part of it. It's like either. It's about not doing just like steady state cardio. It's about, if you're running, incorporate sprints, if you're doing high intensity intervals and things like that, do them on the bike too.

Speaker 1:

I'm on the trainer most of the time because I don't want to be out in the sun and I'm doing intervals on my bike. Hard intervals.

Speaker 2:

So if you can get to weights, do sprints. He calls them sprints, but it's really like intervals Do hard sets.

Speaker 1:

I can't wait. I'm going to say it's on the podcast, but what?

Speaker 2:

is it?

Speaker 1:

So Friday, speaking of intervals, I was running intervals and I guess when you get older, your urgency to go to the restroom. That's another one. And I had to go to the restroom. So bad I had to stop in the middle of my workout and stand there so I can gather myself together and make it to the restroom Like I was. Like I told my friend, I was like, really, this is where I'm at right now. Yeah, that's true. It's hard to accept when stuff like that happens.

Speaker 1:

And that was the first time that it's ever happened to me and I was just like oh gosh.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, so I remember my last two races. That's one of the reasons why I decided to postpone doing more long distance races because of the use of the bathroom. Yeah. Towards the end of the race, it was like this is unsustainable. I'm not having fun, yeah. So I say I need to either look at my dial, my nutrition better and my hydration, or need to do something about it. This is not good. So what do?

Speaker 1:

you have. This is a little, it's still on the subject. It made me think of something. When I treat people, we sit down and we go through all of their paperwork and we'll talk for like 30 minutes, and one of the big, I see it as a problem because the older you get, the more you have to urinate. The more people have to urinate, the less they want to drink.

Speaker 2:

Right, oh gosh, yes.

Speaker 1:

And especially in weather like this.

Speaker 2:

Right, we are in one of the most warmer weathers in the country.

Speaker 1:

So I find that it's a big issue People do not want to drink.

Speaker 2:

Right, and we are. It's a fact and it's been shown in research that women, as you start getting older, you can get away with less. You cannot get away with going around dehydrated or not having enough electrolytes in your system.

Speaker 2:

So that's interesting that you mentioned that, because something that I keep coming across, and also research and the research from the from from menopause, is that women might drink a lot of water throughout the day, but they, they don't. They don't take electrolytes, and I don't say sports drinks, I'm saying they're not even eating enough fruits and vegetables, which is a main source of electrolytes. Yeah, all my friends that I that train with me, I know I have my friend Elena. She's in her, she's in Italy right now training. I have her. I have all of them. On taking electrolytes, eating and like no, you're taking water. No, you just need to more than water. You need to eat fruits and vegetables. You need to have your watermelon in the morning. You need to because that's the salts and the the in the good sugars are all in the fruit and vegetables, which takes me to another area.

Speaker 2:

That came and it became an issue when I was training and now I'm doing a lot better on it's eating real food during your races and your training and which I like that because all the sugar is horrible in the sport, sports drinks.

Speaker 2:

At this age, your, your, your intestines are not able to, you know, metabolize all that, and it becomes not a good experience during races. Yeah, so, if that, if you were having problems like that, GI issues based, I mean based on all the on course nutrition you were taking or what you were grabbing, whatever you will oh, I'm out the morning, I just going to grab this and keep going.

Speaker 2:

If you need to be intentional about what you eat and drink before, during and after like having some sort of protein 30 minutes after your weight training or strength training is important. Really why.

Speaker 2:

Yes, apparently, muscle synthesis, like you have, to your muscles repair their actual repair mode when, 30 minutes after and because we are apparently estrogen has basically signals all organs in the body, including the muscles, not having estrogen does not allow for your muscles to become to repair after a heavy weight set or like intervals or so, that's specifically for perimenopausal and menopausal women. Yes, and this is on the next level book that I recommend it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, so there's so many things in terms of nutrition that need to be. You need to be serious about these things and definitely intentional about not just drinking water, just also making sure you have salt, you know, sodium, and your fruits and vegetables and you're eating your proteins and your carbs. There's something very interesting that keeps coming up a lot of in the literature that I read, with a menopause called low energy availability, and I think it's a term was coined by Dr Stacy, seems as well.

Speaker 2:

Women yeah, our women, perimenopausal and menopausal women that are active in training tend to be on the deficit of energy levels because they believe that they're not eating enough, and she wants people to eat enough for their level of activity you are doing, so how do you feel about intermittent fasting for athletes? So I've tried. I've never tried during training.

Speaker 2:

I've never, tried intermittent fasting during as long as I've been a triathlete. I don't have a specific say in it or I don't feel any way, but I have read in some of the literature that is not recommended for super active women in our age group Because you know again, not not producing estrogen, having imbalances of hormonal imbalances and how that affects the gut biome, how that affects your brain. I mean, we're talking about the whole system.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, which I find the gut biome just fascinating, and I have someone that might come onto the podcast and talk more about it, especially as you get older. You know just the wear and tear that we've abused our bodies, the stress that we go through. A lot of women, and I'm sure men too, have dysbiosis and that's in turn affects you in a lot of different ways, especially being an athlete, you know like I know when I do tons of sugars, if I do a lot of goos when I'm done with the race, I am so bloated.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly yeah. I have the same experience too.

Speaker 1:

I don't do those anymore. I don't either, so I like the real food.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the real food, like Carrie, like me and my cycling partner we carry, like prosciutto and Parmesan Well, that's fancy, yes, sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Pull them out on the pocket, people look at us like what the heck is that?

Speaker 2:

But we have real food with us Because the doctor says it always says hydration in your bottle, food in your pocket. She has her own products and she promotes all these things, but she still says that having real food, you know, it's better than just using goos and gels and things like that, and I can attest to that. Yeah. Because I started using them on gravel like four hour plus gravel races.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And. I've been able to yeah, I've been able to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when I do, the ultras tend to pack a lot of goos. Just in case.

Speaker 2:

In case yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I eat at the aid stations and they always have peanut butter and jelly and bananas.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and your body it settles better. It's just overall like your body metabolizes everything.

Speaker 1:

The best thing I had at Ironman was that chicken broth.

Speaker 2:

The chicken broth and mashed potatoes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think I had mashed potatoes too, your body wanted real food it wanted real food and it was warm and it felt good on my stomach. Yeah, and it was just amazing. It was the best chicken broth I've ever had.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I don't think do we still have chicken broth or beef broth in races anymore?

Speaker 1:

I don't even know, I don't know it's been a long time since I've been a triathlon.

Speaker 2:

I've just been running.

Speaker 1:

But when I was in Catalina, me and a friend did 50K on Catalina Island and one of the last aid stations they had real food and they had a. They were, I mean they had the spread. It was shrimp Shrimp and like steak and potatoes, and I mean they. They had every meat you could possibly chicken, but he does.

Speaker 2:

Your body wants that. Your body needs that, especially now. It's like you know, your body forgives you when you're younger, when you're training hard, but when you're older, it's. It's definitely. You know, you have to understand that it's. Yeah, yeah. It's where the calories are. It's meant to the density and the shape and the texture. Of food has probably its processes in the body. You know the way they go through the stomach and they test things and then they put salt all over the potatoes where? You get your some sodium.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, carry your own mini. You know the mini potatoes, you boil them and you kind of you salt them and you put them in tip box bags and have that as like. I read that in a book and then I saw someone do it and it's like perfect it's perfect, Perfect little snack we.

Speaker 1:

It was funny when you were talking about the prosciutto and the Parmesan.

Speaker 2:

That's my friend from.

Speaker 1:

Italy. Before you said sandwich, I thought that you guys were having like a little picnic, okay.

Speaker 2:

Second, we came out with the prosciutto. No no, no, no, it's sandwiches. We she actually she taught me that she brought brings good quality prosciutto and Parmesan cheese. Make sandwiches with that, and that's what she brings.

Speaker 1:

It's delicious. I'm going to try it, yes.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to try it. It's amazing.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that was too funny.

Speaker 2:

So what else? So I have you know, I have I brought, you know I'm, you know me. I brought a lot of information, but I wanted to say that one thing, that that, for me, the takeaway in dealing dealing with symptoms and dealing with changing lifestyle or adding new things to your life that allow you to manage, you know, going through this phase of you know and being an active woman, is self compassion and kindness to yourself.

Speaker 2:

I say it in. We've mentioned a couple of things here already that are examples of that, like when you are more flexible with your plans. That's self care, that's self compassion.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. When you are and you say flexible with your plans, like if you go do a race and then something happens, that you have the flexibility to say it's okay, I don't need to push myself. Is that? Is that what you mean by flexibility?

Speaker 2:

Exactly Like this decision making on the spot that benefits you and your well-being. And at this, at this stage, I find that I don't have regrets, less regrets as to how I changed my plans last minute. Sometimes racing is one of them. You mentioned your experience um and Azores. You know, keeping an open mind, open to experience, yeah. You know yeah. So open to experience could be anything from you know, like uh, for example. I sounds funny. I went to uh wayco 70.3. I got a DNF and I was like feeling down with them.

Speaker 2:

Then saw Andy Potts and then Andy Potts the pro the former pro, I don't know if he's, I think he's still a pro and I started having a conversation and I had a full conversation with him and asked him and, uh, and it was great meeting him, and he's like, oh, I would not have met and have a conversation, a long conversation with with him if I would not have been DNF and there was no one there. It was pretty empty.

Speaker 1:

The silver linings the silver lining.

Speaker 2:

So that's like a you know kind of like a very light example, but you know just being able to, for example, say no to things that are not providing that piece of mind. You know setting boundaries with other people husbands, children, parents and and try to live your life based on value. So we do a lot of value exploration with clients like that what's important to you you know what?

Speaker 2:

what do you see? We set goals, but it's not all goals, cause we want to make sure that when, before setting goals, we're also addressing values, needs. You know I don't know if you ever heard about the Maslow's hierarchy of need, basic needs. You know that's I do. It's been around for ages, it's been around for ages and it's.

Speaker 2:

It's really good, a good example. If anyone wants to look it up, it's basically it's a triangle. The base is like your basic needs food, shelter, water. The second layer is security, safety things, predictability in your life, safety, that type of thing. And then it goes on all the way to the top, which is self-actualization, which is when you're allowed. You're allowed to grow as a person, you push yourself to learn things and things like that, but you can't. It's hard to jump from surviving here at the bottom.

Speaker 2:

You know if you're working on a survival mode, if you're working, you're a 10, you have kids you have elderly parents, you have a job, you're a business and you're also training and you're not taking care of these like first couple of layers. The body's going to keep the score and at this age, it's going to definitely be showing you what's what that looks like. Yeah, immunity, lower immunity, getting sick yeah. So I got really sick last fall because I wasn't paying attention to how stressed stressed I was and got severely sick and that kind of was like whoa this is like I need to really really look at my what.

Speaker 2:

I'm doing, what I'm allowing and what yeah, but starts with values exploration.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think you know the goal is to have fun and to stay active, and I kind of lost my train of thought too.

Speaker 2:

See, this is another symptom. This is the real deal right here.

Speaker 1:

This is the real deal. Oh, I know what I was going to say. A lot of the times, people they think that they're being active and they're managing their stress when they're not taking care of the root cause, of things that are really happening, things that are really going on in their life, and then they use exercise as an outlet, which is good, but it's also good to address the underlining things that are happening in your life and managing those so you can move forward and prosper as an athlete and not have it work against you.

Speaker 2:

That's. That was beautifully said. I see people that have that I've been either coaching and coaching or like with clients that I have now, and you see a lot of women that are in this phase that are perfectionistic and they're overachievers and they're not realizing that they're putting so much more stress that the answer is not just going and finding up for another race or keeping that train going. There is sometimes it's like we were talking about earlier. It's a time for reflection. Maybe if I got a DNF, let me just reflect on how much I want to do this and not not proceed on an automatic fashion to the next step. So this is an opportunity. This is part of the gains of menopause. You can stop and reflect, you know. Learn to rest, don't quit, just take a break. Reflect, journal, you can journal, you can read, you can to before you take the next step. Your body's asking for it now. Yeah, yeah, I see that a lot.

Speaker 2:

I see women that, and because they want to keep either a certain way or a certain physique, not really keeping in mind that it's also producing cortisol. Yeah, yeah. So you have to give your body enough pause and break as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I agree with that 100%, and I think one of the foundational skills to develop is that self-awareness and reflection. Yeah. You know, to be really present with yourself and to ask good questions, because you might find some pretty cool things in there. Yeah, you for sure will. You might find some things you don't want to see. But yeah, I find some really cool things too, and I think a lot of people they don't stop Right, exactly.

Speaker 2:

And they're not present, right, we know that. We know people are not really, sometimes they're not ready to stop and face it. Yeah, you know it is also daunting in the sense that you are, you are being forced to kind of face your own fears and your own insecurities, and that's not easy. So yeah but yeah, continue to grow your support system for sure yeah. I think that's.

Speaker 1:

I think connection, your support, your support system all of that's super, super important. Well, this has been great. I feel like I have more questions for you. Oh, so somebody told me and it was the first time I'd heard it that exercise was great for managing hot flashes. Do you know anything about that?

Speaker 2:

I know for my own experience and based on some of the information I've read again in the book that I the next level book is that because we lose our ability to thermo regulate through the whole, you know I'm in a puzzle phase. We are supposed to do things that in, I guess, externally, you know, help us feel like. You know how would people, some people do sauna training, they to do that for acclimation. So that apparently is a way for you to tell your body, to trick your body into thinking that that you get to not become as as warm as normal. But yes, exercise helps with hot flashes, generally speaking, I mean apparently whatever it, but mostly because of the effect where you kind of like making it warm outside of its own natural way.

Speaker 1:

So you know, I hear it's worth.

Speaker 2:

it's a little hack, it's like the same with ice, like they say like ice for anxiety or for Interesting.

Speaker 1:

I haven't heard ice for anxiety. Yeah. So I don't. Usually when I hear ice, I shut down. Yeah, because in Chinese medicine we don't use cold, we don't use anything cold.

Speaker 2:

So that's precisely. That's one of the reasons, because apparently it works on your parasympathetic nervous system and when you dunk your face in ice cold, it's like telling you to stop. It just stops.

Speaker 1:

Interrupts. It's like the freeze yeah.

Speaker 2:

The, not the freeze, the. You know the fight or flight. And it does something in the reptilian part of the brain Interesting. I don't like cold yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't like cold either, but heat and cold are both interventions within men and boss to work with thermal regulation issues Interesting. Maybe I'll have to get my sauna. Yeah, I've been. I was looking and I was reading about it and I got an ad. You know, immediately you start receiving ads as soon as you mentioned something. And I started receiving an ad for a little inflatable little tub. I've seen them.

Speaker 3:

For like wait, I let me send it to all these men of also women.

Speaker 1:

I'll target all of them.

Speaker 2:

That's so funny and they show a guy doing dunking in there. It's like okay, Interesting.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, they have little. They have little saunas too yeah. That you can kind of squat in and yeah, it's just hard to think about saunas when you're in Houston, I know, and it's like a hundred degrees right now. Yeah, if I was in the in a cold place?

Speaker 2:

I would consider it, but no way, here it's just I go, I go. I guess it's probably better for us.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I says better. Well, what advice would you have for a perimenopausal or menopausal athlete listening to us right now in that place where they've lost some motivation? They're kind of beating themselves up being, you know, being hard on themselves because they're not where they used to be. So it's like mentally they want to be there but the motivation is not there. So what would you tell this person if she's listening right now?

Speaker 2:

Okay. So so many things, but I'm going to start with the basics. I would suggest you start monitoring how you feel throughout the day and start jotting downs, things you want to accomplish in the next few months, like start adding goals and then take it back and look at your values and what is it that you want to do? What would you like to improve in your current life? So specifically, I say values because, for example, I am about to be an empty nester and I'm thinking I want to be active beyond my, you know, beyond in the next five years, if I want to move and continue to be active. I want to move around, I want to continue to hike, I want to continue to do things, not just for the way I look, but I want to continue to improve mobility and all these other things mobility, stronger bones, etc. So I keep thinking that's my goal.

Speaker 2:

But then I go back okay, so what can I do now, what interventions I can do now to address those? And then, once you start thinking there, you start thinking okay, so I don't have time to go to the gym, so what am I going to do now that I can't? Let me look at my support system. So start sort of a decision. I work with people and sometimes we do decision trees, Decision trees based on values. So you start listing your values, then start adding, like branches of okay. So this is going to take me here and there, so it's kind of like mind mapping.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like, yeah, kind of mind mapping, and if you can do this on a wall or you can do it and you can record on your phone. But I think it's important to know where we're going. Yeah, so important, yeah, because otherwise we're just in a rat race. And, for women especially, we're indoctrinated to think that we need to produce and we need to be producing something or raising kids or doing this, and we don't ever find time to just look at ourselves and what we want for sure, and we want to stop that. We want to. This is a transitional, an opportunity, an invitation to become better and happier, you know, removing resentment in your life, removing things that are not working out, saying no more often. So an explosion of values is very important as a very root of moving forward with whatever changes you want to make, and self acceptance, because that's a big one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because your body's changing. Yeah, and we're looking into the future and you know you're looking forward. It's like, oh, chronic disease, oh this and that, and we're thinking about illness and it's hard to. These are the. These are hard things to to think through, but if you do an exploration of your values, it'll help you maybe or perhaps see some strengths you bring to this space, and I'm trying to use my strengths and the client strengths to move forward.

Speaker 1:

It's almost like a time to reinvent yourself, yeah yeah, it's a time of evolution as a person.

Speaker 2:

That exploration must be done before you get on to the next project.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I really like that. I talk a lot about that and want to do wellness coaching. You know. Where do you want to go? What are your values? You know, and where do you see yourself in five years?

Speaker 3:

Right. What do you want to be doing? How do you see?

Speaker 1:

your health? What? Kind of activity do you want to be doing? Yeah, and I find it super powerful. So I love all of that. I think it's amazing. I think it's really cool that you are incorporating that with your athletes. I think that's a whole another level of coaching. I really do, because a lot of coaches don't approach training like that. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I think that's super cool that you're doing that and I can't imagine somebody not wanting to work with you. Thank you, thank you, all right. Well, do you have any last thoughts? Well, thank you for having me Of course you got to come back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is always a pleasure. I love how that we're sharing comparing notes and sharing anecdotes and how we're kind of going through similar things in a different way. But I just, you know, I feel like a lot of people are just so hard on themselves during this phase and you, a lot of times we're alone. And isolation is not a good thing.

Speaker 1:

And I think it's great that we're talking about it and that it's in the forefront of, you know, a lot of people's minds. Like I said, you're reading more articles about it, you're seeing more studies being done on it, because I think a lot of women don't talk about it because they think that it's a natural process and this is just the way the things are and it doesn't have. That's my question how far can we push that boundary? Does it really have to be like this? Because I know it doesn't. But how far can we push that boundary and say, you know, we might not go back to 20. How good can we feel at this age, right and moving forward and staying motivated and engaged and all of those things? So I know, no, we don't know that yet, but I think it's really cool that we're talking about it and if somebody hears it and they are experiencing some of those things, that they know that they're not alone.

Speaker 2:

You're not alone, so normalizing it and by sharing your story. It's very important. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Just like I shared with my friend when we were running. I was like, is this it? I can't move right now. I'm going to go to the bathroom right in the middle of a workout. You know, but then I started talking about it and she's like oh, I wonder if that's what's going on with me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're not alone, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, awesome.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Oh, before, before we go, I just wanted to tell you that I'm looking at Otolo.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, otolo oh.

Speaker 1:

I remember Remember us talking about it. Otolo is a swim run in Sweden. The one. I the one. It's a lake. I prefer lakes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm looking at it.

Speaker 2:

It's cold, it's very cold, but you like cold?

Speaker 1:

No, I don't like cold.

Speaker 2:

No, you're right. That's why you live in.

Speaker 1:

Houston, but it would be fun just to. It looks beautiful.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I checked it out when you mentioned it. Yeah, a couple of times it was like. You know, it's one of those things like finding the motivation to do that's challenging.

Speaker 1:

I mean, that's not a, that's not a short, you know well, I would do the shorter, not the sprint, but the one right before the. I don't know what they. They don't call it the Olympic, but it's the longest distance, which is like 26 miles. This one's like 12 or something. I think yeah.

Speaker 2:

But it is, yeah, sometimes the buddy system works too. Yeah, no for sure. Oh my gosh, having the relays are my favorite thing. I would say, every time I race with a group of people that I can just laugh with, that makes a whole difference, the whole of the huge difference.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and sometimes I think too, that's what you need is just to have fun with something that you used to do, right, instead of putting so much pressure on you to do a race that maybe, or a big race. You're like, hey, I'm going to go do this relay and I'm just going to have fun.

Speaker 2:

Exactly so, taking the time and the breaks to do stuff, do that kind of stuff, it's important, yeah, awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me, of course. Bye, bye.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Well, that was it. What did you think? Thank you so much for tuning in to this insightful episode. Today we explored the impact of menopause on women, athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Easter Bowser shared her unique coaching approach to gracefully navigate this life transition and perform at your best. We discussed lifestyle modification, stress management and the importance of self-awareness and self-compassion. So, whether you are an athlete or not, these insights can help you embrace life's transition with grace and grit. And I'll leave you with this Stay curious and motivated as you pursue your wellness goals. Join me next time for more empowering discussions. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1:

If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the podcast and share with your family and friends. You can also give me a rating and review. Wherever you listen to your podcast, it helps others find me as well. To get updates on new episodes and wellness inspiration in your inbox, please join the wellness-inspired community. Go to the wellnessinspiredpodcastcom to sign up. I'll put the link to the website in the show notes so you can click and join. Also, there is a Facebook community at the wellness inspired, and you can follow me on Instagram at wellness underscore inspired If you're in the Houston area or just visiting and interested in our services acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, zinchiatsu or dry needling therapy contact us.

Speaker 1:

You can find out more on our website at element5omcom. That's element5, the number 5, omcom, and again, I'll put the link in the show notes. If you're interested in health and wellness coaching, we can connect in the clinic or on Zoom. Reach out to us and we'll get you on the schedule and, as always, I would love to hear your feedback. I am dedicated to bringing you great content that is inspiring and informative, with an artsy fun at G-SPIN. Thank you so much for listening. We'll meet here again next time and remember, never stop exploring, learning, loving and being you. Bye.