Mood & Mental Health

Mental health issues such as anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and low motivation are not uncommon during perimenopause and menopause. Find out how you can help yourself through lifestyle modification from Dr. Heidi Lescanec, a licensed Naturopathic Doctor (ND). You can choose between watching this video or reading the transcript below!

TRANSCRIPT

Question MenopauseWize:

Something about menopause, the nervous system is affected in so many different ways. It starts much earlier during perimenopause, extends into menopause, and then for years after that. I feel like for a lifetime it's affecting us right when it comes to whether it's hot flashes, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, poor sleep, you know, the nervous system is an absolutely chaotic state at that time. How can we support our nervous system so that we can go through this turbulence in a less dramatic way?

Answer Dr. Heidi Lescanec:

Well, I think it's having those systems in place that are really grounding. So like we spent a bunch of time on sleep. I think that's critical to ensure we're getting deep-quality restorative sleep. Look at some of the root causes for why we're not getting sleep and then some of the things we can bring in that can you know. Assist with that. So there's lots of of medicines that I use to help help support that while we're working on the scaffolding. Also, exercise for me, I see it as hitting so many birds with one stone. And so if we're just talking about the nervous system and not like you know, bone health and muscle mass for weight management and brain health and all those many, many things, even if it's just about the nervous system, it's one of the few elements or activities that we can do in our day that helps us to complete the stress cycle. So, you know, there are some authors that I just, love who wrote a book. It's the Nagowski sisters about burnout. And they talked about how, you know, we don't often complete the stress cycle in our everyday life. And it's not so much like do we have stress? Because everybody has stress. And so we're not necessarily going to ever remove stress from our lives. It's just how are we able to kind of have it not be a toxic impact on our body. And exercise is one of those ways of completing the stress cycle so that we're holding less. And exercise improves sleep. So getting that deep solid restorative sleep can be assisted by getting exercise, especially if it's an earlier part of the day where you're getting that sunlight or or maybe in Vancouver not so much sun, but we're getting some light exposure. And you know all the positive elements there are to be found just by breathing good air or if we have access to greenery and forest or parks or just other people to like kind of be in connection with the world. So that to me is like a critical element to to kind of having a rhythm that's in alignment with this transition time. I think so much about, you know, circadian rhythm and there's lots of discussion about that now because most of us have that thrown off by our devices and our just our everyday modern life habits of having light, you know, in our homes, artificial light way past the time of natural daylight. And so there is this idea that we're living in an environment that is having a mismatch with us like we have an environmental mismatch with our bodies' kind of natural circadian rhythms. And so I think we do have to put in place, you know, practices that help our body. Feel at ease and feel nourished and feel safe. And so for me, exercise is one of those things that completes that stress cycle and also sets us up for deep solid restorative sleep. I think also unresolved trauma or you know, challenges that show up in relationships can benefit from counseling. I think most of us can be assisted by having, you know, connections with friends that we can share with. But also I think it's indispensable to have someone who is trained in giving you. Feedback that's not coming from, you know, a place of complexity because they're not engaged in a relationship. So while friendships and community are critical, it's nourishing and it's necessary to be accompanied in this life by other humans. I do think counseling is wonderful. You know, adjunct to having some ease through the transition for our nervous system, and then the last thing I would say is, is solid nutrition. 

So I don't think there's any quick fix it's not like all of a sudden eating pumpkin seeds because there's they're high in zinc and this or that is all going to solve hot flashes per se. But I do think you know stabilizing blood sugar. The key for brain health and solid mood. For again, for a nervous system to feel safe, we need to have, you know, blood sugar in a stable place throughout our day. Our brain every single second relies on glucose to function. So there are just some things we can put in to be stabilizing and grounding and nourishing from like sleep, exercise, you know, healthy communication supports and solid diet. Absolutely. 

Question MenopauseWize:

And that seems like a lot of work but I guess once you put them in place. Gradually over time, everything else becomes much easier. So most people I guess do find this a little daunting, the fact that they have to work on every aspect of their life. But as you mentioned, there is no magic pill and there is no quick fix and there is, this is a range of tool sets, tool kits available and I think we just have to choose this, the little parts and make sure that all the wheels fit in together. So when you mentioned stabilizing blood sugar, just so that because most people. Correlate stabilizing blood sugars with, you know, I'm not diabetic. I don't need to do anything about my sugars. And so could you expand a little bit on that so that, you know, we understand what that means. Are you specifically talking about being diabetic or basically yes? So could you please. 

Answer Dr. Heidi Lescanec:

Insulin resistance is a term that maybe people are hearing more about and it is something that comes up a great deal during perimenopause there are lots of reasons for that why that is that it and it can be responsible for weight gain. So I often find people who can be quite motivated. To look under the hood of insulin resistance when it comes to having an impact on weight management. And so it's just about how we don't, we don't arrive at like diabetes all out of the blue. There's like a continuum. So you don't go from zero to like kilometers an hour with a first passing through, you know a hundred. So it's kind of like there's like a continuum. So it's not saying someone's diabetic, but it's saying that they're having a dysfunction with how their body can tolerate sugar things and what it's doing with it. And so like having good quality fats and. High protein at every single meal. For stabilizing blood sugar. So it's not just like I, I am all for increasing plant foods and especially vegetables and diet, but also at perimenopause, protein is really critical for helping with muscle mass and also providing amino acids that go into making our neurotransmitters like those feel good. Chemicals that help with mood and motivation and energy and focus and concentration, all of those things. So yeah, stabilizing our blood sugar with our diet. Is is really fundamental to keeping kind of a stable amount of energy and focus and even mood-reducing anxiety? Yeah, has an impact on depression. 

Question MenopauseWize:

So that's is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners regarding? Setting the stage, I think that's the thing for the episode today, is setting the theme. 

Answer Dr. Heidi Lescanec:

Well, I think of menopause as being a time that can be really purposeful and positive. What I see, you know, often is that women come in with this idea that everything's falling apart, everything is, you know, dysfunctional is some things are challenging and they certainly can arise and show up that way, those symptoms. But there also is a quote that I just love that comes from this anthropologist Margaret Mead, who I think she wrote it in like. And she said there is no more powerful force in the world than a post-menopausal woman with zest. And I think that's what we don't hear about. We have all these representations of like, our skin changes and our hot flashes and all of the things that, you know, go wonky along the way. But just like I was kind of saying with puberty, on the other side, a girl becomes a woman who can bring life into the world. Like, there's a reason we go through these transitions. And so on the other side something like that is really vital. And at some point, let's, let's talk more about that. What's on the other side? 

Question MenopauseWize:

Well, the other side. And I think the other side is something, you know, we talk about not knowing what's on the other side as if it's death. You know it's it's literally like that, right? Yes. We do not know what's on the other side of that. There are theories, but we don't know what's on the other side of that or is there another side to that. But the way we speak about menopause, but that on the other side is in our control, right? The other side research on the other side is in our control and it's a pity that we don't have that kind of research focused on menopause as there is let's say on fertility or puberty or anything else. So that's probably something that. The globe needs to work on SO. Anyway, so that's it for now. , I'm sure we'll have a lot more to discuss in more episodes because we've touched on a few things, but I would love to get deeper into each one of them. But our time is up for today. So this brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you so much, Doctor Heidi, for joining us today and for sharing this invaluable information with our listeners. 

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