Perimenopause Newsletter: Do you want to sign up?

I am so grateful for everyone who shared resources on this post about what to expect from menopause. I decided to launch a weekly Perimenopause Newsletter to help myself (and other 40 year-olds) stay updated about perimenopause. Each week, I will share what I consider to be the top three links from around the web about perimenopause.

If you want to sign-up to receive the weekly new you can go here: Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter

Here’s a sample of what it will look like:

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How was your week? This week I started talking with my friends about where they are on their perimenopausal journies. The conversations confirmed that there isn’t nearly enough discussion about this important period (pun intended!) in women’s lives. Here’s to more conversation! 

This Week’s Top News

From Science Daily: According to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health-led analysis published in the journal Menopause, women who experience an accelerated accumulation of abdominal fat during menopause are at greater risk of heart disease, even if their weight stays steady, according to a new analysis. The study—based on a quarter century of data collected on hundreds of women—indicates that measuring waist circumference during preventive health care appointments for midlife women could be a better early indicator of heart disease risk than weight or BMI.

I’m not gonna lie; this research left me a little on edge. When I gain weight, I gain it in my abdomen first. AND, lots of people in my family have died from heart-related issues. AND my mom is obese with lots of weight in her abdomen, which makes me worry for her. 

Proactive next step: I’m going to start recording my waist measurements annually on my birthday just for reference. And maybe I’ll print out this article and bring it to my primary care physician and ask her to start doing it, too? 

NPR: This TED Talk (12 minutes long) by neuroscientist Lisa Misconi argues that the drop of estrogen that women experience during perimenopause leads to a decrease in brain energy (including an example of a 30% drop after menopause) and is correlated with Alzheimer’s. She points out that 2/3rds of people who suffer from Alzheimer’s are women. In the end, she says that she does not currently recommend hormone therapy but instead recommends a significant focus on supporting our hormones naturally through eating (she recommends The Mediterranean Diet for women in particular because of the prevalence of phytoestrogens), exercising, sleeping, stress reduction, etc. It’s more evidence that perimenopause matters and we should spend our time understanding it—even in our forties.

Menopause School: The Menopause School offers a free e-course about perimenopause that takes about 30 minutes. I had trouble accessing the entire free course, but I did find the segment that I was able to access helpful. It’s so confusing why we talk about “menopause” (which is the single day that marks 12 months since your last cycle) instead of “perimenopause” which can mark the ENTIRE decade leading up until that point. That’s one of the reasons we need to start talking about all of this more! 

Out of the shadows and into the light,