Do hormone changes have you overheating and feeling exhausted? These daytime habits could help.
Reviewed by Dietitian Madeline Peck, RDN, CDN
Key Points
- Symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings may be improved with exercise early in the day.
- Managing stress throughout the day is also key, along with eating balanced meals.
- Reducing caffeine and alcohol and getting morning sun may help relieve symptoms too.
Night sweats, mood swings and losing your keys (even though you swear you put them in your purse) are part of a typical day for many women experiencing perimenopause. This transition period from a regular monthly menstrual cycle into menopause can last anywhere from four to seven years or more, and can sneak up as early as your 30th birthday. While much of your experience is determined by hormones and genetics, your daily habits play a significant role as well.
“Lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, sleep and stress management may influence how intense or manageable symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings and fatigue feel,” explains Lauren Manaker, M.S., RDN, LD. Some of the most impactful changes you can make to your daily habits happen before dinnertime to help set your body up for a restful and balanced night of sleep. If you’re not sure where to start, experts recommend doing these three things each day before 5 p.m.
1. Exercise
Maintaining a daily exercise habit, with a mix of cardio and strength training, can support your metabolism, mood and sleep, while also reducing the prevalence of hot flashes, making it a key part of your perimenopause plan. Resistance training helps reduce hot-flash symptoms and improve bone density, physical strength and metabolic health, which often change with fluctuating hormone levels.
And if you’re noticing the scale creeping up or that losing or maintaining weight is harder than it was during your younger years, a mix of cardio and strength exercises three or more days per week may help improve muscle mass and reduce waist circumference and body fat.
But to make sure you’re still able to get a good night’s rest, you’ll want to avoid working out too late in the day. “Exercising earlier supports circadian rhythm, which helps the body to release melatonin appropriately at night,” says Nneoma Oparaji, MD
2. Practice Stress Reduction
Feelings of stress can accumulate throughout the day, making it difficult to wind down, fall asleep and stay asleep at night, as if night sweats and hot flashes weren’t already enough. Oparaji recommends incorporating stress-reducing practices, such as mindfulness and breathing exercises, throughout the day to help keep the parasympathetic nervous system activated. “Stress increases the sympathetic nervous system, which can trigger hot flashes and worsen sleep disturbances, whilst mindfulness and breathing exercises reduce cortisol and improve emotional regulation,” she explains.
Declining estrogen levels during perimenopause can increase sympathetic nervous system activity, causing your stress levels to feel even more heightened. And while a one-hour yoga class or a deep-tissue massage can be a great way to blow off steam and relax, regular short breaks of deep breathing or a five-minute mindfulness meditation work too.
3. Eat Balanced Meals
Eating lightly throughout the day and heading into dinner starving, moody and unable to think straight is a common complaint among clients of Shy Vishnumohan, Ph.D., APD. The urge to eat less to avoid weight gain as your metabolism slows during perimenopause rarely has the desired effect. “With muscles harder to maintain in midlife, under-fueling, especially low protein and just not eating enough, can work against energy, body composition and metabolic health,” says Vishnumohan.
What you eat in the first part of the day sets the stage for a nourishing dinner and a restful evening. Vishnumohan recommends starting the day with a protein-forward breakfast and lunch to support muscle maintenance and steadier appetite and energy levels, so you can head into dinner feeling energized and clear-headed. This can help you avoid overeating in the evening, which may increase the risk of weight gain, regardless of estrogen levels.
Other Tips for Managing Perimenopause
While the above daily habits should fit into your day before 5 p.m. to help manage perimenopause symptoms, they’re far from the only things you can do. Experts also recommend these strategies to support your mind and body throughout this transition period.
- Reduce or cut out alcohol: If you regularly drink alcohol, it could be making your hot flashes and night sweats worse, while also disrupting your sleep and mood. Consider removing alcohol from your evening routine, replacing it with an herbal tea or mocktail.
- Get morning sun: If quality sleep is a struggle, the key to a better night’s rest may start in the morning. Getting at least 30 minutes of natural sunlight in the morning or early afternoon helps regulate your circadian rhythm, which is crucial for better sleep quality, explains Manaker.
- Limit caffeine: That afternoon coffee you used to drink with no issue? It might not be a smart idea these days. “The liver metabolizes caffeine more slowly during this stage, so even a latte consumed at 2 p.m. might still affect you at 10 p.m., potentially triggering a hot flash,” says Whitney Stuart, M.S., RDN, CDECS. Try a decaf drink instead in the afternoon.
Our Expert Take
Incorporating exercise, stress-reduction techniques and balanced meals before 5 p.m. each day can provide extra support for perimenopause symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disturbances, mood swings and low energy levels. While your symptoms and their severity are mostly determined by hormones and genetics, these small changes to your day can make the experience a little more manageable.
Comments are closed.