Midlife and the menopause transition can leave us breathless, with stress, rising anxiety, and for some an accelerated decline in lung function. The good news is help is right under your nose–your breath. Many of us think of breathing as something that just happens–so we really don’t think about it at all. But as this week’s guest, human performance specialist Erin Carson explains, deliberately thinking about and using our breath gives us the power to calm our nervous system, decompress our joints, and improve our lung function, performance, and health, which is especially beneficial during the menopause transition and beyond.

Erin Carson, CSCS, is the head coach for ECFIT where she provides strength training programs for endurance athletes seeking to perform at their very best in triathlons, marathons, and cycling events. Erin’s programs are anchored in science-based fundamentals of mobility, strength training, and breathwork. Her commitment to the most advanced training strategies offered by performance specialists around the world ensures that she’s at the cutting-edge of high performance sport support. Her clients include world champions and Olympians as well as everyday athletes seeking excellence. You can learn more about her and her work at www.ecfitstrength.com

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November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and many peri- and postmenopausal women have questions. Like why is my fasting blood glucose and/or AIC going up? What role do hormones, diet, exercise, and lifestyle play? What does it mean (and not mean) for my current and future health? So, this week we sat down with midlife health and nutrition specialist Val Schonberg to explore “prediabetes” (which, spoiler alert, is not recognized as a diagnostic category by the World Health Organization) and how we should think about it as active midlife women.

Val Schonberg RDN, CSSD, is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition science from the University of Minnesota. She is Board Certified as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics, a Certified Menopause Practitioner with The Menopause Society, and a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Val owns a private practice in Atlanta, Georgia where she specializes in midlife health and menopause, recreational and professional sports nutrition, all types of eating disorders and helping individuals break free from dieting and disordered eating. She is the consulting dietitian for Emory Sports Medicine, Orthopedics, Atlanta Ballet, and the Atlanta Dream Women’s NBA team. Val is passionate about providing nutrition care to populations vulnerable to disordered eating and promoting positive nutrition messages that help people make informed decisions about their health and live a life where they are at peace in their relationship with food and their body. You can learn more about her at valschonberg.com.

Resources

The Problem with the PRE in Prediabetes for Women in Midlife and Beyond

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Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) sends about 4% of women into premature menopause before the age of 40. Yet, the condition is little understood and for those experiencing it, incredibly isolating. This week we talk about the struggles women with premature menopause face with athlete and entrepreneur Christy Napolitano Wernau, who experienced premature menopause at age 38. We also talk with her doctor, national expert and leader in menopause, Jewel Kling, MD, MPH, about the unique care women with premature menopause require, especially when it comes to menopausal hormone therapy.

Christy Napolitano Wernau is an accomplished entrepreneur and advocate for women’s health. With 27 years of experience at McDonald’s, she became a franchise owner, managing multiple restaurants and teams. She serves as a board member for Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), contributing to impactful community work. Diagnosed with premature ovarian failure and experiencing menopause at 38, she is passionate about raising awareness and building a supportive community for women navigating non-traditional menopause. A dedicated wife, fitness enthusiast, and mother, she balances her personal and professional life with a love for travel and wellness. Currently, she’s pursuing a degree in Organizational Leadership with a minor in sociology, and she’s an advocate for self-growth and resilience.

Jewel Kling, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Division of Women’s Health Internal Medicine, Assistant Director of the Mayo Clinic Women’s Health Center and Dean of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine AZ campus at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her clinical and research interests are in menopause, sexual health, LGBT care, education, as well as efforts to expand the discipline of Sex and Gender specific medicine. Dr. Kling is recognized as an institutional and national expert and leader in menopause. She is a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, a fellow and board member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH), and board member of the American Medical Women’s Association Sex and Gender Health Collaborative. She is also part of the transgender and intersex specialty clinic committee at Mayo Clinic Arizona and has been a past co-chair of the LGBTI Mayo Employee Resource Group.

Resources

We’re celebrating four years and 200 episodes together at Hit Play Not Pause! It’s like we’re finishing up peri/menopause high school and now we’re off to college. Actually, it is a lot like that when you consider how much our knowledge about this pivotal life transition has grown and keeps expanding. So, this week host Selene Yeager sits down with Hit Play Not Pause producer Carrie Barrett to talk about what we’ve learned, our hopes for the future, and a whole lot more. Here’s to four more years!

Carrie Barrett is the producer of multiple Feisty podcasts as well as a self-proclaimed, reluctant triathlete. Today, she splits time between Bend, Oregon and Austin, Texas where she’s a coach, writer, producer, and podcast host of I Could Never Do That.

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Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat: Join us from November 21st-23rd, 2024 https://www.feistymenopause.com/retreat

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Support our Partners:

Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/hitplay and use the code HITPLAY to get $25 off any pillow between now and December 2, 2024.

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and book a call with a Registered Dietitian

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

We don’t have to tell you that menopause can be a real sleep wrecker. Recent research finds that half of women aged 45 to 64 say they experience sleep disruption due to menopause. One of the biggest culprits is hormonally-driven symptoms like night sweats, so hormone therapy can help. But it’s not a guarantee to a good night’s sleep, as this week’s guest, holistic sleep coach Morgan Adams can attest. Morgan went from relying on prescription sleeping pills for nearly a decade to doing the work to remedy her own sleep issues and then becoming a certified sleep coach to help others. This week we discuss her approach, including dialing in your circadian rhythms, creating a healthy amount of sleep pressure during the day, rethinking your bedtime routines, and how to not stress about sleep.

Morgan Adams is a holistic sleep coach who empowers women to conquer their battle with sleepless nights without reliance on sleep medications. With her powerful sleep toolkit, Morgan not only ensures that women experience a profound enhancement in their sleep quality, but she also guides them in rekindling their relationship with sleep, paving the way for less stressful and more fulfilling days. Morgan is also a two-time breast cancer survivor. This experience fueled her advocacy for a lifestyle rooted in disease prevention. Her wisdom and guidance extend far beyond just sleep, as she champions holistic well-being in all aspects of life. You can learn more about her and her work at www.morganadamswellness.com.

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Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat: Join us from November 21st-23rd, 2024 https://www.feistymenopause.com/retreat

Follow Us on Instagram:

Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause

Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099

Join Level Up:https://www.feistymenopause.com/monthly-membership-1

Support our Partners:

Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/hitplay and use the code HITPLAY to get $25 off any pillow between now and December 2, 2024.

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and book a call with a Registered Dietitian

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

The messages we see and hear about hormone therapy are often head spinning, as headlines seemingly say one thing and guidelines say another. Medical experts themselves spend days arguing on Instagram. And women are left wondering how to make the best decisions for their health and well being. We feel it, too. So this week, host Selene Yeager opens up about her own journey through menopause and hormone therapy and has a sit down, candid conversation with the podcast’s resident hormone specialist Dr. Carla DiGirolamo to get to the root of the confusion and discuss what women should consider as they’re sorting through all the information coming their way.

Carla DiGirolamo, MD, PhD, is a Double Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Obstetrician/Gynecologist specializing in infertility and menopausal medicine. She is also a Crossfit Level 1 trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach, and member of CrossFit Health. She is a MedFit Care provider and provides weekly workouts and medical updates at her Substack Athletic Aging. She is an Endocrine Consultant for Wild Health. Most recently, she has launched her own private practice specializing in helping active and high-performing women reach their performance potential from puberty through menopause. You can find her at www.drcarlad.com/

Resources

World Menopause Day 2024

The Menopause Society Statement on Misinformation Surrounding Hormone Therapy

The Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat

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Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat: Join us from November 21st-23rd, 2024 https://www.feistymenopause.com/retreat

Follow Us on Instagram:

Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause

Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099

Join Level Up:https://www.feistymenopause.com/monthly-membership-1

Support our Partners:

Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/hitplay and use the code HITPLAY to get $25 off any pillow between now and December 2, 2024.

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and book a call with a Registered Dietitian

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

Female athletes of our generation have been told a lot of bullsh*t stories about what we’re supposed to look like; how much we’re supposed to weigh; what we’re supposed to eat (or more often not eat), and what we should or shouldn’t do in sports and training and life. We’ve lived through diet culture, sport diet culture, menopause diet culture. It is really hard to unlearn all those messages, but we owe it to ourselves to try. To liberate ourselves from the old bullsh*t that wasn’t even ours to begin with and rewrite our story in a way that is authentic and true. To help, we sat down with sport psychologist Dr. Erin Ayala, who shares how she helps women find self compassion and radical self acceptance for success and growth in midlife and beyond.

Erin Ayala, PhD, LP, CMPC is a Licensed Psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) offering virtual mental health therapy for athletes aged 14 and above. She provides one-on-one performance coaching, CMPC mentorship, clinical supervision, and group workshops for teams and sport organizations. She supports athletes in injury recovery, managing performance anxiety, depression, pre-competition stress, confidence, and self-criticism. Located in Minnesota, she is licensed to work with athletes in 40 states. You can learn more about Dr. Ayala and her work at www.skadisportpsychology.com

Enter to win a FREE spot at the annual Feisty Menopause Retreat: https://www.feistymenopause.com/giveaway

Subscribe to the Feisty 40+ newsletter: https://feistymedia.ac-page.com/feisty-40-sign-up-page

Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat: Join us from November 21st-23rd, 2024 https://www.feistymenopause.com/retreat

Follow Us on Instagram:

Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause

Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099

Join Level Up:https://www.feistymenopause.com/monthly-membership-1

Support our Partners:

Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/hitplay and use the code HITPLAY to get $25 off any pillow between now and December 2, 2024.

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and book a call with a Registered Dietitian

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

For literally decades, active women like Natalie Perkins have suffered through night sweats, mood swings, low mojo, injuries, and disruptive symptoms because everyone was scared off hormone therapy by outdated information. Unfortunately, though the tide is turning, it’s been a slow process and millions of women are still suffering for no good reason. That’s why Natalie became a midlife women’s health advocate and founded PAUZ, a company devoted to empowering and educating women through and beyond perimenopause. We dive into her own perimenopause journey, the soul searching she finds herself doing as a struggling endurance athlete, and how she believes it’s time that we all step into our power and become the women we want and deserve to be.

Dr. Natalie Perkins is the founder of PAUZ Health, a women's menopause health and wellness digital platform. With her PhD in health behavior change science and decades of professional experience in healthcare including as the Vice President of the largest global telemedicine company, she is passionate about transforming women's health. PAUZ is founded on a mission of every woman stepping into who they want to be, including getting access to treatments and support for lifestyle enhancements that will let each woman grab life by the ovaries. You can learn more about her and her work at PAUZ Health.

Subscribe to the Feisty 40+ newsletter: https://feistymedia.ac-page.com/feisty-40-sign-up-page

Feisty Menopause Performance Retreat: Join us from November 21st-23rd, 2024 https://www.feistymenopause.com/retreat

Follow Us on Instagram:

Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause

Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099

Join Level Up:https://www.feistymenopause.com/monthly-membership-1

Support our Partners:

Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/hitplay and use the code HITPLAY to get $25 off any pillow between now and December 2, 2024.

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and book a call with a Registered Dietitian

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/