Eight months ago, I saw my doctor. I didn’t feel well. I lived a life of extremely low energy, sheet drenching night sweats, a Niagara falls of blood clots and abnormal hunger. When asked, I couldn’t explain what it meant to feel normal. I’m a runner, so I thought I understood my body, but I didn’t know what optimal could feel like. I had cesarians for each of my deliveries, and I shared my body with another human for six years (while pregnant or nursing). For almost a decade, infants, regressions, breastfeeding, potty training, and normal little kid wake-ups disrupted my sleep. My body and mind needed a little TLC from being a shared energy source while functioning without optimal sleep.

My Dr. ordered all the tests: complete blood panel, 2 uterine ultra sounds and an MRI. The first blood test identified low iron. I started an iron supplement and noticed my eyes were less sunken and my morning energy was back. I still wasn’t optimal. Each day, I needed a nap and afternoon coffee. I was too tired to fully engage and play (i.e. play tag and jump rope) with my children in the way I wanted. Four months later, a second blood test showed prediabetes.

To my primary care physician, everything seemed normal. Perhaps perimenopause. My gynecologist’s recommendation: remove my uterus. She wanted to solve one problem by removing it all together, but would it solve all my other symptoms?

To the detriment of my friends, I am a deeply curious person. I can only imagine how much I drive them bonkers with all my research and analysis. I mean, come on, I’m a product manager at heart. I was determined to find a solution. I started researching women’s health and began experimenting. I started with perimenopause, but as I investigated further, I discovered how lack of sleep, increased glucose, low iron and high cortisol were impacting my body and brain. The changes I needed to make were surprising to me, but led to vast improvements in my blood clots, energy and overall well-being. Btw my blood clots went away. Yay!

I started my wellness journey by focusing on sleep, so I invested in an apple watch and saw an acupuncturist. Apparently, acupuncture can help with perimenopause symptoms like the night sweats I was experiencing. The apple watch would track my deep and REM sleep so I could figure out what was working. I’ve learned something from both.

1) I dislike acupuncture. Acupuncture is my actual nightmare. Not moving my body because I had little needles everywhere made me anxious. I couldn’t stop focusing on all the needles. I wish I could, but at $150 I would rather get a relaxing Swedish message.

2) The acupuncturist taught me about cortisol. My cortisol (adrenal glands) was in overdrive. I was in a constant state of fight or flight. Things which cause a rise in cortisol are HIIT (I was doing this 4 days a week), coffee (daily), not getting adequate sleep (my current life) and stress (traumatic life event).

3) My body was tired, my mind was tired, my adrenals were tired and my pancreas was tired. I needed to relax and minimize stress.

4) I wasn’t getting enough continual sleep without interruption, which was affecting my deep sleep (I was only getting 23 minutes) and REM sleep. At that rate, I’m pretty sure dementia was in my future.

I will go more in depth on each change in subsequent posts. It’s up to you to decide how you take care of your body. No one else will take care of you in the way you can. If something feels off, it probably is. Listen and trust your intuition. I’m not sure why we don’t trust ourselves and instead reach out to others to validate our unhealthy feelings and behaviors. Getting older doesn’t mean we must feel like crap all the time. We can experience long, energetic, mobile and fulfilling lives if we put in the work to optimize the choices we make.

Embrace healthy experimentation without fear. I know changing past habits is difficult. This post is part 1 of my health journey. I made many updates to get to my current health status. I’m now energized to handle the entire day without an afternoon cup of coffee, and my periods are back to normal. It’s like a dream I couldn’t fully imagine. I removed my excuses and eliminated my addiction to over consuming unhealthy habits. I stopped listening to others’ views of aging and updated my mindset.

Once you identify how you want to experience your day, the next step is changing your mindset to support the new ideas you create about health and wellbeing. Become clear on how you feel right now. Are you experiencing low energy like I did? Are you anxious all the time? Are you on a daily emotional roller coaster? Are you unable to slow down and become mindful of your actions? You can change all these things once you analyze your current habits and the negative things you’re doing to your body.

1) Log how you feel, and how you cope, throughout the day (i.e. low energy; grab a cup of coffee or snack to feel better). Perhaps your mornings start with an anxiety boost while preparing the kids for school (mindlessly snack while getting kids ready), followed by an energy crash around 2 pm after lunch (drink coffee), and even brain fog in the evenings during family time (turn on tv). 

2) To optimize your wellbeing, you need to know your data. Invest in a device that will provide you with better insights into how you are sleeping. Optimizing sleep can profoundly affect your energy levels. Track your trends and pay attention to your daily habits. Did you do anything different on the days you slept awesome and felt rejuvenated? What did you do on the days you slept awful? 

Then read my next posts on Sleep. I’m here to coach you through it.