057: Why Strength Training is Key to Beating Menopause BRAIN FOG

In this episode, Carly explains how strength training, breathwork, and meditation can help clear brain fog and improve sleep quality during menopause.

Carly breaks down the impact of declining estrogen on cognitive function and sleep patterns, and how regular exercise can help

Struggling with brain fog or sleepless nights? Book a free 30-minute clarity call at carlykillen.com to create a personalized plan for your mental and physical well-being during menopause.

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Transcript

Carly: 0:37

Hello and welcome back to the Strong Bones Coach podcast. I'm Carly, your host, and today we are exploring a topic that I have heard many of you mentioned, and that is brain fog. So you might have noticed this too, I certainly have, if you've found that brain fog is just becoming more and more of an issue as we head into midlife. Maybe you're constantly misplacing your keys, struggling to find the right words in conversations, definitely one for me, and even maybe using the wrong words altogether. By mistake, or not even by mistake, the right words just won't come out. These mental slips can feel super frustrating, especially when we're juggling work, family, everything else that life throws your way. But perhaps for you, it's just more a sense of that general fogginess that gives you that feeling that you're just not firing on all cylinders. It can really feel like it's draining your energy. So today we're diving right in to why brain fog happens during menopause and what we can do to support ourselves at this time so we can move forward. So let's get right into it. So why do so many women experience brain fog as we approach and go through our menopause journey? Now knowing that Half of the population are going to go through menopause. So if we're not feeling well in our minds, if we're not feeling like we can access our thinking and decision making, this causes real problems. It's one of the main reasons many women have been known to not go for those promotions or perhaps even stop working in their jobs as a result of this kind of feeling. And it's mostly experienced because of the reduction in oestrogen, one of our key hormones that decreases during menopause. Of course, oestrogen plays a critical role in our cognitive function, our memory, our overall brain health. So when oestrogen levels do drop. It can affect how efficiently our brain functions. decline can lead to symptoms like forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, struggles with our word finding, and it also affects our neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, which are vital for our mood regulation and our cognitive function too. So when we are low on oestrogen, there's less regulation of these neurotransmitters, perhaps less produced, less Absorbed into the right place, for lack of a better word. And this can lead to increased anxiety, mood swings, and of course, that brain fog that we often talk about and experience. And just to add to that too, whilst we're going through menopause, we tend to experience slightly higher levels of cortisol, that stress hormone. And this can, you know, contributes that cognitive fogginess to a combination of our lower oestrogen, heightened cortisol. It's this perfect storm really, isn't it? But fortunately there are ways that you can support yourself, such as strength training. It can really help to combat these effects. So many of the clients that I work with do say that they experience more of a mental clarity after they have done strength training. So I wanted to unpick why this is, just to help support you in understanding how this might benefit you if you're not already engaging with this. So you might notice yourself whether you're menopausal or not that you don't always feel like going to the gym or getting moving. Those of you that do engage and that have a go, you might have noticed yourself that you do feel a bit clearer. So let's look at what happens. So when we exercise, we increase our cardiovascular blood flow. So that allows more blood flow to the brain, delivering more oxygen, more nutrients. It gives us a good brain boost, that cognitive function can help improve our memory, our concentration, and it has ongoing effects as we age as well. So that persistent and consistent increased blood flow to the brain helps to support maintain our cognitive function as we get older. So those of us with a family history of dementia, course exploring our family histories, our medical support, and potentially HRT too. Engaging in strength training and exercise can really support long term brain health too. Also, when we exercise, particularly strength training, It also stimulates the release of endorphins and serotonin, so it helps to improve your mood, which also brings along the mental clarity. So these neurotransmitters not only help to reduce stress, but they can also help to improve focus and reduce your brain fog. And again, when we take care of our bodies, when we are staying in good health, they can also help to reduce stress. having increased strength supports us with, this can also reduce the inflammation within our body. So when our body becomes more inflamed, which can happen as our anti inflammatory estrogen reduces, this can also have an impact on the brain. The estrogen receptors are all over the body, including the brain, which is why we can sometimes see, or often see, some brain struggles as we start to see those hormone shifts. So by lowering our inflammation in our body, we are Giving ourselves more chance to experience clearer thinking and a sharper mind. Now something else that can affect our brain function, if we're already struggling with the impacts of that rollercoaster of hormones that can sometimes happen, this can be where sleep becomes even more important. Another hormone that shifts during menopause is our progesterone, which can have an impact on our sleep as this reduces. So, I know that many of the women I work with, everyone that I speak to around this menopausal time will often report at some point they will struggle with sleep. So, it's not uncommon. Just the lower oestrogen levels that can disrupt those sleep patterns, but also as our progesterone reduces, we can experience more insomnia or more restless nights. So starting to include some strength training within our routine can be a powerful tool to improve our sleep. It helps us to regulate our circadian rhythm, especially if we're getting into a routine with this. If we start to take some exercise outside as well, some daylight steps, it really helps our body's internal clock control our sleep wake cycle that bit better. So when we start to get in that routine of moving regularly, we build up some physical fatigue as well, which can make sure that we have that better quality of sleep at times. And our sleep onset, which is how quickly you fall asleep, as well as your overall sleep quality. Now I mentioned cortisol earlier, so when we regularly strength train, this can encourage our overall cortisol to reduce. Which is what we need when we want to fall asleep too. For us to fall asleep, we need to be in that restful zone, that rest and digest phase. So when our cortisol levels are high, which is a stress hormone, we're going to struggle to really drop into that restful space. So as we build a more resilient body, when we train for strength, it allows our body to cope better with stress as well, allowing our cortisol to come up more normally as it needs to in the morning, and then to drop back down when it's not needed. There are studies that showing that strength training had led to better sleep efficiency and fewer disturbances at night as well. So if you are a restless sleeper, introducing some weights a couple of times a week can start to really regulate that and help your body to relax into a better quality sleep, leaving you more likely to wake up feeling refreshed, which is going to be great for the brain function. Of course, there are other ways to support our sleep and support our brain health as well. So in addition to strength training, we can introduce things like breath work and meditations that can really help us drop into rest because quite often This busy brain, the brain fog, can also be due to that anxiety feeling as well. Or perhaps that buzzy brain that can feel overwhelmed when we just don't get that opportunity to rest. So with breathwork, it's something we can do at any time. It doesn't need to be lying down, we don't need to be on a yoga mat. This is something that we can carry with us at all times. And there are so many different ways that we can choose to breathe, but two of them in particular are super easy to do wherever you are, no matter whether you're with somebody, on your own, in a stressful meeting. And these are the coherence breathing, which I've mentioned on previous episodes. Where we match our inhale with our exhale creating a steady flow as we breathe in and release the breath out. This is often best done through the nose if you're able to breathe through your nose but again returning to that even breath just helps the balance itself out and shift out of that stressed response. And if you're in need of a little more of a relaxing breath we can do the 4-6 breath as well. This is where We breathe in for the count of four, followed by a breath out for the count of six. So this slightly extended exhale really helps the body to drop into that parasympathetic nervous system, which allows your body to relax and shift away from any anxiety or stress responses a little bit quicker if you're feeling that You're a little bit activated or a bit heightened in that moment. So there's two examples for you about how you can use your breath to shift your emotions into a more relaxed space, which allows you to access the capacity of your brain and think a bit more clearly in the moments. So this is a way that we get to clear the mental fog and prepare your body for restful sleep, or just get through those waves that can happen throughout the day. Also when you are getting a bit more ready for bed, if you have got that space to maybe go lie down, sit down in a quiet place, practicing meditation, especially before bed, can really help to quiet those racing thoughts and calm your mind. Making it a lot easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Helping you to reduce that overthinking, so your body can just shift fully into that relaxed state. So I hope that's helped you this week, and if you have been struggling with brain fog or sleepless nights, strength training, breath work, meditations are just some of the ways that you can support yourself to make a significant difference to how you feel. where we can enter into that restful space. It's so much easier to clear your mind, especially get a better night's sleep, and of course, provide your body that natural stimulus through strength training, to allow your body to handle stress that much better so you can have a fully rested night. If this resonates with you and you're looking for more guidance on where to start, I am offering some free clarity calls which are 30 minute calls to help you to create a self care plan around your fitness, around your menopause needs. So help reduce the overwhelm with those next steps forwards. So if you feel like you'll benefit from that, just head over to the link in the show notes or CarlyKillen. com to book your session. So until next week, take care of yourselves, give yourself a break if you need it, and stay strong.