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Hey there, it's Maureen Chana here. I am so excited to be back with another episode of Lead to Excel podcast. This week, I'm going to be talking about something really personal to me. And it's my menopause journey. So I'm the founder of the Mindsight Academy, a neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and I'm a neuroleadership facilitator using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work smarter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and others' emotions, change behaviors so that you can flourish and exceed expectations. So let's get into this topic today. But before we do, grab your cup of coffee or whatever drink you're having. Remember to subscribe to this podcast. And let's get started. My perimenopause or menopause journey began in my early 40s. I had just closed my business and felt like a failure. My marriage was going through a difficult patch, and as if things couldn't get any worse, my mom passed away suddenly. Feeling stressed was an understatement. I was feeling a lot of things at that time. I had gone back to lecturing, and I noticed that I was breaking out in hot sweat in front of the lecture room while others were freezing. I was waking up at night drenched in sweat. In fact, I could barely sleep at night. I found I was getting really irritable over minor things, things that I would have overlooked in the past. One day I literally ran out of the lecture room, went to the ladies, and had a good cry. I remember so many times stopping my car on the side of the road and just sobbing. And I had no clue why. What puzzled me most was the fact that the clothes I used to wear comfortably before, I couldn't. Because they were making me so hot. In fact, I would say I felt at the time that they were making me so hot. But the fact is that I was just sweating a lot more. And it was quite embarrassing that I'll be in meetings and suddenly start fanning myself because I was boiling. I was literally hot. People would turn around looking at me with this puzzled look. Once I was talking to our CEO, and my face literally became soaked with sweat pouring down my face. And you know, after that, it then ends up so oily. Okay. I remember walking away so embarrassed. But that was when I decided to really speak to the doctor because I did not know what was going on with me. The doctor ordered some tests. When the test results came out, she told me that I was at early stages of menopause, perimenopause. I remember saying, excuse me? What do you mean? She said that my FSH levels, folliculating hormones, were raised. I knew what that meant because I worked in pathology for years. I was 41 years old. I hadn't noticed my periods changing because I had been on the progesterone call for years, so I hadn't had a period for quite a while. Saying that I was in shock just does not describe how I felt at the time. How can I be going through menopause at 41? Does this mean that if I wanted more children, I couldn't? My brain went into overdrive. I experienced sadness, grief, anger, all the emotions combined. I remember the doctor asking me if I knew when my mom started. I replied, no. And she passed away a few months ago, so I couldn't even ask her. She said that it might have been brought on by the stress of losing her, but I know that before then, or up to that time, I had been going through a lot of stress, the business loss and you know, lots of other things I'd mentioned previously. She also said it could be genetic. I think what got me thinking was that this was a conversation I'd never had with my mom. My mom was a nurse. And it's just something that we never spoke about. And at this time, it wasn't even something that I had spoken about with anyone, not friends. In fact, I think I probably was the first person to go through the menopause amongst all my friends because everyone was shocked that I was going through perimenopause at the time. Now, menopausal women now are the fastest-growing workforce demographic. So it's so important to know how to support women through this period, to reduce absenteeism, increase well-being, so she can be her best self at work and bring her whole self into the workplace. And also improve the culture of the organization. Women going through this stage of life should not have to step back from roles, which is what we're finding a lot of now. I felt really uncomfortable. I couldn't speak to anyone at work. I felt alone. Around this same time, I was getting really curious about how the brain works. I was asking myself questions and I had decided to really get into neuroscience. And that helped me a lot. Because I remember discussing the fact that I was now going through perimenopause with a friend, and she gave me all the things that would go wrong, all the things I should expect: depression, sadness, everything going. And I went, oh my gosh. But fortunately at the time, because I was studying the brain, I decided to do a lot of research myself. That's when I came across Dr. Christian Northrop and her book on menopause, and that really helped me a lot. It's true that many women don't seek medical advice, and still many women don't feel comfortable talking about menopause at home with their spouses or at work with their line managers. And some still feel embarrassed talking about it. In fact, I think some people were embarrassed when I even spoke about it. But the truth is that when women and men understand the symptoms and ways to manage them, the lives of many women and work will be so much better. I made it a point to always discuss how I was feeling, what I was going through with my sons, so that when their spouses start experiencing it, they will understand. So let's talk about the science and what happens, because this really helped me. The female brain ages differently from the male brain, and our brain is in constant interaction with the rest of our body. The brain's interaction in particular with the reproductive system is crucial for brain aging in women. The main hormone is the estrogen hormone. Estrogen starts deteriorating in midlife in women, and this gives rise to diverse symptoms. Some might not have symptoms, but a lot of women will have different types of symptoms. And this is what I got to understand that not every woman goes through the same symptoms, and it's really important to start paying attention to your own self, which is what helped me a lot. Symptoms such as hot flashes, insomnia, night sweats, depression, anxiety, memory lapses, brain fog, and a lot more could happen. The main symptoms I experience are hot flashes, night sweats, sometimes insomnia, that brain fog is such a pain. But with time, and I'll talk about what I started doing to really help me manage these symptoms. So whilst menopause is associated with the ovaries, these symptoms actually start in the brain. So they're neurological symptoms. Our brain and ovaries are part of what's known as the neuroendocrine system, where they both communicate with each other. So it means that they both impact on each other's health. So for example, estrogen is not only involved in reproduction, but also it's so important for energy production in the brain. So it's involved in healthy brain function, basically. So when estrogen levels are high, it makes your brain energy high as well. But when these estrogen levels start to decline in midlife, the brain cells, which are known as neurons, start slowing down and they start aging faster. And the fact is that the growth of neurons compared to other cells in the body is much, much slower. So the neurons in the hypothalamus area of the brain, which is responsible for body temperature regulations, are impacted more by this decline in estrogen levels. So you can see how the impact on the hypothalamus causes the hot flashes that we women get. Another part of the brain that is impacted by this decline in estrogen is the brainstem. And the consequence of that is lack of sleep, which could progress to become insomnia. And also the insomnia can be caused because of the waking up at night literally drenched in sweat. The decline in estrogen levels in the emotional part of the brain, mainly the amygdala, which is close to the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the memory area of the brain. When this decline occurs here, it can result in mood swings and forgetfulness because of these two organs involved. So many women feel like they might be losing their minds during this time because of the impact of this decline in estrogen hormone. But actually, your brain is just going through a transition and needs time and support to be able to adjust to its new state. And a lot of that brain fog, I feel, is mainly because of that drop in brain energy that is occurring. I listened to a TED talk recently that was explaining about some research that was done that said that cognitive performance in women going through menopause does not actually decline. That there are no differences between men and women before and after menopause. The difference is really the impact that the menopause causes. Once those symptoms are able to be managed and with the help of nutrition, lifestyle, get a balance, increase the estrogen levels, women's performance should not be impacted. It's a shame that many women leave work at the time when they're actually peaking in their career where their expertise and experience should really be used by organizations. So it's so important for leaders and the organizations as a whole to understand what menopause is. Because you see, with pregnancy, it's understood. Women start, you know, morning sickness and all the other things that come. But with menopause, they are hidden, you know, you don't see any, the changes are really internal. So it's it's the symptoms that you that people experience. And because it's not well understood, a lot of women struggle at work, struggle to even stay at work. And that's a and that's a big shame and a big loss to organizations. And it's true that we might be tired because of what we're going through, but we're still sharp and smart. So the question is how do we protect our brain during this perimenopause and menopause? And the main thing is lifestyle, the food we eat, exercising, how much sleep we get, and how much stress that you experience in your life. And it's important to really pay attention to your diet, what you're taking. One promise I'm going to make is to bring a great nutritionist that understands nutrition to really talk about what to eat and the exercises to do. I've found that spicy food increases my own heart flashes. If I I love coffee, but if I take caffeine in the evening, I literally will not sleep that night. So, and that never used to happen to me before. And I would say it actually started happening quite recently. So this is, you know, probably we're into the menopause. So it's so important to really pay attention to yourself. Stress literally steals your estrogen, and that's because cortisol, which is the main stress hormone, affects our estrogen levels. So basically, if cortisol goes up, the estrogen level goes down, and vice versa. So reducing stress is critical to help your life, but it also helps your brain. So the message is it's so important that we take care of our brains. How you choose to manage menopause, whether it's going on HRT or not going on HRT, it's important that it's your choice. You decide what you want to do. Do your research, which is what I did. I chose not to go on HRT, but that was my choice. For me, I noticed the kind of foods that I take that aggravate the symptoms and what I do that reduces the symptoms. Exercise helps me a lot, but I'm not one that likes exercising. Taking things that are rich in estrogen are quite helpful, like kidney beans, chickpeas, dried fruits, quinoa are really helpful. Some people recommend taking supplements. I don't know how much supplements help, but also the quality of the supplements, I suppose, will make a huge difference. I've heard that coconut oil helps, but I think for each person it's finding out what works for you. One other question people ask a lot is how long do these symptoms go on for? And the answer is it varies with individuals. So it's so difficult to tell. I suppose you can probably tell from family history if you can look into that. But like I said, I could, I did not, you know, I'm not sure how long my mom went through it. But it's on hindsight, I then it occurred to me that, oh my gosh, all those times she was sweating, it was hot flashes she was going through. I'm also having a different experience from my sister. So it's so important to really pay attention to yourself, to your body, and know and do what's best for you. Those mood swings, depression are also symptoms that we need to manage. But one important thing that I that I feel is so important, you know, when we talk about taking care of the brain, is it's also being very mindful of your thoughts because they have a huge impact on your stress levels. Your thoughts will also help you understand and process the transition that you're going through. Because how you view the transition would also impact on your stress levels. One of the things that I made sure of at that early stage, and this is me, I'm speaking about my own experience, is that I made sure to look at menopause as a normal process. This was another phase. I chose to look at it positively and not see it negatively, and that helped me a lot. So it's so important to manage your thought process, but do what's best for you. Whether it's going on um HRT, whatever you do, still paying attention to your thoughts, what you eat, you know, your exercise, your lifestyle basically are so important to help you through this next phase of your life. So I hope that's really helped you. One of the reasons that I decided to do this is that so many of my clients, in fact, recently I've been speaking to so many clients who are going through this new phase and are beginning to ask themselves a lot of questions. And it's those things, like I said, things that a lot of women would have tolerated in the past. When they get to this period, it's a time that women start looking inwards to look after themselves. Because up to this time, a lot of what women have done mainly looking outwards, caring for other people, doing what other people want. But it's a time that you kind of start looking inwards and go, what do I want? What do I want for my life? This is where it then starts impacting a lot on marriages, on relationships. So it's also important to remember, it's really important to just understand what your brain and body is doing, but also for spouses to understand as well what their spouses are going through to really help you as a spouse support your spouse as you're going through it. During this period of transition, the woman's brain is rewiring. And this is the reason why she probably can get more irritable than previously, um, becomes more focused on self as well. Christian Northrop said, at Perimenopus, the rewiring of the woman's brain makes her vision clearer and her motivations easier to identify. I feel this is the reason why a lot of times it's at this stage that the woman starts asking the question, what do I want? I don't know what I want, I don't know where I'm going. So it's it it's it's a good thing. It's a good thing because it's time for you to refocus on yourself and truly, you know, really be intentional about what you're doing. So I'm going to end this podcast here because I could go on, you know, talking about menopause because it's something that I've had to live with for quite a while now. So it's just really adjusting to life um through the process. So um I'm really definitely stopping now. Okay, three things before we finish today. Have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you click that subscribe button wherever you listen to this podcast. Because once you subscribe, you will not miss an episode. And as usual, if you have a topic you would love me to speak about or bring a guest on, do let me know by leaving a review. Finally, do have a fantastic week and remember that you are limitless. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.