Far 2 Fabulous

Unlocking Hormonal Harmony: The Vital Role of Progesterone in Emotional Well-being and Menopause

• Julie Clark & Catherine Chapman • Episode 54

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Episode 54
Progesterone plays a critical role in regulating emotional and physical health, often acting as the calming force needed to balance out oestrogen. As levels of progesterone fluctuate during menstruation, perimenopause, and menopause, they significantly impact mood, sleep, and overall well-being, making it essential for women to understand and manage these changes effectively. 

• Discussion on the importance of balance between progesterone and oestrogen 
• Exploration of how stress affects progesterone production 
• The role of progesterone in menstrual cycle regulation and mood stability 
• Connection between low progesterone and physical health issues 
• Insights on managing hormonal changes post-menopause 
• Strategies for supporting progesterone and overall hormonal health

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Far Too Fabulous hosted by Julie and.

Speaker 2:

Catherine, join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candid chats and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive in. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. Far Too Fabulous. Now. We've been talking about hormones for the last few weeks and this week we are going to talk about progesterone. So last week we were all about estrogen, absolutely, and now we're on to progesterone. Now, progesterone is a really interesting hormone and one that we definitely want to be in balance because it really impacts our emotional well-being.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, which is probably one of the first things when people think about hormones. It's the emotions is the big thing that people think about, isn't it? And weirdly, I think, when you're talking about all of our female sex hormones, oestrogen gets talked about the most. But yeah, progesterone is just yeah, just quietly very important.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it really is. And the thing that I find most interesting about progesterone is just yeah, just quietly very important. Yeah, it really is. And the thing that I find most interesting about progesterone is that it's predominantly produced by the ovaries, but that at some point in our life is going to stop, but the adrenals can pick up the slack. That's really interesting and can actually make progesterone?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's really interesting. That's really interesting. And can actually make progesterone? Yeah, no, that's really interesting. And especially if you've been listening to us for a while, you'll know that we bang on about stress, so you can imagine how much that's impacted in our modern lives.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so if we're stressed and our adrenals are dealing with their stress output, they're not going to go. Oh, I've just noticed that the ovaries are not producing enough progesterone. I better help pick up the slack there. No, I'm too busy dealing with this tiger with everybody else?

Speaker 2:

yeah, exactly exactly yeah, to balance everything back out again. Very interesting. So what does it do um on it in its normal day-to-day life?

Speaker 1:

yeah, so we spoke about a normal cycle and how the oestrogen and progesterone kind of act like on a seesaw. So we've got dominant oestrogen in the first half of the cycle and dominant progesterone in the second half of the cycle, and we spoke about what happens when you get into that perimenopause phase. That estrogen goes a bit crazy and progesterone being the really calm friend that comes in to to balance that. But the I think progesterone is very much known for its role in the reproductive system. We definitely know about progesterone. When we're looking at pregnancy and we want to maintain a pregnancy, we've got to have progesterone come in, otherwise we can't get from first trimester to second trimester. So there's a big relationship there with pregnancy.

Speaker 1:

But menstrual cycle regulation you know we spoke about what was normal. Yeah, in terms of it could be a 21 day cycle or up to a 35 day, but only if that is a pattern for you, not one month you got to any one day cycle. Next month you got a 35 day cycle, but it it's involved in the regulation of that. So when we start to see progesterone levels change, then we can see a change in our menstrual cycle, which is exactly what I'd been experiencing when I mentioned to you about it.

Speaker 2:

So it's the, it's the dominant hormone. When things start to change, that's what will start to really show up for us yeah, so it will.

Speaker 1:

When oestrogen goes crazy, you you initially get into that oestrogen dominance yeah, um, kind of phased, and you've got to have progesterone come in and balance that seesaw. But if progesterone is starting to decline because we're not ovulating every month, we're running out of eggs, then we don't have progesterone to balance the oestrogen.

Speaker 2:

That's gone crazy yeah, and we were just talking about this before and I was trying to get my head around it and it was. We were literally talking about chicken, chicken and egg. Which came first? Was it that the progesterone started to reduce or was it that there was a reduction in eggs and ovulating? And Julie says both. It's both yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So progesterone by keeping oestrogen in check. Remember, remember, estrogen is that growth hormone, so that when we're thinking about what's happening in our cycle we've got the thickening of the womb lining, progesterone will stop that from being too excessive. So this is one of the reasons why some cancers can have that estrogen element to them. Yeah, you know, in breast cancer or in in cancers of of the womb, etc. There can be that over growing.

Speaker 2:

I guess you call it yeah and you haven't got progesterone to kind of go put the brakes on no, it's funny, progesterone is really the, the calmer, nurturing friend, isn't it of, yeah, of these hormones?

Speaker 1:

yeah, it really is. And when you start to look at your cycle, when we spoke about the cycle and those times when your your hormones are low, yeah, and you understand what they do and you can understand why you go crazy, yeah, why certain things are happening, why you feel angry, irritable, and you look and you go, oh, I've got no progesterone yeah, that's when progesterone is not there, wrapping its arms around oestrogen going.

Speaker 2:

Come on, calm down, it's all all right yeah exactly.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, big connection with the reproductive system, but a huge connection with the nervous system and mood, because it does have that calming effect and it's basically involved in the neurotransmitter pathways. It stimulates something called GABA. Now GABA is like the mediator that keeps everything kind of calm between the other neurotransmitters. So if we don't have GABA there, then we get too many excitory neurotransmitters. So then we become more anxious and become more hypervigilant and all of those things that come with it again more irritable and things like that. So it really really impacts mood. Anxiety is heightened when progesterone levels are low yeah, and you can.

Speaker 2:

Really you can see that. I know that people listening will be able to recognize that snowball effect as their progesterone starts to reduce down or perhaps in our estrogen dominant society, that that you, we don't have that balance as much anymore and you can like when you're talking about things like not having the GABA there to to to help balance all those excitable hormones. I don't know about you, but I can.

Speaker 1:

I feel that just in general yeah, definitely, and I think when you're in a situation where you're having a regular cycle but you have those days where you know that those hormones are low like I've spoken about me falling off the edge of a cliff- in the middle and things like that.

Speaker 1:

but when you know that's low and you have those moments of you just have like an outburst of anger and you go whoa, whoa, where did that come from? Or you just feel really annoyed and don't know why you know that kind of stuff, then you know that that's because at those points in your cycle that's happened. But then imagine when that's happening all the time, because those levels are too low or they're dropping and you've got oestrogen that's gone crazy and you've got nothing to balance it out. It kind of makes sense because a lot of women that I see will often say I've experienced anxiety and I've never had that before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a big thing, isn't it within perimenopause?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and that's what's happening. So again, when you're in that perimenopause phase and you've got oestrogen being erratic, sometimes it's OK and sometimes it's not. Progesterone sometimes is OK. Sometimes you ovulate and you may do that for a few months and then you don't and then it's dropped low again, and so one minute you're fine, next minute you're not, and it's that. Not knowing. It's not a nice feeling.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely. It also obviously has an impact on other systems. So we've got like bone health, your heart health um your immune system.

Speaker 1:

It plays parts in all of those as well I find the immune system thing really interesting because when, when I'm experiencing what I would consider a normal cycle often just before I get my period or those few days before I can feel like I've got a cold coming, and then I get my period, or then I realise where I am in my cycle and I go oh okay, that makes sense because it does have an impact on your immune system. And so when those levels are starting to drop as you're heading towards menopause, there is a direct impact on the immune system yeah no that's really interesting.

Speaker 2:

And you just and layering that again on top of everything that we've been talking about stress, everything that we've been talking about about sort of your GABA levels and all that sort of stuff which has a massive impact on your immune system, on your heart health you can see how this, this imbalance like, gets your whole body yeah, I mean it sounds really depressing, it does a little bit and really negative and you think to yourself, why on earth would my body do this?

Speaker 1:

but there are lots of things that you can do to support that because, again, if you know that those levels are impacted and it's going to affect your mood, then there are other things you can do to support your mood. So, for example, there are other ways that you can help your body support the production of GABA, yeah. When the progesterone is low, yeah. So if you know that, then you can do other things.

Speaker 2:

If you know that your immune system is starting to be compromised, you can do other things yeah, no, exactly, and I think that's the that's one of the reasons we need to have this conversation so many more times is because it's not been had and people just don't know, and so these signs and symptoms probably are a bit scary if you don't know what's going on. So hopefully, with these explanations like underneath them, it makes you feel a bit better about what's going on, and I mean it. All of these systems are natural. They are normal. It doesn't make them any more enjoyable.

Speaker 2:

A lot of the time, I'm not, and there's so much more that we can. We can do about it now, but knowing that they're normal and and also that our modern lives probably heighten all the horrible bits about it yeah, I think it's the, it's the awareness around it is is so important yeah, because, again, we only ever know that estrogen does this or progesterone does that and we don't know the whole picture.

Speaker 1:

And we don't know, like I've spoke about that orchestra of hormones. It's not just about these ones, it's about what's happening with the thyroid, the adrenals, the blood sugars. They're all interconnected. And, yeah, to be honest, even if you do know this stuff, which I do I still have to remind myself when I'm having some things going on and I'm thinking where's that come from, what's happening there, and then I go oh yeah, of course it's that you know, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2:

And then I have to remind myself well, yeah, and when you're in the thick of this whole shit storm of uh of hormones, you're not thinking straight you're not thinking you're not thinking. Now, hang on a minute. I think my progesterone's just headed off on a little stroll and oestrogen's having a party with me.

Speaker 2:

You only think about that afterwards, don't you? And then, but then hopefully you can like forgive yourself for being a little bit crazy and nurture yourself, and then maybe it's then time to be able to set some other things in place that support you also. The other thing and this might be very depressing is that we probably weren't designed to be alive for much longer. Normally, so like in even even I think it's like 200 years ago, maybe not even that long the average age was like 45, 40 to 45 years old, so we wouldn't even have been alive. It's only that we have got a little bit better at looking after ourselves, and and that medicine supports many of us to this point that we're even, that we're even standing.

Speaker 2:

So I mean the fact that we've now got to live another potentially half of our lives without these hormones that have been so hugely present. Yeah, it's.

Speaker 1:

It's not surprising that it's it's tough to navigate yeah, indeed, but I must just remind you, dear listener, that that there are plenty of women around the world and certain cultures that will transition through this phase without symptoms, and that is something to embrace, really, because it is possible to do that. I think the biggest problem we have is you've spoken about this estrogen dominant world that we live in, yet we've got major, major issues with chemicals in foods. The way that you know the environment is has having a direct impact on the water is a big one. Yeah, you know, when you think about water, go off on a tangent now, but always, honestly, water is absolutely key. You cannot exist without water. You can exist without food for a while, but not water, and the quality of that water is absolutely vital and yet, even in a, in modern society, our water isn't necessarily of good quality.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it's really interesting, isn't it? I mean it's not dirty, but there is so much in there that really shouldn't be in there.

Speaker 1:

No, it shouldn't be.

Speaker 1:

And yeah, I see that through some of the testing I do some of the some of the heavy metals and, honestly, it's, it's shocking what you see in just coming through water. Yeah, it's, it's really shocking. So but we can look at that first because it's important. We're 70% water if we just adjusted our water quality, yeah, and we can do that with filters and you can take it to whatever level that you want. There's some amazing systems out there. I think it's really important, if you're in a position to do that, that you first address water, yeah, and it's a really simple thing to be able to do yeah, and then look at the chemicals you put on yourself yeah and we've done an episode on that

Speaker 2:

so an episode perhaps we'll link that into here as well, and it just be another way that you can support yourself yeah, because when you're looking at balancing your hormones, you need to come at it from these different directions as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah absolutely. So we've got progesterone involved in we said about the immune system. It is also involved in skin health, just like oestrogen. You know, oestrogen is very much dealing with the elasticity and things, and because progesterone and oestrogen work together, they're often working in similar places, so it's a key one for skin. And how often does that come up? Uh, for people going through perimenopause and menopause, suddenly skin flare-ups. Where's that come from?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I haven't had any skin issues.

Speaker 1:

I've never had any skin issues and now suddenly I've got a little rosacea or whatever it may be, it comes up as an issue. Hives is another one, because hives is a histamine reaction and histamine is involved with estrogen and progesterone. So there is a direct link there as well with those pathways.

Speaker 2:

So skin health can be impacted and the bones, again not to the level of estrogen, but progesterone again is involved there, because they're working together, yeah, and cardiovascular health yeah, exactly the same as you're talking about the um, skin elasticity and all that sort of thing, will have the same sorts of impacts on your, on your vessels, on your muscles, all those sorts of things. So you can see how that that has a direct impact. And, like I don't know about you, on a, just on a normal cycle, you can see your cycle literally on your face, can't you? You're going through, yeah, you can, mid cycle and you look glowing and amazing and you're like, wow, look at me.

Speaker 2:

And then, yeah, literally days afterwards, you're like what happened and you look dry and, you know, scaly and haggard. Yeah, it's really interesting.

Speaker 1:

You can, just you can literally see it on your face I find it really interesting that your cholesterol levels can be different at different times of your cycle. I did not know that. Yeah, again, because these hormones are involved, so I can't remember which way around it is as to when if you've got to go and have your cholesterol level done, especially if it's considered high. Yeah, I mean, don't get me started on the subject of cholesterol, because no, maybe we'll do that.

Speaker 1:

Another day we might need to talk about cholesterol, but if you've been given that advice that I had, to be careful, biting her tongue now yeah, if you've been told that your cholesterol is high, um, if you've been told that your cholesterol is high, um, if you've been told that your cholesterol is high and you have to go back and get it checked, yeah, it would be beneficial if you're someone that's having a cycle or even post um cycle, but you can kind of track because, as you know, you said, even when you're not having a cycle, yeah, you still have, you still have a I guess something that happens, yeah, um, we, we spoke about tracking it through the moon, didn't?

Speaker 1:

we before but yeah, there's a specific time of your cycle that the cholesterol would be more favorable. If you need that to be for the sake of telling the doctor that you don't want statins. Another subject not going to go there, I'm going to shut up now, but you don't want statins no, no, no, I'm really yeah.

Speaker 2:

Let's keep talking about progesterone. So that's how it works normally, yep. And so then what happens when we start to head much closer to the magical date of menopause?

Speaker 1:

to the magical date of menopause. Well, when we're in that perimenopause, that transitional phase, because ovulation is becoming less regular, because we're running out of eggs, we've got that fluctuating progesterone, a bit like oestrogen although oestrogen is mental, progesterone's a bit more chilled out. Yeah, fluctuations aren't as extreme. But when you've got this declining progesterone happening, you're pushing that seesaw towards estrogen and then you, you have that estrogen dominance. So heavy or regular periods happens when you haven't got sufficient progesterone to balance estrogen. Breast tenderness because, remember, estrogen is that growing. Yeah, uh, you know you. You know sometimes your boobs are a bit bigger, aren't they at that time and bloating and water retention, that digestive issues often come up as well when I'm talking to women.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's interesting same sort of link as your skin health and your blood vessels and all that sort of stuff, yeah all linked so really interesting, and this is all associated with decreasing levels of progesterone. Yeah, does it ever um peak and trough like oestrogen?

Speaker 1:

yeah, it does, but it's not as erratic. It tends to be more on the decline, but you do. You do still see ups and downs, especially on. You know, I spoke, I think last time or the time before, about if I'm testing over the duration of the cycle and I can see oestrogen up and down, up and down, up and down.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can see that with progesterone as well, but it's never as extreme just not as erratic, and I suppose the points that would be higher would be the points that maybe your mood was a bit lower or potentially your energy was a bit lower, because that's more dominant at that point yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So when you start to get that change in your periods, you can suspect that progesterone levels are declining or they're becoming erratic, for sure, and heavy periods, you know, sometimes women experience that flooding, yeah, effect um with their periods. That is, still having a cycle, but not having sufficient progesterone causes that flooding and then mood changes, of course yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Um, one of those big things is um well, affect your sleep. So it will affect your sleep the the changes in the hormones, but also the whole system will affect your sleep.

Speaker 1:

The sleep is really frustrating because, of course, you need certain hormones to be at certain levels for you to be able to fall asleep, but then you've got to factor in. The liver is doing a lot of work because it knows that I've got a load of estrogen that I need to deal with. Yeah, it needs to process that, and when the liver is really active, it can cause your blood sugars to drop and that can make you wake up at that three o'clock sort of stage. Okay, so if you're someone that can fall asleep and then you wake up, then you can't get back to sleep. Yeah, that could be the reason for that. Then you've got the the impact on other nutrients like the b6, vitamin b6 and magnesium are being used up like crazy in order to help this situation, and you need those to stay asleep or to fall asleep I suppose.

Speaker 2:

Does it have an overall response on your body as a stress response? Is that why you're burning through those vitamins as well and the poor old liver's trying to sort of sort it all out?

Speaker 1:

yeah, there is a. There is an element of that involved as well, but also these nutrients are involved in specific pathways, so we tend to be low in magnesium and b6 generally. Yeah, as a nation, and these are things that we just use, we just burn through them, basically when we've got a lot going on, especially when our system is out of balance. Yeah, inside, it's desperately trying to get things back into um, equilibrium. Yeah, and in order in order to do that, it's like we need a load of magnesium down here, and then the magnesium is not available for you to then go to sleep yeah, yeah, and it's amazing.

Speaker 2:

I know from my years of nursing. I know what the body will do to keep everything looking normal on the outside. Yes, it will. It will try every trick in the book before you start to feel sort of truly unwell with it or like out of balance it's so clever.

Speaker 1:

I find it absolutely fascinating what it tries to do, and it's always trying to help you, yeah. So it's not that it's intentionally keeping you awake or giving you hot flush, yeah, or making your skin flare up. It literally is trying the best it can. Yeah, but it's only got certain amount of ingredients available. But once you know where the gaps are, yeah, you can kind of support it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I love magnesium, that is. Yeah, you'd have to wrestle that out of my hands.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it's it's a really good nutrient to use um pms. Like symptoms, headaches are a classic one. So when progesterone starts to decline, you get headaches because of the constriction that it causes to the blood vessels. Okay, and this can have an impact on things like blood pressure. Yeah, so again you're, you're going, you know, going about your normal life, everything's fine. You've always had low blood pressure. Then you get in your 50s and they do a check on you and they go oh, your blood pressure's a bit up. You go what? Yeah?

Speaker 2:

when does that happen?

Speaker 1:

yeah, you don't know because you don't feel it. But yeah, you see that, because of the impact of things like progesterone.

Speaker 2:

That's really interesting and again, I imagine that might work on a maybe not a day-to-day basis for a week, but a week-to-week basis. One week it might be much higher um, and and then another week your levels may have changed, and your blood pressure I mean in general, as you get a little bit older and I'd have said never really thought about the um impact of progesterone on this, but it does generally start to get a little bit higher.

Speaker 1:

But that's really interesting that it has a a direct impact on the blood pressure yeah, yeah, and I think headaches are very common and and even migraines during this this time as well. Again, you get people say I've never had a migraine, what? What is this?

Speaker 2:

I'm suddenly got symptoms that I've never had before and it is literally just that change in the hormones yeah, and it really it feels like you're going back to being a teenager again and starting it all at the beginning.

Speaker 1:

It's really similar, like I said on the previous one, because you've got your hormones, are trying to get into some normality, but they're all over the place when you're a teenager, yeah, and then you get the same at the other end, which is why I almost laugh to myself. That, but not laughing, crying inside in a way that you know. I've got my teenage daughter who's not yet started her periods. I'm in my fifties. I know that things are changing, but I've still got my periods and we're going to end up in this, this, I don't know what.

Speaker 2:

Would you call it Big hormonal pile with the boys on the outside going. What do we do with these two?

Speaker 1:

with the boys on the outside going what do we do with these two exactly? So, yeah, I got to use, I've got to use my knowledge to help both of us be able to keep these hormones, you know, as balanced as we can imagine that there's an absolute hormone storm between the storm, that's the word I was thinking.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's a hormone storm happening.

Speaker 1:

But that is the downside of being, you know, an older parent. When you have your kids when you're 40, yeah then you know, you just gotta deal with that later crash straight, suck that one up, oh my goodness.

Speaker 2:

So once we have have got sort of properly into menopause, that that magic day that 365 days after your last period. Yeah, what? What is it doing? Because you said it's still.

Speaker 1:

There is still some progesterone hanging around yeah, there is some progesterone, because that's what the adrenals are doing for you, so they're giving you some progesterone, even though levels are very low at this point.

Speaker 2:

But there is some there as long as you're allowing the adrenals to work as they should exactly so you've got to look at stress levels.

Speaker 1:

Then, yeah, there's lots to look at around the adrenals for sure, but your ovulation has stopped. When you're, when you're past that 365 magic days and you're, and you're, you can say that you've been through the menopause, then yeah, you've got you've got.

Speaker 2:

I feel like I want to cheer at that point, as much as I don't want to go through any of these signs and symptoms.

Speaker 1:

The fact that somebody says ovulation has stopped, there's no danger of any more babies and we don't have to have periods, I mean, that's a celebration, right yeah, I am looking forward to that time where you know not having any periods but, yeah, progesterone production from the ovaries will stop, yeah, and there's nothing coming from there at all blessing. But the problem with that is that you get you get a loss of the protection that it gives you to that womb lining, so you then increase your risk of oestrogen being out of control and being growing too much.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and looking at why you might be oestrogen dominant becomes very important, and that's interesting and it's specific to to the sort of the area around your ovaries and around your women, women things yeah, and also the breast, uh-huh as well yes yeah, because oestrogen likes those areas and it and it makes things grow in that area and it hasn't got progesterone to switch it off, calm it down yeah, no, absolutely. And again it continues to affect the mood and sleep.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So again, even when you're past menopause and I think we mentioned this before about the fact that just because you've gone through the menopause now and you've not got any periods Doesn't mean you're home and dry. It doesn't mean you're home and dry, you're like skipping along the yellow brick road. I mean you could be, yeah, if you've worked on this leading up to, I mean, if you're on it during perimenopause, and you can definitely do this because you're only in your 40s. I've already been doing this, yeah, and so, like I said before, I might be in my 50s. I do know things are changing and there are definitely some things going on, but they're not horrendous and I hadn't had them until fairly recently yeah so I was just going along perfectly fine.

Speaker 1:

So you can put things in place. But if you haven't done this or certain things, you know, if you've had a very stressful time because you've got an elderly parent or whatever might be going on crashes.

Speaker 2:

It just crashes into all those life changes, doesn't it? Yeah?

Speaker 1:

if you've got that going on and then you've had a horrible time of being perimenopausal and a horrible time going through the menopause, then when you come out the other side of that and you've got no progesterone, then you're going to have that impact of not having the benefits of progesterone on things like your mood, on things like your sleep. So anxiety still is a huge factor Post-menopause. For women, sleep issues are a major one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's interesting actually because I mean again, I think, because we don't talk about this as much as we should, because, I mean again, I think, because we don't talk about this as much as we should. There is always talk about, as you get older, not sleeping as well, and I mean there is going to be, naturally, elements that you're not, maybe not as active as you get older and you're not requiring I can't speak, not requiring as much sleep. However, it could be that you've just not addressed the uh, the progesterone in the room, or the lack of progesterone in the room, and, rather than just accepting that that's just how things are, there could be something you could do about it yeah, it's exciting, really it is exciting, and there are always things that you can do.

Speaker 1:

So when you look at the pathways for these things, how they're produced in the body, there are always other things that are present there, so you can put those co-factors in to help support. You can certainly put other things in that we know help, like getting outside, having connections with people, doing things you love. All of those kind of things also play a role. So it's not just the fact of, oh, I've got no progesterone, that's it. I've got now a life of anxiety and sleep issues and this, that and the other. We don't buy into that, do we? Hell no. And the same with bone health. You know, we know that these have an impact on our bones, but yet we also know that by exercising in a certain way can help build that muscle or can help build the bone, can help the bone density. We know that certain nutrients are needed. Vitamin K is needed, vitamin D is needed, boron is needed. If you haven't got those, then your body cannot keep the you know the bone density at a level that it needs to be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and another thing to not buy into when we're talking about age and particularly about bone health, is jumping. Women can jump. Please jump. It helps your bones. Do some Pilates it helps your bones. Do some weights it helps your bones.

Speaker 1:

Jump around like me, yeah, like digger, always jump off the last step. Do you do that? I always, I've always done that oh, really downstairs, yeah always jump off the last step. I don't do that, but I think I'm going to start. Yeah, I mean, don't injure yourself, but just yes, the last step steps really big. Don't do that but yeah, I love that. Yeah, it's just in a way, it's a childish thing to do, because if you watch kids come down the stairs, they often will jump the last few steps.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, don't they like about the three or fourth step? They just, they just miss them and jump down. Yeah, yeah, just be more childlike oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness, you just made me think about a cat that we used to have. I've not thought about heidi for so many years. She used to know you used to have a cat, not in this house, as a, as a child. No, I know, don't, don't start the kids we had a cat the kids desperate cat.

Speaker 2:

It's enough to keep the humans alive in my house. Um, the dog howls at me, so I can't, I can't, not feed her, and she used to lay across the second step and she was off, off like almost the same color as the step and she was cream and she looked beautiful. She was the most vicious thing if, if the mood took her and you were trying to get across the stairs, she'd be there swiping at you. So you, we used to get really good, actually jumping, leaping almost from the fourth step all the way down to the floor so that we didn't get swiped by the cat. That's so funny. Bless her loved Heidi.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're right about jumping. It does have an impact on on your bone density.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah and it's and again, and I think it's it's like a story that we buy into. And you know, on this uh, on this program, that we, we don't like to buy into those stories no, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So just to summarize really so, progesterone is going to play a vital role in reproductive health, but most of us, most of us listening, are kind of beyond that. Now I would have thought, oh yes, thank god you said that last time. It's so funny, so it plays a vital role.

Speaker 2:

I do love my children, of course you do, but I won't want any more.

Speaker 1:

No, I don't want any more, but yeah, a big association with mood stability and just overall well-being. And so when we get that decline during perimenopause, then we're going to get that seesaw swinging towards oestrogen dominance, initially, before oestrogen starts to decline, and then we, we will. We can be subject to anxiety and sleep issues and all the other things that we've we've mentioned.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think when you're thinking about progesterone, it is just that it is that nurturing hormone and so when that starts to decline, that's actually what you feel. You feel a little bit, maybe abandoned yeah, it's the calming one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, your karma has abandoned you at that point, and then, yeah, the opposite of that can be triggered, and that's not pleasant really, is it?

Speaker 2:

no, and I mean, and they, like we said earlier on this all sounds a little bit doom and gloom. We are, as we go on through this hormone series, going to go into what you can do about yes so we are not leaving you high and dry, and we don't mean to mean to paint a dark picture of it.

Speaker 1:

No, uh, just a, just a realistic one just to be, just to be aware I think the awareness is a key part of it so that you understand what these hormones are doing, the role that they play, and then what is happening when they become low. Absent, absent, mia. Yeah, exactly as ever. If you've got any questions about this, please come visit us in the Far Too Fabulous Facebook group.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, come and continue the conversation. As you know, we like talking, and if you've experienced any of these things, come in there, because there will be a whole group of other people that will have experienced this as well. You are not on your own.

Speaker 1:

So let's continue the conversation in that group See you then.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for keeping us company today. If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

Speaker 1:

See you then you'll find the links in the show notes.

Speaker 2:

your weekly episode will be delivered straight to your inbox every thursday morning.

Speaker 1:

Make it a fabulous week and we'll catch you in the next episode.