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Women in perimenopause: what drains your energy and how to stop feeling tired all the time.

Updated: Apr 17


woman 40+, exhausted and feeling tired often, thinking how you can stop feeling tired and get your energy back

Many women notice that mid 40's a magic era. Is the time when many women start noticing perimenopause signs. Feeling tired more often is one of them. Waking up already tired, or suddenly feeling slumpy in the afternoon, craving sugary snack or coffee boost, feeling sleepy after a meal - every woman feels energy loss in a different way. But all women have one thing in common: they want to know WHY they feel tired and how to stop it.


So, why does our energy evaporates, leaving us tired? What drains our energy every day, without us noticing? And, most important, how to feel energized all day, every day?


Why do women in perimenopause feel tired more often?

To answer this, we look into women's hormones and reproductive cycles. Every girl is born with a number of eggs. This egg reserve funding possible future pregnancies = reproduction. Every month we lose a number of these eggs with period. By the time we turn 40 this egg reserve is much lower, and followed by naturally lower sex hormones level, signals decline or our reproductive ability. Our body is slowly transitioning into the end of reproductive era.


Now, what do your sex hormones have in common with you feeling tired?

  • Oestrogen plays big role into energy production in out mitochondria (power plant in our cells). Lower oestrogen level = less energy created = you are likely to feel more tired.

  • Oestrogen regulates serotonin (our "happy mood" hormone) and melatonin (sleep hormone), helping to maintain natural balance of feeling "ready to go" and feeling sleepy. Lower oestrogen level = more feeling sleepy, de-energized and tired.

  • In addition, oestrogen and progesterone play a big part in our sleep quality. Lower levels of both = worsened sleep at night = feeling more tired daytime.


The hidden energy drainers: insulin resistance, stress and unstable blood sugar.

Insulin resistance. What is it and how can it make you feel tired?

Glucose from food in a big source of energy in our body. Our cells take glucose and transform it into energy, with help of hormone insulin. Insulin is a key player here, without it the glucose cannot het into cells and be used for energy making. The crucial part here is cells sensitivity to insulin. What does this mean? Our cells are can recognize insulin, let it dock on and bring glucose in to make energy. Women after 40 often experience lower sensitivity to insulin, meaning the cells don't recognize insulin well, don't let insulin dock on. These mean the glucose cannot get into the cells and energy making stops. No energy = you start feeling tired.

Oestrogen helps to keep cells sensitive to insulin, and when it declines after 40, insulin sensitivity and energy making in the cells also go down.

Unstable blood sugar with spikes and drops can make insulin sensitivity even worse, with even less energy made in the cells. What makes your blood sugar unstable? Busy stressful life, erratic eating, skipping meals, snacking on sugary carbs all day are the biggest offenders. When this offending pattern repeats every day for some time, your body loses insulin sensitivity.

Stress raises your cortisol and blood sugar. This chain reaction is normal in stressful times, it ends when stress is gone, returning cortisol and blood glucose back to normal. When stress is not ending, high cortisol and high blood glucose become constant, damaging cells sensitivity to insulin, meaning less cells want to dock to insulin and get glucose in. Energy making slows down, keeping you tired. Many women after 40 admin their life is very busy: juggling family and work, raising children while looking after ageing family members, giving everything to demanding jobs and careers - all these can be very stressful.

Add unstable blood sugar and you will get a perfect storm, draining energy and making a woman feeling exhausted.


The good news: you can stop feeling tired and get your energy back with some tweaks in meals and daily habits.

  • eating 3 meals daily and limiting snacking

  • keeping regular eating times where possible, instead of waiting for energy to crash

  • including lean protein source with every meal (poultry, fish, meat, eggs, legumes)

  • notice what triggers most stress and bring in stress-relieving and reducing habits (rest times, me times, hobbies)

Will help you to keep your energy flowing, with less crashes, less feeling sleepy in the afternoons and no extra caffeine.


Do you feel tired for no reason more and more often? Do you feel that you could do with extra support for your energy and vitality?


I would love to help.


Book a free, no obligation 20 minutes call and we chat about how you feel, what would you love to change and how you can change it.




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