How to Heal Your Perimenopause Brain with Dr. Mariza Snyder

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:00:03 Hi and welcome to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Jessica Drummond, and I am so thrilled to have you here. As we dive into today’s episode, as always innovating and integrating in the world of women’s health. And just as a reminder, the content in this podcast episode is no substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your medical or licensed health care team. While myself and many of my guests are licensed healthcare professionals, we are not your licensed healthcare professionals, so you want to get advice on your unique circumstances. Diagnostic recommendations treatment recommendations from your home medical team. Enjoy the episode. Let’s innovate and integrate together. Hi, and welcome back to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Jessica Drummond, and I am thrilled to be introducing you today to my dear friend, Doctor Marissa Snyder. And I’m going to read her bio because she’s got so much going on that even as someone who has known her for a decade, I can barely keep up. Doctor Marisa Schneider really is a powerhouse advocate for midlife women.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:01:31 She’s leveraged over 17 years as a practitioner, author, speaker, and she has sparked a truly massive movement for women in perimenopause and beyond with her top rated podcast, energized With Doctor Marisa. With over 13 million downloads, she’s a passionate host and content creator. She has a social media audience of over 400 000 followers and 8 million monthly views. She’s a trusted guide, offering science backed solutions for perimenopause and menopause health, and her new book is coming out this October. It’s coming out through hay House, so it will be anywhere that books are sold. We also give you the link in the show notes and at the end of this episode to download the ebook and all of the bonuses. She has also an audio version of this book, because we talk in this episode all about why audio content can be habit stacked with our daily walks or cleaning the kitchen. Anyway, she is a really fun, motivating speaker, and the thing I like best about Doctor Marisa is she just keeps it so real. She truly is a busy working, powerful business owner mom.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:02:50 She’s also a partial caregiver for other members of her family. We talk a little bit about that in the episode. This episode is packed with tips and how to’s and ideas and inspiration. So put this episode in your headphones. Take a walk and just go through it once. Just listen. What are some new ideas that are inspiring you for actually getting exercise and sleep and bedtime routines, and all the implementation of building those habits for perimenopause health and beyond. And I’ll see you on the other side and we’ll put it into action for your practice tomorrow. All right. Welcome back, everybody, to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, doctor Jessica Drummond. And I am so thrilled to be here today with my friend and colleague, Doctor Marisa Snyder. Welcome. Thank you. Jessica, honey, it’s.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:03:53 Such a it’s always a pleasure to get to see you.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:03:55 You too. And we always have so much fun together, which we’re going to do today. And we’re I really want to talk today is how both of us do a lot of writing and content creation and teaching on how to heal the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and at a deeper level, heal and optimize all of our health systems.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:04:19 We talk a lot about that at kind of a high level, theoretical level, research level. But day to day we’re both perimenopausal menopausal and the rubber hits the road when it comes to behavior change implementation. So what are some of your actual favorite day to day tools for being a busy working mom in perimenopause?

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:04:48 This is exactly the conversation. This is where rubber meets the road and I want to say Jessica, I love to double dip. And what I mean by that is I want to do the things today that are going to mitigate symptoms, but I also want those same things to protect my future health outcomes. So that’s what I’m always thinking about. I’m like, what are the things that I’m doing today that are going to support me now? Now is great. I want to deal with the now stuff, but also my 80 year old self is like, thank you. Thank you for doing that at 46 years old. And so I want to start with, first and foremost, I don’t know about you.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:05:24 I don’t know if this is true for you, but sleep will make or break me. My day is literally predicated on the quality of my sleep the night before. And I also don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room to not nail that. So for me you know I have a four year old and there’s lots of moms obviously in this demographic of midlife, whether your kids are teenagers or they’re pre-teens or they’re three major, you know, depending on where you land. My son’s asleep. Lights out by 8 p.m., and I basically have 30 minutes before I kick off my nighttime routine. It’s a sacred act. I always say, if it’s not $1 million meeting. Don’t talk to me. Don’t engage with me in my sleep routine. Like it better be something that’s going to really move the needle in my life. And so I start in the evening, I get my water, I take my supplements. So I have nighttime supplements, whether it’s like omegas and it’s magnesium, glycine and all the things.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:06:20 And then I head upstairs and I kind of just make sure everything’s ready to go. Like in terms of setting up my sleep success, I’m just sharing this because I have found this work with my patients as well. It’s not just me that it’s doing this, but I also like to set up my future self for success. So I typically wake up pretty early in the morning, usually like 545, 6 a.m., and I want to go work out. That’s usually the time that I have. I like to have everything set up so that I am out the door in like less than ten minutes. So I have my workout clothes all out, ready to go. I have my shoes at the door. I have my. I call it my emotional support water. I have emotional support water.

Multiple Speakers 00:06:56 I love that.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:06:57 At the door, ready in the morning, I just grab it. It’s like all the keys, the shoes, the everything. There’s no excuses. Like from wake up to go ten minutes, I’m in the car, I’m out the door.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:07:10 Whether that’s a walk or that’s going to the gym or that’s a workout class. Pick whatever works for you, but just get your butt moving in the morning. If that’s the only time you’re going to be able to build in that movement. So that’s all set up. That’s a part of my evening routine. And then I have for me, reading, reading at night is the ticket for me. I’ll have like a really nice little sleepy tea, like with the holy basil or lavender or passionflower, whatever works for you. I have my tea and I have my book and lights are off. I my sleep cue kicks around nine 5945 and I listened to that ladies. I listened to the sleep cue and then I turn the lights off.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:07:47 I got it. Your sleep. Physical, intuitive cues like you literally just start feeling really sleepy.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:07:54 And the reason why I point that out is that for years I ignored it. Yeah, but it’s so easy to ignore that. You know, you start to feel tired, but you’re watching that next episode on Netflix because it just automatically starts to play and you just kind of ignore the cue or you start to feel tired, but you’re at your computer and you just have to get that one email out, right? Whatever the thing is, or you got to still unload the dishwasher.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:08:15 And so you miss that window of opportunity and how you reset that sleep cue, like kind of let your body know your body is telling you to get to sleep is really in the morning like establishing that wake up time. I talk a lot about sleep consistency. So going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time. But if going to bed at the same time, it’s still a little bit wonky. The one thing you absolutely can’t control is waking up at the same time. And that’s going to help to reset your circadian alignment. That’s going to help you get that sleep cue. too. And if you don’t have it right now, it’s going to feel a bit elusive for about 7 to 10 days. You’re going to have to be willing to be consistent to get that. But I will tell you, it’s made all the difference of just setting myself up to be in receivership, of the queue of my body telling me it’s time to get to bed. And so usually around 945, 950 by ten it’s kicking in big time.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:09:09 And so that’s when lights are off and then I’m just going to bed. Mind you, if you need some more micro nights, progesterone or you need a little bit of magnesium glycine, or you need a sleepy tea or whatever helps to get you to sleep, by all means, lock and load that. But I always find that for me, my foundation is built on sleep. And notice also that there’s a lot of intention in that. Gone are the days where I’m racing to bed and expecting to fall asleep, at least for me. And if and if you’re able to still do that in perimenopause, in menopause, like I am celebrating you from afar, at least from my patients. That doesn’t work like that anymore. So one I want to build in the foundation and consistent foundation. Like, treat it like a serious medium. Like one of the most important meetings of your day. Because I believe it truly is. And then build in more sleep support if you’re going to need that sleep support.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:10:03 Absolutely. And what I like about this habit stacking is, you know, it kind of builds off, your son goes to bed at this time. You have this space to accomplish whatever else. So if people have kind of their checklist of end of day pack lunch for the beginning of the day, put your shoes out, get your workout clothes ready like you’ve gotten that done. Because a lot of times I think this would happen a lot for me when I was home or when my kids were younger. You have more of their bedtime to stack off of. Sometimes you put the kids to bed and then you’re like, And there’s like, no plan for that moment. And so you watch TV or you grab your phone or something like that. I think that 30 minutes can be so valuable, useful when you already know what you’re going to do with that moment. And it could be that, yeah, you are doing chores or whatever, but it can be done in such a way that your nervous system is being supported.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:11:06 You have certain music on, or it’s silent for a while.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:11:11 Or you’re listening to a book while you’re doing what you’re doing. I love listening to fiction books on audible, and I’m usually doing them around the house where I’m doing all my things. And I will tell you occasionally, like, there’s a show we’re officially in fall, and I love the fall vibes, I think. Who doesn’t love the fall vibes? But I love the witchy fall vibes. And so there’s a show. I’m listening to the book at the same time as I’m watching the show. It’s called The Discovery of Witches, and I was making exceptions. I was watching an episode until 1030 because I’m like, oh, I can wiggle this until 1030. I will tell you right now that I did it for three days that week. And I was very honest with myself. I was like, as much as this show was not an appropriate show for my son, you know who’s for? I’m not going to play it while he’s awake.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:11:55 I only have a tiny little window to watch this show. But then I started waking up, not feeling great. It happened so fast and I was like, okay, cut it. Cut the show. You know, it just wasn’t worth it. So I just went to listening to it on the on my phone.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:12:09 And listening to the book. Yeah.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:12:11 You know, especially in whatever season you may be in a very full season cutting corners, ain’t it? Right now? It’s not. So I just was like, okay, I know what is working for me. And yes. Does that mean that we may have to make some? I wouldn’t call them tough decisions, but more aligned decisions on what’s going to really serve you. It’s kind of like how I think about what I put into my body, what I eat, that molecular information. Jessica, you know, you and I have spent a lot of time in hyperbaric oxygen tanks trying to heal our brain and heal our bodies. And I will tell you that sleep makes or breaks me because my brain.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:12:45 I have had a couple of big injuries over the last couple of years and what I put into my body, the question I always ask is, is is this going to fuel my future brain? Is this going to actually support my future brain? Because I do feel like so many of the women that you guys get to take care of. I’m extra sensitive at this point in my journey, particularly with perimenopause, and so I’m building habits to protect tomorrow’s brain. I’m building habits to protect and mitigate tomorrow’s symptoms is really what it comes down to. The other kind of habits I want to bring in is I have a lot of habit stacking of movement. So when I am running my son’s bath at night. So I’m just going to talk about building movement into my day. I got a lot of cheats in how to build movement into my day. You know, as much as I would love to just have beautiful long walks throughout my day. I’m in a season. I’m doing six interviews today. Today, like specifically.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:13:44 So, you know, I’m.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:13:45 Just launched.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:13:45 With.

Multiple Speakers 00:13:46 Launch mode. Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot going as what it is. You know, it’s just.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:13:49 It’s the season I’m in. I accept that season. But also I’m not going to let that season derail my longevity and my health span and my in my movement. I know muscle and movement and living an active lifestyle is the ticket. If I could bottle that up for each and every one of you, you know, in a pill form, honestly, I wouldn’t. I still make you move.

Multiple Speakers 00:14:10 Yeah, but I.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:14:11 Mean, honestly, if there was a panacea, if we wanted to, you know, it’s going to be movement, it’s going to be muscle, it’s going to be preserving that muscle so that you don’t go into a sedentary lifestyle or you don’t develop sarcopenia or obesity. You know what? You know, whatever that looks like, or be one of the one and two women who have an osteoporotic fracture. So when I’m talking about double dipping, this is what I’m thinking about long term.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:14:31 And so movement right now I don’t have a lot of windows for extended movement. Like you and I were talking about movement and how we just have our workout clothes on under our our video.

Multiple Speakers 00:14:43 Clothes right now. Right now.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:14:45 I can show you my my.

Multiple Speakers 00:14:47 Workout pants.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:14:48 Underneath this dress.

Multiple Speakers 00:14:50 Same. I’m not gonna.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:14:51 Flip my shirt up, but.

Multiple Speakers 00:14:52 Same idea. Same idea. Yes, exactly. And I think that’s.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:14:56 One of the benefits of really starting just taking that 30 minutes a day before and being intentional. Like, what’s my schedule tomorrow? Because what you get dressed, the layers or if you bother to put makeup on or not, like how you spend those little bits of time when you are in a tight schedule season. So even like you were saying, your turn on the bath, this is a little minute of opportunity.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:15:24 I really do jump squats. I call it a 60 jump squat buy in, I do 60 jump squat. I want to call them sessions or reps or I don’t call them little little micro boost of movement throughout my day.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:15:36 So one of those moments is when I’m running the bath for my son. So and that takes about 3 to 5 minutes, give or take, to get the bath where I need it to be. So I’m in the bathroom. What I do not do is go back downstairs because that’s where my son is at, and he has got a million things he wants me to do. So I because that’s what four year olds do. So I stay in the bathroom, in the bath, near the bath, and I knock out 60 jump squats. So and I can do I usually do 20 dump squats per minute. So 20 jump squats. I do a little emotional lap. It’s a little mini walk just to kind of reset. I do another set of 20, do a little emotional lap, reset another set of 20. So I in three minutes I do 60 jump squats. And I will tell you right now, I’ve worn a continuous glucose monitor so many times doing this habit and talk about optimizing blood glucose in real time.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:16:30 And if you’re thinking, oh my gosh, 60 jump squats. Is she kidding me? Start with 20 or even start with just squats. And so I do it. When I’m brushing my teeth. I do it when I’m running bath. I do it when I’m in the kitchen making dinner. I do it after meetings. And so I build in these little micro movements of jump squats. Or I have weights by my desk. We have a two story house, which I know a lot of homes are, and I just walk up and down my stairs with £220 weights of 40 total. Five times. We’re talking three minutes, three minutes up and down the stairs five times. And then I put those weights away and go back to doing whatever I’m doing. And so I build in all this micro movement, these little exercise snacks throughout my day. Very intentional because I always have 3 minutes or 2 minutes or one minute that I can do something. I can move my body in a meaningful way. I like to do movement.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:17:17 I recommend movement that is revving up your cardiovascular system. It is revving up your respiratory system, so you’re really feeling like you’re putting in a little bit of work before you go back to do whatever else you’re doing. And so it’s that habit stacking these micro stacks of movement and self-care. Maybe it’s breath where you build it throughout your day. It’s kind of a no excuses situation where I can do this, no matter how full my schedule is.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:17:48 I love that, and I think there’s two ways in which the research really supports the benefit of this. First of all, we know that after meals, if you just do something like I think the study was ten air squats, ten air squats, slightly more, but not very many, you know, ten air squats. In fact, one of the most interesting papers I ever read was that women tend to live longer than men because we tend to clean up the kitchen. So the person who loads and unloads the dishwasher, hand washing the dishes, or cleans up the kitchen and puts the food away, that ten minutes of movement adds up to a decade of longer life expectancy.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:18:28 So ten air squats after dinner. My husband I always take a walk after dinner. Short walk. The other thing that’s been measured is doing calf raises. Doing like you said, up and down the stairs, or just doing calf raises with or without weights. All of this has been studied to be regulating blood sugar and just metabolic health in general. But the other thing it does is I think one of the things I’ve noticed being Gen X when I have two Gen Z children is a lot of people now are older. Age has less of this problem because we grew up without it. But even still, many people don’t know how to spend three minutes without their phone. You know, it just becomes a habit. You turn off one thing, you have three minutes of a break, and then you pick up your phone. Instead, you pick up a £20 weight, or you just do some air squat, or you walk outside and breathe slowly for three minutes, or just sit in your chair and breathe slowly for three minutes.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:19:28 I think we’re doing a lot of different things simultaneously there. That doesn’t take a lot of time, but develops very good habits for the brain in particular, like you were talking about cardiovascular intensity and then giving your son a bath and breathing slower during that time. That’s actually training your autonomic nervous system to have some range of tolerating intensity and then going into recovery. So I really love these habits because I think one of the biggest struggles for busy working women in perimenopause is just I don’t have enough time.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:20:08 Yeah. So yeah, we’re just in survival mode if there was ever a messy middle. Jessica, this is it. We’re the sandwich generation in the messy middle. It’s just, you know, an example. I was driving to LA the other day for a podcast, and I was talking to my mom. I called my mom because it was my sister’s birthday and my sister wasn’t awake, and my sister was younger than me, and she had a stroke a couple years back. And so my sister is not in really great health, and I call my mom to check in, and I just get barraged with all the things that are going on with my sister.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:20:43 I was like, okay. And you know, when you think as a practitioner, even just as a sister, who cares? You’re running down the laundry list of all the things that you need to do to support. And this is happening so often. I didn’t know I was walking into that conversation. I didn’t know I was walking into a new to do list. And so I want women to know that we understand there’s constant problems to be solving and how prioritizing you when the world has taught you to prioritize everything and everyone else is such a big part, including the phone piece, like you said, like being intentional about prioritizing you over the phone. So an example. I’ve got a coffee. My favorite little coffee shop is just down the street. It’s called Lofty Coffee here in San Diego. You know, you order your coffee. You got about five minutes to wait, give or take. And you can do one of two things. You can get on your phone, get on TikTok or Instagram or or deal with emails or whatever.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:21:35 Or you can go for a walk around the block while you wait for the coffee. And so I am automatically programmed to once I put the order in. I start walking around the block, and what’s a beautiful incentive is around that block is the ocean. So I can see the ocean from that. And it’s a hill too. So I go down the hill and go back up the hill. I get to see the ocean and I come back up, and by the time I’m back, the coffee’s there. Or if it’s not, I do a smaller version of that block. So it’s what can we sub out the phone for, for actual intentional movement when I would normally be grabbing my phone or, you know, this downtime, how can we leverage that downtime as time that is actually really nourishing and supporting your body throughout your day?

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:22:22 Yeah. You know, there’s a little bit of a trend right now that I hope amplifies where people are pretending they’re there in the 90s. And, I.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:22:34 Don’t know this trend.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:22:35 Tell me more.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:22:35 I actually saw a really good video on this, either a couple of things. There are a small but growing group of Gen Z’s, you know, people in their late teens and 20s who are getting like, flip phones so they no longer have all the information on their phone, the apps and the internet. In fact, there was a study just published earlier this week that showed if you take the internet and social media apps just off your phone, even if you still use them like on your work computer, your brain within two weeks will reverse ten years in terms of its biological age. Now the problem is, if you jump right back to it, it gets stressed again. You know, you can’t stop eating McDonald’s for two weeks and then start eating McDonald’s every day forever after that. But it doesn’t work. Same idea. Yeah. So you have to change your life. But I do think that for some people in this season, it may not be a realistic to completely make that change, but I think one of the things that you and I both do as health coaches is, you know, with our health coaching hat on, is like, how can we make a part of that? So the 90s trend is basically forgetting that phones exist.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:23:47 And so what might that look like? Well, in the 90s, if someone went to a coffee shop in order to coffee, they would stand there for five minutes and maybe chat with someone, maybe just look out the window, maybe wait in line, maybe just sit at a table and read a book. Like it’s just about kind of getting curious. Or like you said, take a walk around the block window, shop at the little stores next door for a minute, trying to remember what it feels like to be present in your life is actually so healing to the brain. And I think when we’re talking about perimenopause and menopause related issues, so much of it goes back to brain health because it’s sleep challenges, it’s brain fog, it’s mild cognitive impairments. And then when we look at the fact that almost no one shows up in the 40s with no prior brain stressors, this is a key time to do exactly what you were saying in the beginning. Optimize your brain health, your focus, your rest recovery, your energy in the morning from having good sleep, but also preserve your brain so that you’re not dealing with dementia in your 70s, 80s and 90s.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:25:06 Exactly. If there’s anything that perimenopause is, it is a neuroendocrine transition. And I think any woman who’s going through it, we you feel that, you feel the mood changes. You feel the cognitive changes. You feel the lowered stress tolerance. You feel that you know that. Now I don’t feel like myself kind of moment. That isn’t just a moment, unfortunately.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:25:30 It’s well, it’s kind of every day.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:25:32 It’s a continuum.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:25:33 Yeah, yeah. And so I think if you had kind of like one piece of advice, we’ve just given you a lot of brain nourishing tips. So go back and listen to this again. Get out the notepad. Because I think this is a very actionable episode. But my first suggestion would be like, let’s get awareness to when we’re stressing your brain, like maybe just start taking notes and then any other thoughts like any other?

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:26:00 Absolutely. I love this question because it’s yeah, regulating the nervous system, noticing those. How do we regulate or how do we shift our state.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:26:08 And you know, it’s one, you know, bringing on that prefrontal cortex back online. So naming facts like name what you see, name three things you see, or the desk, the window, the the plant. You know, and I always think in terms of state changes when we are regulating our nervous system, I feel like very much so in perimenopause, we could find ourselves in a state of chronic stress more often than not, and movement of any kind. And so I want to anchor back into the movement for me, what has helped my blood trigger my metabolism, my digestion, but most importantly, my mood and my stress is going to be walking, even if it’s just three minutes. If I can just go up and down the street one time, I can help to re regulate my nervous system. I can shift my state enough to kind of be back being more present. And that’s really what I’m looking for is, is creating that presence. And if you’re thinking to yourself, I don’t know if I can do that, I also recommend sending safety signals to the brain through, you know, gratitude practice or breath in the morning or anchoring yourself to again that evening routine where you are letting the brain know whether it’s the morning or the evening, or even throughout the day, that it’s safe.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:27:23 Whatever works for you. Maybe that’s a voice memo to a best friend, or that’s reading a book in the middle of the day. Or it is. It is a quick little walk, or just going outside into your backyard, or looking out the window, looking ten feet in front of you and just kind of getting a bigger view of things because we’re just like I said, we’re always on our phone. We’re always on a screen where everything’s very close to us, our faith in our eyes and just having that bigger, like ten foot view. And so for me, I have a kind of a little bit of a tropical garden, which is nice. And, you know, shout out to my husband Alex for curating that beautiful garden. The other thing about my garden is it’s very welcoming to hummingbirds and butterflies. So it’s a lots of hummingbirds and butterflies and right now it’s again spooky season. So there’s a, there’s, orb weaver spiders in my backyard. So too. There’s a lot of a lot of nature happening in my backyard, so I’ll step outside barefoot because we have grass and I will look at the canas, I will look at the sage, I will look at the beautiful bright coloring, all the colorful flowers.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:28:27 And I would look at the spiders, and I would look at the hummingbird inside of our Birds of Paradise tree. We have big birds of Paradise trees that canopy over us. And I will just take three minutes, five minutes to ground, but also to just observe and be present in the moment and anytime in the day I can go and step outside for just a second and then reset and center myself. And so reorganizing re regulating that nervous system is a game changer. And it can be as simple as just naming facts or stepping outside and looking ten feet ahead.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:29:00 Absolutely. thank you for these just really practical rubber meets the road tips. I think this is what It busy working women in perimenopause really need. We need like what to do to get started, what to do next, and play with the idea of just being in the presence of the world outside thinking, learning, looking at the ocean, looking at the trees, looking at the flowers in your own backyard. These little tiny things are truly the key to 85 year old brain health.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:29:41 Yes, and we all deserve a good 85 year old brain health. And that starts today. That really does.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:29:48 It really does. Thank you so much. Marisa, your new book is coming out very soon. Tell us a little about that.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:29:56 The perimenopause revolution. It is the roadmap every midlife woman deserves. You know the question I get out so often, Jessica, is, am I in perimenopause? So I’m going to help you identify that real quick. I also connect the dots between your symptoms and your future health outcomes. I think one of the biggest myths about perimenopause is that, oh, it’s just a transition of chaos and then everything just gets better on the other side. I’m like, what? So listen to those signs and symptoms. I connect the dots for you. Next it’s the pillars. We talked a lot about those optimizing circadian rhythm, balancing your blood sugar, moving like your life depends on it. But like let’s start from neat right. Non exercise activity thermogenesis. Doing the laundry standing up sweeping the floors doing the dishes unloading the dishwasher.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:30:43 All of this adds up. It all compounds over time to being physically active HRT balancing our nervous system. And then there’s a five week program that puts it all together and just makes it so easy to implement, including a big section on mindset so that you know who you’re becoming so you know how to create the most resilient and most powerful vital next chapter yet, and you can grab the book with all the bonuses at Amazon.com. Book. It’ll be everywhere. Books are sold, including audible. Because if you’re like me, that is how I consume content these days is via audible or some type of book app.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:31:22 I love it. Okay, go get that book. I am really excited to read it myself. It’s coming out very soon. You can get access to all the pre book stuff, all the bonuses, all the fun book launch stuff, and one of the ways to get out and walk is just put a book in your headphones and keep going. A few more chapters.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:31:43 So yeah book you know a podcast, I mean double dip if you’re like me and you’re like, I need to make the most out of my time, it can be a yes.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:31:51 And, you know, I interview people a lot on my show, energized with Doctor Marissa, and they’re just like, don’t bring your phone with you to go and take a walk. And I, I celebrate everybody who goes and does their walk without listening to something. But I want to be entertained. I want to listen to something that’s moving the needle for me in terms of my education. And so if that’s what’s going to get you out the door, is listening to something entertaining, or sending a voice memo to a bestie or listening to a really cool podcast, you have my full permission to do that, like get in where you fit in and make it work for you.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:32:23 Absolutely. Same either way. But I’m definitely a headphones girl like 90% of the time. Yeah. Me too. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here, doctor. Marissa, we’ll list everything in the show notes about where you can find her and her new book. Have a great day, everybody.

Dr. Mariza Snyder 00:32:39 Thanks.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:32:44 That was such a fun episode with my friend and colleague, Doctor Marissa. She has such a spark of energy about her because I think she really does. I know she really does because I know her in real life. She really does practice what she preaches. She is very busy. She has a lot going on. She holds a big company and a big audience in a way that keeps it very light, because she truly is living healthfully for her brain today, for her hormones today, and her brain and hormones into the future. And so she actually does take little walks through the day, step outside and look at her garden. You know, her husband is wonderful and they work well together as well. And they’re raising their son. She’s in her 40s with a four year old, so there’s a lot going on in her day to day life. And this is so common for all of us in this midlife stage. So what I really want you to take from this episode, because we did sort of fire off a lot of tips and recommendations and ideas and inspiration.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:33:54 Pick just one. Maybe you’re going to take a ten minute walk every day with a podcast in your ear, right? Start with this one and then go listen to Doctor Morris’s podcast energized with Doctor Marisa. Or go outside and take slow, deep breaths. Five minutes once a day just in your yard or your neighborhood or a nearby park. Set your timer on your phone just once a day. Pick one thing when you order your next coffee instead of getting on your phone. Pretend it’s the 90s and that your phone doesn’t exist. What are you going to do with that time? Right. So I really want you to take this episode and put it into action for yourself. And then as you’re working with your clients this week, with your patients this week, listen for opportunities to drip in exercise, snacks or being present when they’re waiting for their coffee or reading analog log paper, library, books before bed, or being really mindful of the 30 minutes of time they have between when they put their kids to bed and they start their own bedtime routine and have them just check in, you know, is watching 1 or 2 shows on Netflix helping or harming their brain health now and for the future? Perimenopause is truly a time of neuroendocrine transition, and the healthier we nourish our brains now, you’ll both get benefits immediately and protect your brain from serious consequences in your 70s, 80s and 90s, and not just protect it from serious consequences.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:35:48 But imagine what it will be like if you’re in your 70s, 80s and 90s with mental and cognitive sharpness, with emotional regulation with the ability to stay very active and engaged in the world and with your family and other relationships. It’s so beautiful to envision, and we can start doing that today with one easy exercise snack. I’ll see you next week. Thanks so much for being here with us today.

Multiple Speakers 00:36:26 Thank you so much for joining me today for this episode of the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. Please share this episode with a colleague and if you loved it, hit that subscribe or follow button on your favorite podcast streaming service so that we can do even more to make this podcast better for you and your clients. Let’s innovate and integrate in the world of women’s health.