Women's Energy: Hormones, Strength, and Feeling Like Yourself Again

lessons, expert wisdom, and practical tips to help you stop sleepwalking through life and start living it on your terms. You ready to wake up and thrive? Let's go. You are listening to a wakeup call, which is your weekly dose of encouragement packed with life advice and tools that you can apply to your life. Now, we are awake academy. I am Tess, a mental fitness coach, and you are I am Lane, a former world champion so far and champion of mental wellness. And together we are awake academy and we have a collective everyone which is where people come to us for practical tools, insights, tips, well-being ideas so that you can live a happier, more purposeful life. All life tested and all sciencebacked. So today we have got an incredible guest. Speaking about life tested and sciencebacked, Dr. Stacy C. She's an exercise physiologist and a nutritional scientist. But I'm also very honored to be able to call her a friend. She has literally changed my life. Well, it's I love that you we start there changed your life because Stacy has changed millions of lives this year. She has the number one podcast number she has the number one shared podcast in the world with Mel Robbins and she is a wealth of knowledge that is changing a positive conversation around pmenopause menopause and women's health and women's health and most importantly giving us really practical life wisdom and tools that she is giving you today. So for people who are listening wondering is this for me? Well, you're going to get energy hacks. You're going to learn the tools that changed Lane's life. Yep. And you're going to be, I'd say, surprised, but also inspired by her wealth of knowledge, her depth of wis wisdom, and also the the science behind the shifts that we're seeing in women's health because as Stacy's always said, women are not small men. So whether you're a young woman, a woman in middle age, or an aging woman, it really doesn't matter. All of the tips that Stacy shares today are super impactful and applicable and relatable to everyone. Yeah. So, please welcome Dr. Stacy Sims. We always like to start with a bit of an intention. My intention, I mean, it's amazing because your stuff is absolutely everywhere. Um, and congratulations. What a year. um that what is different to the world is your connection with Lane and two beautiful powerhouses coming together. And so my intention is that everybody sees um your work in practice and how it's changed Lane's life. Um so I really want to shine a light on those tools that you used and give those impart those to our audience who are really lanes just without world titles. \[laughter\] What's your intent? to shine a light on the the spectacular woman that is Stacy S. So, and Stacy, do you have anything you want to like what your what's your intent for doing this with us because you would be the most requested woman right now, I would imagine. Oh, just having conversation with friends and sharing information to empower other women. I mean, that's my main drive and that's why I have conversations and do fun things like well traveler with Lane and some other things. Yeah. Awesome. Exactly. It Okay. Well, we'll kick into it. We try and keep our podcast to like 30, 45 minutes. So, just um wherever you can, just shortcut the struggle for people because there's a lot of people struggling with so much information out there. Um Dr. Stacy, I want to thank you for giving me something. You gave me my best friend back. \[laughter\] Oh, yay. About a year ago, I felt like I was losing her because she was losing herself. Um, the words, "I'm tired. I can't remember. What was I just saying? I think I'm getting fat." Like all of these words that just aren't lame were coming out and it was affecting just her mood. Like she just wasn't present in and that is her that's your gift, right? Gosh, was I really like that? Yeah. And wow. I mean, it's incredible that you held it all together cuz you're an incredible woman. Well, I know how to hold together even when I'm struggling. Yeah. But you were really lost and and you were fasting and I remember internally my head was saying like, "How do I help you? What can I say?" And I said, "I think you need to go see a doctor and look at hormone therapy and something's going on and and you tried multiple different doctors and modalities and stumbled your way through in the dark and then you found Dr. Stacy." Yeah. So, the first interview I heard of yours, Stacy, was with uh Andrew Huberman and Oh, yeah. And you were talking and that's probably a couple of years old now. And um well, one of them. I mean, you've probably spoken to him a million times, but but the first one you did a couple years ago. And what was really fascinating was not the it was not the information so much that you shared, but also the data behind it. And I think that's where we really need to start. And then I'll I'll mean the first thing I want to say is thank you for helping change my life and thank you for helping me find myself again and bring myself back to a strong vital en energetic present human being let alone friend business partner and wife. So your your wisdom has definitely

um you know, as a scientist and an athlete, like really looking at I trained with men most of my life and seeing how that they would just go and do something and it would work for them and I'm like, wait, it's not working for me. I remember like things being told of strength training and stuff and it just wasn't working for me. And I always had this kind of not really self-doubt, but doubt within the system. One of the first experiences I had was when I was 17 years old and I hadn't started my periods yet and my mom took me to a very old military doctor and I sat in there. He didn't turn and look at me once. He didn't talk to me at all. Didn't ask me any questions. He asked him all of my mom. And didn't take any blood. Didn't do anything. but then came to the conclusion that oh I must be progesterone insufficient and that was it. And I was like I've never felt more ick energy coming from anybody and this is someone you're supposed to be trusting. So when that ick energy would come up I would always refer back to that in my head. What a powerful reference point. \[snorts\] Yeah. Gross, right? Like when you're thinking about a 17-year-old being gaslit by an old military doctor. And so all these points would come up where this like negative ick energy and I I'm like this is not right. If I feel like this then how do my teammates feel or other women are being told the same thing? Or you know you get the push back of you need to look a certain way in order to perform a certain way but you don't match that but yet you're performing. What's going on? So there are all these things that came up and I was like this just isn't right. So I started having conversations and finding that other people felt the same way but didn't have any data. I'm like let's get the data. So you start looking for it and there isn't any okay well let's actually get the data. Let's go do the research. Let's find the other people who are doing the research and let's kind of collate together so that we can get sound information to be able to pass on because as a woman when you show up with information you always get questioned of how valid are you to bring that information into the room and where is this information coming from? So in order to step up and say this is valid information here is all the stuff that we've done to validate this information and I'm just translating it. So I learned that early that if you want to show up as a woman to be able to empower other people, you have to have a whole backlog of really sound data points. Otherwise, you just get dismissed. And I think that's how all of this started coming. It's like I have learned how to do translational because I am in it. I am working with the people that I'm translating to. So I understand their lived experiences. They're not my lived experiences, but I understand them. So, it's bringing the empathy and compassion and saying, "Hey, this is the data. You don't have to believe me as a person, but here's the science. This is what we want to look at, and this is how we can implement it to help you to to get to your performance potential and to move forward." Have you been listening to this episode and thought, "Mike drop. Maybe I'm ready to get coached or have some therapy, but you don't want to go all the way down and get a therapist." Welcome to the Awake Collective where we do monthly coaching to help people feel accountable, supported, and they keep on doing the work that you hear in this podcast. It is \[music\] life transformative. Right, LB? It's a community of support and like-minded people who are willing to keep investing in themselves because what we do is we help people help themselves. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, then the Awake Collective is for you. \[music\] So, come and join us at awakeacademy.com.au AU and join us for monthly coaching, \[music\] a community that supports you, and tools that you can use in your life to thrive. Let's go. See you there. Feeling good is really important to me. As a professional athlete, I really rely heavily on finding the best fuel I can for my body, and that's how I came across micronutrition. I start my day every day with a big glass of water and a heap teaspoon of magnesium powder. \[music\] And then I boost my immunity because I work really hard with their vitamin C. Micro Nutrition have a range of supplements that will suit everyone's needs. So visit micronutrition.com.au and use our code awake 10 for 10% off. \[music\] You know what I mean? Someone said to us they wanted to bottle up our energy. So we did. The reason why we did though is we needed a product \[music\] that sustained energy, supports our immunity, supports our mental clarity \[music\] so we can get up and go and host this podcast. It only has seven ingredients including mushrooms, cortiseps, and turkey tail, which gives you so \[music\] much mental clarity and focus. It's TGA listed and it's available \[music\] now on our website. So, visit awakeacademy.com.au and try some wake up today.

it's like here's an experiment, right? Here's a overt training protocol that I want to put in people. Well, how do I feel? Like if I were to put myself through this, how do I feel? So you have the baseline, you do the testing, you know how it feels, you get the data points, you understand yourself, you're like, "Oh, well, if I had done this instead, I would have had this outcome." So it's always been like the end of one testing before you create a bigger project. And I think those have been the data points that have come through. And I think this is why I'm always 6 months to a year ahead of the general trend. It's because we've seen it already. We've seen it already. Now we have to have everyone catch up. And I think that's where I was about to go. It's like, how do you stay ahead of it? Because, you know, I just think about our food pyramid, for example, right? Because it was established back in 1972 by the Swedes when they're under the plight of food prices. So they thought if we just get everyone to eat like this, then everything's going to be okay. And so we just believe what we see. We believe what we're told. But when we have scientists like you, Stacy, who are who are or researching trends and constantly researching data and constantly challenging what you're seeing, are are you finding are are you surprised by what you're seeing or are you reinforced by the process that you're going through? Um I kind of a combination, right? So, this is I was explaining how my daughter had her big leaving ball last night and one of the things they all want to do is get their nails done. And I was like, \[laughter\] I don't really I've got this stuff to do because I'm in the process of writing a longevity book for active women. So, we know that the stuff that's out there

steroid hormones." And then this leads me down to, "Oh my gosh." Okay, so if we're saying that controlled heat exposure can increase estradile because one of the preservations is ovarian function when the body is under stress, what happens if we were to look to see women who have dysfunctional men mineral cycles or amenora who use controlled heat therapy to increase their estradile? Maybe they don't have to use drugs. So that's how my thought You are literally the queen's gambit. I love this. Is what is controlled heat therapy? Like is that infrared saunas or regular saunas? Um so some of it is um hot water immersion where you're up to the neck and bring your core temperature up over a period of an hour or you know 10-minute sauna sessions where you go in a little bit hotter and then you get to a com to a point where your core temperature reaches a set point that is predetermined through the research. What set point is that Dr. Stacy? cuz I go into I love sauna infrared. Oh, we just do we need to pause because of this. There's just So, there's a siren behind us. Literally outside my eard drum right now. You can hear it through your headphones. Oh, traffic's looking really bad in Sydney today. It's raining and it's Everyone's shopping cuz we need more \[laughter\] It's Christmas season. Okay. Okay. It's all right. That's okay. Dr. So Stacy, what is that set point? I love infrared sauners, and I'm always like, if I've got a short amount of time, I'm like, do I need to go as hot as possible, like 60, 62, like what is my temperature that I should be going to? Yeah. So, if you're sitting there and doing like a rate of thermal exertion, so we know like rate of perceived exertion is how hard you're exercising. A rad rate of thermal perception is how hot you feel. So, if you get to a point, you're like, "Oh my god, I am so hot. I can't handle this. this is very uncomfortable, then you definitely need to get out. But if you're like, I feel pretty comfortable. I'm happy to stay in here and and I could probably take a nap, then you need to stay in a little bit longer. You don't want to get to the I'm going to boil point, which some people get pushed to in the lab, or think that they have to because we're seeing the extremes where it's either ice or 100° in in the sauna, and neither one of those are appropriate, right? So, it is more that self-regulation. In the lab, we don't let people go above 40 degrees C as an internal temperature. Uh, ethically, we can't. We know that athletes will push harder than that in a real world race situation, but from a health standpoint, we don't let it go up higher than that. But if the sauna is set, if the sauna is set at like 60, what's your internal core temperature? Don't know. It depends on where where you started when you went in there and how fast you can dissipate heat. Wow. So we see some people can you know sit in there for a long period of time because they can absorb and dissipate the heat at a relatively even rate and then there are other people who just can't handle the heat so they start really being thermally challenged within five minutes. You can't handle the heat. \[laughter\] Oh, I love that was another big movement that I feel like you created a like generational understanding that women can't well shouldn't be in too cold an ice bath or too hot an infrared sauna. Yeah. \[laughter\] Yeah. I've gotten a lot

bypasses the very first thermmorreulatory challenge, which is your skin, right? Your first offset is your skin. So, when you first get in the heat, you vasoddilate. You try to offload a lot of heat through the skin, but with infrared, it heats you up inside. So, you don't get that first thermal challenge to the skin. So your core temperature will go up, but it doesn't give you the same effect as being in the real sauna, which is more of a real world environment. So we look at what are the health differences. There's a little bit of difference between heat shock protein responses, which are are proteins that are responsible for clearing up cellular debris and and allowing our cells to become normalized. So they're very important. They're our shock proteins. So, if we're looking for health benefits, we know that the realworld situation of a finished sauna gives you what you're expecting from heat therapy. Infrared sauna, it's more comfortable. So, people can do more heat exposure and not oversell the heat. So, if you really are intolerant to heat than infrared, it will give you some but not the full robust responses that you want for the heat. So, what are the benefits that we're looking for? Um so from heat we look at expanded uh cardiovascular health. So we look at more blood volume, better um control of our our blood pressure because we're able to contract more blood per um per heartbeat. We also see better glucose uptake. We see more heat shock protein expression. So that means that all of our vital organs have more um oxidative um stress responses. So that means that they're able to understand the stress, withhold the stress, and adapt to the stress through the help of these heat shock proteins. So we don't get fragments of DNA and fragments of cells floating around. We don't get zombie cells. Um we also see from like perry and and onward women, pmenopause and onward women gives them better hypothalamic control of temperature. So it reduces hot flashes, night sweats. Um it also Now we're talking, right? Yeah. So um a lot of of women and men who have severe depression and anxiety, if you do controlled heat stress like a sauna, then we get more norepinephrine exposure because that is another um uh hormone that that comes up with heat exposure. So you have better relaxation and serotonin responses further down the track. So it's really good for mood and and eliminating depression and anxiety. Um, yeah. So, it's a gamut of health benefits that you get just by being a little bit uncomfortable in the heat. And, and I know based on the individual that will predetermine and also your physical response that'll predetermine how long you should spend in there. And of course, there's lots of information on Instagram, for example, there's the benefits between 5 and 10 minutes and 10 and 15 minutes and 15 and 20 minutes. How long should I spend in a sauna? Like if I'm comfortable and I can withstand the heat because I can handle the heat, how long what's like should I just sit in there for 20 minutes and enjoy and enjoy that process? Yeah, exactly. And I mean if you're looking to um kind of boost your exercise training, you can do your cardiovascular strength training and then go in the sauna for 10 minutes. So then you're getting kind of a double whammy where you're getting the offset of exercise. So, it's it's kind of creating the stress in the body already and passive dehydration through exercise. And you go in the sauna and it's like you've already been in there for 10 minutes. So, you only need to add that's my that's my Wednesday. I love it. Oh, I'm glad that's perfect. All right. \[laughter\] Got the seal of approval. Seal of approval. Okay. So, can we talk about these tools that brought Lane back? Um, and perhaps we can let's go

see it's more of a circadian rhythm thing. So women and men have different circadian rhythms and for women when they're doing fasting they're effectively phase shifting. So what does that mean? That means that on the undercurrent of 24 hours we have cellular and whole body responses to night and day and food intake and and fasting time frames. And if we are following or we wake up and we see light and our cortisol is coming up with cortisol awakening response, we have appetite hormones that are also interplay there. So we have activated golin which is our hunger hormone and we have peptide y which counters it. If we don't eat and kind of bring that activated golin down, the hypothalamus gets a little bit of a a miss signal of, okay, well, I know that we're supposed to be eating, but we don't want to feel starving, so I'm going to increase this neuropeptide to kind of make us not feel hungry. This is why a lot of women are like, "Oh, I don't feel hungry in the morning. It's fine. I can hold a fast." But then what's happening is we're getting a perturbance in the brain that reduces the pulse of our hormones that are so essential to our 24-hour circadian rhythm. We are um phase shifting when our cortisol actually peaks and comes down again. And we're also phase shifting uh our melatonin peak when we're trying to sleep. So what happens with women is we start to have melatonin rising about 9:00. we start to get sleepy and then it completes its peak and then starts to drop off about 3 or 4 in the morning. If we're phase shifting, all of that gets shifted later. So then we can't fall asleep when we need to and we have a significant problem waking up. But also we are compromising our deep sleep, our slow wave sleep where our brain is cleaning itself. So it's not just about holding a faster body composition. It's how we're shifting our circadian rhythm and all the important cellular signals that we have underneath that help control our hormone health, help control how our brain is able to consolidate memories and physical activity, get rid of towel plaques and clear all the negative metabolites that have happened. Um because if we're not sleeping well, we don't do that. M so when you start following a food pattern that that kind of aligns with let's eat during the day our body needs it and sort of wind down and don't eat after dinner. We get into this really good reperative sleep. Our brain gets the clearing it needs which reduces our risk factor for dementia Alzheimer's. We also have better metabolic control because our hormone pulses are working. So we stay sensitive to carbohydrate in the morning and start to wayne off towards the evening because that's how our insulin responses work. So when we see women who are doing a lots of different fasting, maybe they have some body composition change, but is that more calorie restriction or is that actually due to the fasting? Is there better um fat oxidation? Well, yes, because you're not eating, so your body's turning to fat and lean mass. But if we go back to let's eat appropriately, then everything starts to fall into play. You have better clarity of focus, better clarity of mind, better sleep, which then feeds forward to overall better health. Is that does that actually impact women in every phase of life or is that later? The younger you are, the more we can get away with it because your body is more robust to that kind of stress of phase shifting. But when we start to get in our 30s or mid30s and upwards, it's really important not to try to do the phase shift. This is where we start to see a lot of disruption in our shift workers. So, our overnight medical staff and firefighters who are struggling with insulin um resistance and metabolic syndrome and poor sleep. It's because of this phase shifting. So, when someone's like, I'm fasting like why are you trying to interrupt your metabolic health? Are you trying to uh you know reduce your your brain cleansing? Like what what benefit are you trying to find from fasting? Yeah, most people are fasting to lose weight. I mean, I did it to maintain my weight cuz I prided myself on looking good in a bikini. And look, in my 40s, it actually went really well. But when you talk a lot about the hormone part as well, does that, for lack of a better word, expedite the symptoms of menopause because we're upsetting or disregulating our hormone responses? For the most part, yeah, because when we start getting into pmenopause, we become more what we call sympathetically driven. So, this is that flight or fight, tired but wired. and the body's already at this level where it's not stress resilient. So when you start adding in the fasting and incredibly stressing the body because you're trying to make it work when there's no fuel, then it increases all of those stress responses which further exacerbates that tired but wired and inability to sleep. And one of the other responses of not being able to sleep well is putting on belly fat because we \[clears throat\] have metabolic dysfunction that comes with poor sleep. we see insulin resistance. We see uh a decrease in our metabolic rate. And then the other thing that we're seeing also in the literature is for women who hold their fast till noon or after there's less incidental movement. We have more of the wall lean during the day instead of standing upright and we tend to crave lots of like sugary caffeinated type foods in the afternoon to wake us up. But if you eat first thing in the morning, all that dissipates. I am really trying to have that morning coffee with protein. Nice. Um, but my morning coffee is at 5:00 a.m. and I'm at the gym by 6 a.m. So, it's really hard cuz I just always feel sick and I really don't like eating before I train. So, I am trying. But the minute you say, "Oh, it could increase your propensity to get belly fat." I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to have that." like I'm going to win. You know, it's funny what I'm listening to as I'm hearing you speak and and hearing all of these terms and I I understand you like I can talk about phase shifting and all that, but the minute you said belly fat, I'm like, "Okay, I'll have that. I'll have protein." \[laughter\] And it's incredible like and and one of

you noticed like crossgenerationally or geographically that is driving the perfect body or the obsession or the obsession of it? The fitness and and um film industry because they set the socioultural constructs, right? So the um unfortunately now the Kate Moss era is starting to come back with the Olympic and GLP1s, right? because now it's the ballerina tone and we're more and more of this. Can we talk about a Zenic for a second? Sure. Sure. What do you want to talk about? Okay. For the general person who doesn't have major diabetes complications, is this it is a good thing for the body long-term or short term? Like what are your thoughts on Ompic? One, we don't have the long-term data. And two, anyone who's using it for those vanity pounds, no, let's not do that. It's an essential medication that was originally designed for diabetes, we know that it's really fantastic for obesity and severe overweight because it helps with the food chatter, stops the food chatter, but part of it is satiation, right? So, if we're looking at increasing our protein and our fiber, that does the same thing. Not to the extent if you're significantly obese or overweight because it doesn't stop the food chatter, but when we're talking about satiation and the change of our appetite hormones to reduce that overall um simple carbohydrate craving that a lot of people end up having when they're under slept or really busy, then you just have to make the focus on getting really sound quality food of protein and fiber and definitely avoiding the ultrarocessed foods. That's what this 10 vanity pounds or the five kilos is about. Um, and then as we get older too, you want to have a little bit of extra because then if you get sick, your body has reserves. So when we start looking at like the Fitzpow and all the photoshopping and and filters on inst Insta and social media and then we see in Hollywood and and all the movies where women who are 40 and younger look a certain way and if you're over 40 then you have to have work done for the most part except for Jamie Lee Curtis. I love her because she's like I don't have anything done and I'm not going to. This is this is Pamela Anderson. Yeah. No work done. \[laughter\] Not interested. I'm going to let my hair go. I am not there yet. I maybe I'll get

\[laughter\] It's a miracle berry. That's just Sandra. Yeah. Yes. Um so I was introduced to adaptogens early in my career. When I was doing my posttock uh at Stanford, there was a visiting um professor from Columbia University who was pretty much the head of all the research for complimentary alternative medicine in the US. And she was really interested in adaptogens and black coohos because she was looking at menopause and menopause symptoms. And I was like what is this thing called adaptogen? And they're basically com plant compounds that work with your stress system. So it's not a pharmaceutical that's going to go in and stop a process. It is an actual compound that comes in and kind of reads your stress and sees okay where can I help kind of make you more stress resilient. So we look at chashandra and chashandra is a a Indian um plant that grows in extreme conditions and it's very adaptable to the environment. So if you're going to take chashandra then those compounds that make it really stress resilient come in and they work in the brain to create focus. So if you are having problems focusing you're having energy lapses you hit that um 3 or 4 p.m. like really uh slouch then shandra just kind of gives you that focus. I think on her I was like it's like aderall the effects of aderall gives you that extreme focus but it's not a drug. So when we talk about shishandra and helping with that tired but wired, it is a really fantastic plant compound that has been around for thousands of years that is now I'm happy to see becoming more mainstream. Other people think about maca, not McDonald's but maca in their smoothie or asha. Um shandra is in the same component in our smoothies today. We got maca and chisandra in our smoothies and creatine and creatine. Oh nice. Okay. So that is so that the first one was stopping intermittent fasting. Second one was the second one was protein. Just talk a little bit about creatine for the importance of recovery. Yeah. So we produce two to three grams in our liver a day but our bodies actually need a little bit more. So women have about 70 to 80% of the stores that men because it's that men do. It's a a essential part of all the vast energetics in our body. So if we think about the very first 0 to 10 seconds of work every cell does, it is primarily driven by the availability of creatine. So if we are supplementing with it, we're seeing now that there's a vast amount of health research coming out that shows it helps with brain function, heart function, gut function, and of course muscle performance. used to be a bodybuilding um supplement where you would take five to or five grams four times a day to really improve muscle performance and get that swole effect. Um but now we're seeing that lower doses of 3 to five grams really helps with all of our fast energetics and that if you are under times of jet lag or severe fatigue then we look at around 20 grams a day. Actually the dose is 38 grams per kilogram of body weight but 60 kilos is about 20 grams. Um and that goes and helps with brain metabolism which creates better brain metabolism. So it's able to use glucose and lactate and create more um functionality of all the brain neurons. So can you have too much? Because I I did read that and I think maybe you published it that if you are tired you can have between 30 and 40 grams and it's like getting 8 hours of sleep. So I just found myself just in the smoothie \[laughter\] just pounding in the creatine. Can you have too much of it? Yeah, that was me. I didn't post that. So I \[laughter\] don't know where you got but um the topic right now the research only supports that 38 per um 38 gram per kilogram by the way. Yeah, high-end doses. I don't know because we look at the bodybuilding set and they were doing extreme high-end doses and it increases the amount of water retention that you have uh does improve muscle performance and bone strength and bone density because it works with the bone. But I I would probably like it takes about 3 weeks for your body to fully saturate. So, if you're doing 30 40 grams trying to get over the fatigue, yeah, you know, a month you'll be firing, but right now you're like, "Yeah, I was looking for a quick fix cuz um I have a toddler not sleeping." Well, everything that you're talking about, we have right here in pill. We have a we created a supplement called Wake Up, and it's all about immunity, energy, and focus. I'm going to send you some, but it's only got seven ingredients in it. It has a little bit of caffeine, but it's got adaptogens like turkey tail and cortiseps. It's got jinseng and ginko, and it's got vitamin B and vitamin D. So everything that we could have 40 rings \[laughter\] of creatine or two of those I wanted it all. All right. What was the third thing was the way in which I train or exercise. Now as Tess said earlier I was tired of being tired all the time. And I remember saying this to you when I met you Stacy. I was really looking forward to the day when I could surf and train on the same day like having the energy and the vitality to do it all. And then I started eating protein and stopped intermittent fasting which then gave me the vitality and injury to weight train. So doing heavy lifting which I'm now doing and to get rid of that visceral weight fat band that I got on my belly when menopause was sprint. I do high in high intensity interval training. So perfect. Yes. Thank you. You're a good coach and I'm a good student.

you'd printed about a minute. I am not doing one minute sprints in the sand. I can do 30 seconds. But \[laughter\] so let's let's talk about Yeah. Okay. All right. Go. Yeah. So, with strength training, I mean, women have been conditioned for the toning and like the little pink dumbbells, which is not enough because we're looking at, okay, what's happening as we start to get older. Yes. And one of the very first things that I've noticed and have, which is why I really started digging into the research is a lot of my friends who are hitting their early 40s are like, I don't understand what's going on. I'm getting really slow and I keep trying to do interval training and I'm getting slower. My running pace has dropped from 4 kph pH to six or sorry four minute Ks to six minute Ks and I I just can't get faster. So you start looking at it's all about power. So the very first thing that goes before we start seeing a loss in lean mass is power because we have our our two really key uh muscle contractile proteins. One's called actin, one's called meosin. mascin grabs onto actin and binds really tightly to pull together the fibers and that's what creates a very powerful contraction. When we start getting older and start having uh estradile changes or estrogen changes, measin becomes a little bit dysfunctional. So, it doesn't grab onto actin and we don't have a powerful contraction. So, we start to lose balance. We start to lose ability to go fast. We don't have any explosive movements. Um popping up on board is even hard because you're like, "Oh, it's young." Right? Yeah. So when we start looking at one of the very first adaptive changes that happens with heavier weight training is a a neural response that makes myasin behave. So when we start looking at at doing our heavier powerbased type strength training which is our heavier loads and our lower uh rep ranges we see that my like oh okay from the nerve I need to bind on to actin and really quickly grab on because I don't know how heavy this is going to be how fast they have to move it so let's go. So this is where we start looking at strength training being so important for preserving power. We also now see from some literature that came out last month that power is a very strong predictor for mortality that the more power and explosiveness that you have, the better your health span. So it's not just V2 max, it's also your power capacity. If you're doing the powerbased end of stuff, then you're also addressing the strength. So women are always worried about, oh my lean mass, I'm losing my lean mass, right? And I don't want to get bulky. But if we are doing the lower end and the heavier loads, we're getting strong, we're getting powerful, and you don't get bulky. Okay. So, can we stop there? \[laughter\] Cuz this is like a psychological challenge I have had my whole life. I have my C three in fitness. Like, I am a qualified personal trainer. I understand the science, but I still have a fear of those weights making me bulky because I can see the difference in different like if you want a runner's body, be a runner. If you want a CrossFit body, do CrossFit. Like I can visually if you want to like Pilates body, do Pilates. Like I can visually see the different body types that represent a training style. And I've and I feel like I'm just like trapped in this loop because I I hear you say, "Okay, power very important. Do strength training." And then I'm like, "Oh, but I don't want to look like a CrossFit person." All credit to them. Weightlifter. Well, the thing about is what I love about the Olympics is it gives you the idea of what the perfect body type is to be successful in those sports, right? Yes. So, we know that um anyone who's being successful in a sport doesn't just train one modality. So if we're looking at CrossFit, they don't just lift heavy weights. They also do a lot of highintensity metcon work. If we look at a runner now, more and more runners are doing strength training on the heavier load because they don't want to put on the bulk. We also know that it's really hard for women to build mass unless you're genetically predis dis predisposed like you're a a messorph where you can look at a kettle bell and boom, you got that's what I feel like I I think I have body dysmorphia. \[laughter\] From here, I'm like, you need to look at a lot more kettle bells if you want to get bulky. \[laughter\] So, what is the for someone like me who doesn't want to, and I have great respect for CrossFit people, I'm not giving them a bad rap here, but who wants the perfect amount of power and weight load in a week? What does that weight and time look like? So, like a practical tip for someone like me. Oh, yeah. So, this is hard cuz I don't know your training history or how long you've been doing stuff because we do have a lot of diminishing returns, right? So, anyone who first starts a strength journey is going to rapidly gain strength and lean mass and power and then someone who's been doing it for a long period of time is going to have to change things up or work a little bit harder. Um, what I like to do is I like to start people off with three three times a week working different planer motions. So like the first is knee hinge forward squat type motion and we're looking at compound movements to really activate that particular um functional movement and the range is different. If you're just starting I'm not going to have you do a re of of eight. So that's reps in reserve. I'm going to have you do you know like more reps less weight till you know how to move really well. Then we look at a push pull upper body. And then the third day would be all the posterior chain of deadlifts and hip thrusts and complimentary movements there. Then as you start getting more trained, we can look at things like French contrast training. This is where you do a heavy heavy lift of of maybe three reps immediately into an explosive movement into uh lighter weight and more reps. So this is how you're working all the facets of the movement and maintaining power or strength but not getting bulky. So there are different modalities that we can put in depending on who you are and what your training history is. But I think the biggest misnomer is that women walk into the weight room and they see women in there who look like CrossFit athletes who are very dedicated. But as soon as you start doing any kind of cardio, it becomes really, really, really hard to keep that lean mass on. So CrossFit athletes that I know who aren't professional but are really dedicated to their sport, they're eating all of the time and trying to minimize the amount of time they're doing high intensity work. Otherwise, they're like, I can't lift anything and I want to be strong. So, there's lots of nuances in it. Or you can do what I do. Just get yourself a personal trainer who knows their \[laughter\] knows what they're doing. It's a very good call. I I train with a guy called Shannon Pontton, who is a a pretty famous personal trainer here in Australia. He was part of the Biggest Loser Australia. Yeah. TV show. And and and he set like he works with my mobility and my restrictions and what my ultimate goals are. So we we've got a really good formula and I know where I'm heading and why I'm doing it. The second thing is I start with how I want to feel. I don't want to look a certain way. I want to feel a certain way. And the one thing I was really wanting to experience and feel again in my body was to feel strong. Yeah. I don't care how much lean mass I've got on my arms or my legs. It's just about how I feel and how I and how well I can surf. That's what really inspired me to keep doing that. Do you know what inspired me to start lifting and being in the gym was to be a strong mom. Yeah. Great. Yeah. You got to lift a 45 kilo 20 kilo kid. Yeah. It was really It was about like feeling strong in that moment. Um and be and constantly showing up for him because the last thing I I would hate to not be able to lift him,

about 30 seconds and then I do a 3minut recovery which is just the how long it takes me to walk back and then go again. I do that once a week and I really enjoy it and it's really helped eliminate that visceral fat band. How did that do that? How did that do that? Okay, so we all hear about highintensity interval training. Yeah, right. It's all rage in all the fits classes and stuff. But what we are talking about is a subset called sprint interval training. And it can be running, but it doesn't have to be. It could be any kind of mode. But it is as hard as you possibly can for 30 seconds or less with around 3 minutes recovery. Why? because it is such a strong stress to the body that it creates a cascade of feedback from the skeletal muscle to the liver to circulating fatty acids and the way that the body will store it where it's like the skeletal muscle is like, "Oh, wait a second. I just used up all of my um creatine phosphate, you know, our creatine and started tapping into glucose, so I need to be able to store fat in the muscle to be used at rest when I'm not experiencing this." So it is a very strong um stress that is creating this cascade that then becomes what we call an epigenetic change which means that it becomes more of a permanent change in this conversation and we have a drop in the liver saying oh wait a second these free fatty acids we don't really know what to do with them so we're going to change their form and store them as visceral fat. Now the liver is getting the signal from the um skeletal muscle which estrogen used to do but doesn't anymore because we've lost it to say no no no no no no we don't want that stored as visceral fat. We need that to come in and go into the mitochondria and be used as a fuel when we're just sitting around. So that becomes the permanent change which gets rid of the visceral fat. When we start looking at highintensity interval training, this is where you have your one minute to four minute intervals and it's at a lower intensity and this is more metabolic and total body change. So we're looking at let's have better um cardiovascular health, let's have better blood pressure, let's have better uh insulin sensitivity and yeah, I want to lose a lot of of overall body fat. That's the the least effect. figure effect is on total uh metabolic health as well as cardiovascular health. So they are two subsets. If you are moving around a lot during the day and you're putting in your heavy lifting and your sprints once a week, then the highintensity interval set point isn't as as dire as if you had a sedentary job. Surfing for me is high intensity. So you're looking at around about 80%. Is that it? That's the limit. Exactly. Okay, cool. Okay, so that is that is the tools. Five tools. So you want So what do you do? What is your five tools now for energy and vitality? So starting the day with protein every single day, which essentially I know you don't like you don't encourage much processed food, but I do have protein powder in my smoothie every single day. I found a good one. Two. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Um weight training once a week. Sprint interval training once a week. Um infrared sauna. Oh, sorry. Regular sauna, not infrared sauna. But either off. Well, I Yeah, I tend to just stick to the main sauna. No, but the science doesn't matter, right, Stace? Infrared. I lean towards a finished sauna for better robust outcomes, but if you only have access to an infrared, then you can use it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And then the nutrition or the the addition of adaptogens like Cassandra and creatine, they're my they've been my game changers. So, thank you, Stacy. Yeah. Thank you for giving me my best friend back. \[laughter\] Um Stacy, we have an awake collective which is um people that we work with monthly in our coaching world and two of them have sent through questions to you which we just love to ask you if that is

thing she can do daily to upgrade her energy that most women would never think about?" Oh, that's a hard one. Yeah. But um oh upgrading energy I always refer to sleep like what is your sleep hygiene and how are you sleeping because a lot of people think they're sleeping well and they're not and it's like re-examine that because if you start feeling flat and having lols in the day it could be sleep but then the other thing is how are you eating because a lot of people just especially women don't eat enough because we go we're like oh we we train we eat in around training and then we get busy with kids and work and then it might be like 2:00 by the time you have lunch and that's way too late. Yeah. Cuz then you're like, I'm not that hungry and I'm really tired and I'm lethargic and where's my energy? So, what's the average gap that we should have between meals then if you're just living that kind of life? Well, yeah. So, uh is there a side? So, or is it just they say, you know, every about 3 to four hours you want to have something just to but you don't want to have a massive amount of food that's going to give you like the the food hangover. So, I mean, there's some people like, "I'm hungry all the time, so how do I manage that?" It's like, "Well, you've got to have enough fiber and protein at every meal." And if you start to feel really low, have a protein fortified snack. If you're someone who's like, "I have a big meal and I'm not hungry." It's like, "Okay, well, we have to work on cutting back that meal and seeing how we can divide it up throughout the day." M as a busy mom and an entrepreneur, I am constantly looking at ways I can optimize my sleep cuz when I sleep well, I feel amazing when I wake up. Micronutrition has an amazing product called sleep support. \[music\] It has three different types of magnesium powder and passion flour, which just help me feel a little bit more rejuvenated \[music\] in the tiny bits of sleep that I do get as a mom. So, visit micronutrition.com.au AU and use the code awake \[music\] 10 and get 10% off all of their products. Enjoy your sleep. I've been managing menopause for years and I've constantly been looking for something to \[music\] help me create mental clarity, boost my immunity, and help me show up with more energy. So, we came \[music\] up with Wake Up. It's only got seven ingredients in it, including a bit of caffeine. But cortiseps, turkey tail, jinseng, ginko, vitamin B, vitamin D, all really \[music\] natural good stuff and it's good for you. So if you're feeling a little fatigued and need that little boost, wake up is your pill. You'll find it on our website, awakeacademy.com.au. You know, I don't even really know where to begin. Yeah. I I feel like the when I became when the head noise of food slowed down was when I started loving myself again. And every decision started coming from that. Like I could try and intermittent fast and eat protein in the morning. Like I tried everything all the time. Like I was active in the science and the data and following you and all of these processes. But then it wasn't until I started doing a bit of mindset work that I found everything regulated so much more and I was conscious about those decisions. So that's something that most people don't think about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do the internal work.

I can't sleep. I'm having rage. I'm having anxiety. So there are tools that you can do and she might be so far into it that she can't see what's the old expression force for the trees, right? Like she has everything all at once where if he can have that conversation with her and just tease out one thing and say, you know what, with sleep, let's work on that sleep together. Let's make sure that we have appropriate bedtime and the room is cool and you're wearing earplugs and let's really nail that down. She's having significant anxiety and depression. let's look at some adapagens or maybe we have an appointment with a GP and I go with you so that we can hear the same thing and be able to activate together as a partnership cuz men feel helpless really like when their wives and their loved ones are going through this and they're not involved in the conversation and she might go to a doctor and not come back and say or come back and say I I didn't get any information and they still feel helpless. But if they make a partnership of it and work together as a support network, then she doesn't feel alone and it really opens up that conversation and allows him to feel invested in her life and help her and then she feels supported and can reach out when she's getting to wits end. Oh, I love that. It really is a healthcare partnership, isn't it? Like trying to hold people through this journey cuz sometimes you go to the doctors. I mean, I could you've probably been to four or five doctors that didn't work for you. Yeah. And four or five doctors that just offered just very vanilla advice, you know, that it just standard. One size fits one. One size fits one. Here's your HRT schedule. Here's your prescription. Off off you go. And I'm like, well, what about what about implementing nutrition and movement and, you know, understanding the person? And I remember um one of my girlfriends reached out to me about menopause and Stacy gave the best advice. She's like start with your symptoms and then once you understand the symptoms then you can start asking for help. I love that

many years and I do really want to thank you for pioneering you know you're one of many doctors but you really are changing the conversation to be more positive and proactive but in the light of all of this information I'm also very fearful of it what would you say to someone prepping for I feel like it's like you've got to prep for to grow a child I feel like this is the next stage of my life it's I'm prepping for Perry. \[laughter\] Yeah. What would you say to calm someone down like me? Found the farm. Yeah. Well, one of my best friends is in her late 30s and she's also like, I don't want to go through this. Like, every woman goes through it. It's whether or not you talk about it. And now we're talking about Yeah. It's nothing to be afraid of. It's when you have the information and you're empowered, then you can know like what are your first symptoms. If your first symptom is um body comp change, then you know what you can do. you can change nutrition and your training because you're going to have to as we age in lifestyle and so you have the tools to be able to activate. It's when women are not educated or they have no idea what's happening to them. They don't know what the symptoms are. That's when things get out of hand. But you're surrounded by people who have been having these conversations. You've seen Lane and her struggles and how she's come out of it. So everybody's journey is different. So, when you start going, "What is going on?" Like, for me, I didn't realize how angry I was until it's like I was throwing my daughter's backpack at her as she was walking down the driveway to primary school, and I was like, "What is wrong with me?" And I realized that rage was one of the biggest symptoms that I had. So, I was like, "I can't do this." Like, this is my 5-year-old daughter who's afraid of me. This is not right. So that was what I had to work on and get help with. But if I wasn't aware that that was one of the symptoms, then I'd just say, "Oh, well, I underslept and highly stressed." What helped you with that rage? What What did you do for that? We haven't touched on the emotional side so much. \[laughter\] Yeah. Um, so I did cognitive behavior therapy and testosterone because my testosterone completely bottomed out. Actually, after I had Jera, I um didn't get my period back for almost four years. Oh, wow. And so, combining really, really low body weight because I lost a lot of weight during pregnancy and I had no motivation to put it back on afterwards. Um, and then postpartum depression, which also probably was permenopausal symptoms. And then moving and support and just everything going on. And then the one thing that really reared its ugly head was rage. And I'd never been an angry person. I had never had that. And I was like, "What is going on?" And a friend of mine who is a a mental skills person is like, "Yeah, so you're 43. So yeah, this is probably menopause. We see this in older athletes." And I was like, "Okay." So that she got me on CBT. And then because of my history of all my hormones dropping off, I went and got tested. and they're like, "You have almost no testosterone, so we need to boost that." So, the combination of the two, I got a handle on it. And then I I'm not on any hormones anymore, but I still tap into the CBT. What I'm hearing from you, Stacy, is something that I want all listeners, including myself, is like when you know what to look for, when you work with the right doctor, there is a tool or a combination of tools to help you regain your energy, regain your happiness, and like take control of your health. So, yeah, I do feel a lot more confident and capable of handling very menopause from sitting here. I've got you. \[laughter\] So, so you know yourself, right? You know yourself. You know things aren't right. And the people around you will know when things aren't right. Yeah. And hopefully they speak up. My husband didn't speak up because it wasn't a time or place or in the culture to speak up. But now we're saying like Dan who wants to help his his wife. Yeah. Like people are speaking up. And if they know you, Lane knows you, you know yourself. So, if something starts going a miss, you're going to have the the the village around you to say, "Hey, yeah, let's let's take a pause and get some help." Yeah. Don't be afraid to have that conversation with a loved one. Well, you know, I'm never afraid to have that conversation. So, \[laughter\] I love you. \[gasps\]

them to be their best selves and live their best life? Uh always take that moment for yourself, right? We tend to get wrapped up into helping everybody else. And I had this conversation with a a woman this morning where we both didn't feel guilty, but someone made us made a comment that we were both at the gym and our kids were on screens. And it's like, well, you know what? Sometimes when you're out there and you're the only parent, yeah, I'm not going to apologize for that because I have to take care of myself because if I'm not taking care of myself, I can't show up for anyone else. So, make sure you take at least five minutes for yourself. Maybe outside, no noise. Lane watching the ocean test. I don't know. Maybe looking at people put on kettle bell weight. \[laughter\] Whatever it is that that like calms you and brings you to that center and that moment, which is also mindfulness. And then you can show up for everyone else. And that's how you live your best life. Cuz if you surround yourself by people that want you to show up as you and support you as you, then you're surrounding yourself with people that love you. A Stacy, well, we love you and we're so grateful that you are you and that you share so much wisdom and empowerment and that you walk the walk and you talk the talk. You know, you're you're an incredible person and a wonderful friend and we're so grateful that you made the time and the effort to be with us today. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Stacy. Thanks for having me. It's been great. Anytime. Well, have you? Anytime. Have you been listening to this episode and thought, "Mike drop. Maybe I'm ready to get coached or have some therapy, but you don't want to go all the way down and get a therapist." Welcome to the Awake Collective where we do monthly coaching \[music\] to help people feel accountable, supported, and they keep on doing the work that you hear in this podcast. It is life transformative. \[music\] Right, LB? It's a community of support and like-minded people who are willing to keep investing in themselves \[music\] because what we do is we help people help themselves. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, then the Awake Collective is for you. So come and \[music\] join us at awakeacademy.com.au and join us for monthly coaching, a community that supports you and tools that you can use in your \[music\] life to thrive. Let's go. See you there.