What Women Need to Know About Perimenopause, Hormones & Birth Control | Lara Briden
Stronger Bolder WiserShow Notes
Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit?
Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw
Perimenopause is not a medical condition and you are not broken. Dr Lara Briden explains what is really happening to your hormones after 40, and why alcohol makes all of it harder.
In this episode I sit down with Dr Lara Briden, naturopathic doctor and author of Period Repair Manual, Hormone Repair Manual and Metabolism Repair for Women. Lara reframes perimenopause as a second puberty and pushes back on the fear-based messaging filling our feeds. We cover alcohol as the bigger hidden hormone disruptor, the iron deficiency being mislabelled as brain fog, what the pill really does to a teenage cycle, and why insulin resistance locks women out of their own energy stores. This is the kind of knowledge that lets you walk into your doctor's office and advocate for yourself.
Key Topics Covered - Why periods go chaotic after 40, and what ovulation winding down really looks like. - Perimenopause as second puberty, not a medical condition, with many symptoms temporary. - The iron deficiency hiding behind brain fog, and why heavy bleeding needs full iron studies. - Alcohol as the bigger hormone disruptor, raising estrogen and steepening the drops. - What the pill does to a teenage cycle, and the twelve years it takes to mature ovulation. - Hormonal IUDs and heavy periods, the real wins, the androgen side effects, and keeping your uterus. - The rethink around endometriosis, and why experts want to stop cutting young women open.
Timestamps Dr Lara Briden On Chaotic Perimenopause Periods (00:00) Second Puberty, Low Iron And Brain Fog (04:37) Estrogen Swings, Alcohol And Fear Marketing (12:00) What The Pill Does To Teen Cycles (20:32) Pill Bleeds, Hormonal IUDs And Real Periods (25:29) Should You Get Endometriosis Surgery? (32:25) PCOS Should Be Renamed PMOS (38:45) How To Treat High Androgens Naturally (44:53) How Insulin Resistance Starts In Midlife (50:36) Why Midlife Weight Loss Advice Fails (57:40) Rapid Fire Hormone Questions Answered (01:01:36)
Dr Lara Briden is a naturopathic doctor with more than 25 years in women's health and the author of Period Repair Manual, Hormone Repair Manual and Metabolism Repair for Women, published in Australia and New Zealand as The Metabolism Reset. A former evolutionary biologist, she now consults from Christchurch, New Zealand, treating women with PCOS, PMS, endometriosis and perimenopause.
Website: https://www.larabriden.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larabriden/ Podcast: https://www.larabriden.com/podcast/ Resources and references for Lara Briden’s books Hormone Repair Manual, Period Repair Manual, and Metabolism Repair for Women. https://www.larabriden.com/resources/
*** Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia’s leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.
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Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/ If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067
And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze
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Taking 30 days off alcohol in midlife rarely feels the way social media promises. Boredom, flatness and broken sleep often come first, and none of it means you're doing it wrong.In this video I share the five most unexpected things women discover in their first 30 days without wine, from the 5 to 7pm boredom to the friend who suddenly goes quiet. I explain why your brain can feel flat once alcohol stops lighting up your dopamine reward centre, and why sedation is not the same as restorative sleep. Most importantly, I explain why all of it settles.Key Topics Covered- Why boredom hits hardest between 5 and 7pm when you stop drinking, and why taking alcohol out means adding something in, like an evening walk, a class or a hobby.- Feeling flat after quitting alcohol: how years of drinking dysregulate your dopamine receptors, and why it evens out with time.- What to do when friends get weird about you not drinking, and why talking to your closest friends first helps.- Why sleep without alcohol can get worse before it gets better, and how to ride the emotional rollercoaster of the early weeks.Timestamps What Happens When You Stop Drinking For 30 Days (00:00) Thing 1: Boredom Between 5 And 7pm (00:40) Thing 2: Feeling Flat After You Stop Drinking (02:01) Thing 3: When Friends Get Weird About You Not Drinking (02:44) Thing 4: Why Sleep Gets Worse Before It Gets Better (03:37) Thing 5: Feeling Emotional Over Nothing (04:40) Free Support To Change Your Drinking (05:20)Also Watch My Previous Episodes:- Seven Signs You Are a Grey Area Drinker- Six Reasons Successful Women Are Quietly Quitting Alcohol- Three Reasons Women Cannot Metabolise Alcohol as Effectively as Men***Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit?Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine.Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw***Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze
Nobody walks into a marriage planning to leave it, yet so many midlife women are quietly asking whether to stay or go. Your body often knows the answer first.