By Tamzyn Murphy, RD, MSc, Head of Content on Network Network
Menopause is one of the deepest biological transitions a woman will ever experience. However, it remains one of the least openly discussed. In addition to hot flashes and night sweat, many women fight quietly with mental health challenges: anxiety, low mood, brain fog and even a sense of sadness for the changing phase of life.
In recent Dietary network live Talk, I sat with Eli Bromley, a certified nutrition coach and lecturer in our upcoming Menopause Education (start September 30, 2025), to talk about the emotional and psychological side of the adoption and menopause. The discussion was warm, vulnerable and full of practical strategies that can authorize women to browse this transition with greater understanding and grace.
“I to pause”: Reforming menopause
One of Eli’s central messages was the importance of the very removal of menopause. Explained:
‘By saying I on pauseWhat he does is redefine menopause as time to shift. It is time to understand, for a moment to train what is happening to us and how it affects our normal and mental health. It is about strengthening ourselves. Knowledge is power. ”
Instead of treating menopause as something to “promote” or “survive”, Eli encourages women to see it as a deliberate cessation – an opportunity to reflect, redefine and undertake their ownership of their health.
In western culture, menopause is often depicted as a decline, and even loss of femininity or relevance. But Eli pointed out that in other cultures, especially in parts of Asia, menopause is considered a transition to wisdom and power. “It is no way old man,” he reminded us. “The average age of menopause is about 51 – you still be young, alive and full of potential.”
What happens to the brain and body?
To understand why the symptoms of mental health can be so severe during awaiting and menopause, Eli broke hormonal changes:
- Persecution: Progesterone begins to decrease, while estrogen ranges unpredictably: increasing one day and crushing the next. “One day you are glorious and the next cry over a rock on the road,” Eli said with a smile. This hormonal rollercoaster explains the changes of mood, anxiety and a sense of emotional instability that many women report.
- Menopause: Ultimately, both progesterone and estrogen are installed at lower levels. Without the sedative effects of GABA (stimulated by progesterone) or the effects that enhance the mood of serotonin and dopamine (estrogen -associated), women often feel more sensitive, less stress -resistant and vulnerable to fog.
- Brain energy: Estrogen also plays a critical role in the choice of brain to use glucose for fuel. With its decline, many women experience “glucose hypotolis”. In essence, the brain is not able to use glucose so effectively. The result? Fatigue, brain fog and memory.
“This is not weak, this is not just an elderly lady,” Eli said. “This is physiology and understanding is the first step to work with it.”
Sensitivity
One of the most refreshing knowledge of ELI’s perspective was the idea that increased sensitivity during menopause is not a purely burden. It can also be a gift.
“Sensitivity is not all bad. Yes. We can find noise more annoying, but we can also feel the sadness of our child more easily. If we embrace and understand it. We can work with it.”
This remodeling shifts the narrative from deficiency to probability. Women at this stage can utilize their sensitivity for deeper relationships, intuition and wisdom. Once they stop blaming themselves for “not dealing” as they used to.
The anxiety, cortisol and need to cease
Perhaps the most important challenge for women in middle life is stress. Without the regulatory effects of estrogen and progesterone, cortisol (the main stress hormone of the body) tends to run higher.
“The same argument as your partner, the same situation at work – without this hormone protection, you just don’t have the same durability,” Eli explained. “Not weakness. It’s physiology.”
That is why he emphasized, stress management should be a top priority for women at this stage of life. Chronic stress not only exacerbates mental health symptoms, but can worsen natural, from bad sleep to metabolic changes.
Mulvan theory and finding security
To help women manage stress, Eli draws Polybagan theorydescribing three states of the nervous system:
- Abdominal colic (safe condition): Calm, connected, grounded.
- Nice (race or flight): Notice, anxious, mobilized.
- Dorsal consignment (termination): Retired, disconnected, desperate.
“So many women in the menopause cycle between race or flight and closing. They fight back, do not work and end up quiet and blame themselves.
Training, education and simple practices can help women return to this state of rest.
Practical Tools: Biohacks for Calm
Eli shared a series of practical, up -to -date tools that they can use to regulate their nervous system and restore tranquility:
- Confidence: Running slowly your hand under your hand or giving yourself gently compressed. “It feels like hugging yourself. It releases oxytocin, this sedative, adhesive hormone,” he explained.
- Lung nerve activation: Massage of sternoclemastoid muscles in the throat, hum or song, and dipping cold water can stimulate the nerve of the lung, shifting the body to “rest and digestion” function.
- Breathing Techniques: “Only three minutes of deep breathing can dramatically reduce stress,” Eli noted. A simple strategy: Breathe for three measurements and then breathe for six. “It is shocking how effective it is.”
- Oxyocin reinforcement rituals: By taking a warm bath, sharing a hug, drinking a cup of tea or eat comfort foods such as soup or stew. “Foods can cause oxytocin response and it does not need to be sugar food,” Eli reminded us.
- Ground and Self-Speech: Looking around the room and reassuring yourself, “there is no danger here”, it can restore the nervous system. “The body feels first danger and the brain is a story about it. Stop this story with reality.”
Because education matters
Again and again, Eli returned to the importance of education.
“Education helps women understand: this is not me, this is the case with me. This takes a long shame and blame, and gives them the tools to support themselves.”
By normalizing experience and providing practical strategies, women can stop themselves and instead enter this stage with self -concentration and power.
Moving forward: a new narrative about menopause
Our living with Eli was more than an educational session – it was an invitation to rewrite the history of menopause.
Instead of a time of decline, it can be considered:
- A pause for reflection and re -establishment.
- An opportunity to exploit sensitivity as a force.
- A time of life where women claim power for their health and well -being.
Eli’s warmth and wisdom shone every part of our conversation. As he said:
“Every woman who passes through it should be proud of herself. It is not easy, but her reform as the time to take your health in your hands is not selfish.
Come with us to Menopause Education
This living was just a look at the depth of knowledge and compassion ELI brings to her work. Is one of the teachers in the upcoming nutrition network Menopause & Lighting Lessonlaunch September 30 2025.
If you are a professional, coach or professional who supports women through this transition, this training will give you the tools, science and strategies to make a difference.
Sign up now To ensure your point and take advantage of the deduction of early birds before the launch day.
Because no woman should go through menopause not supported, unprepared or unheard of.
