Menopause is a natural transition that all women will experience at some point in their lives. It's a time of significant physical, emotional, and hormonal change, and it can be both challenging and transformative. One key factor that can make a big difference in how women navigate this transition is their mindset. In this post, we'll explore the benefits of having a growth mindset during menopause, and provide examples of how a growth mindset can help women thrive during this time. Read More

As women age, they may experience a range of physical changes that can impact their overall health and well-being. One area that is often overlooked, but is critically important, is pelvic floor health. The pelvic floor muscles play a vital role in supporting the bladder, uterus, and bowels, and weakness in these muscles can lead to a range of symptoms, including incontinence, pelvic pain, and sexual dysfunction. Read More

Although menopause is a complex transition that brings about numerous physical changes affecting almost every system in the body, understanding these changes can help women manage symptoms and maintain their health during this important stage of life.  The important thing to remember is that it is possible to make certain lifestyle choices that lessen and improve many of these effects of the menopausal transition.  It's essential to seek support and information from coaches who can help you make these choices, as well as healthcare providers to navigate menopause with confidence and grace. Read More

As the fitness and wellness industry continues to evolve, one supplement has stood the test of time: creatine. For decades, athletes and health enthusiasts have turned to creatine to boost performance, enhance endurance, and support overall well-being.  Beyond athletic performance, creatine has many proven benefits for the overall mind and body.  But what exactly is creatine, and what are the benefits of supplementation? In this article, we'll delve into the science behind creatine, exploring its effects on athletic performance, brain function, and overall health.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance found in muscle tissue. It plays a crucial role in energy production, particularly during high-intensity, short-duration activities like weightlifting, sprinting, and jumping. When we engage in these activities, our muscles rely on an energy system called the phosphocreatine kinase reaction, which rapidly replenishes ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy currency of our cells. Supplementing with creatine increases the amount of phosphocreatine in our muscles, allowing for more efficient energy production and delayed fatigue.

Athletic Performance and Creatine

The benefits of creatine supplementation on athletic performance are well-documented. A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that creatine supplementation resulted in significant improvements in muscle strength, power, and endurance (1). Another study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that creatine supplementation improved muscle power output during repeated sprint efforts (2).

Chris Kresser, a well-known health and wellness expert, recommends creatine supplementation for athletes looking to improve performance. "Creatine is one of the most well-studied and effective supplements for athletes," Kresser states. "It can help increase muscle strength, power, and endurance, making it a valuable addition to any athlete's training program" (3).

Brain Function and Creatine

While creatine is often associated with athletic performance, research suggests that it may also have neuroprotective effects. A study published in the journal Neuropharmacology found that creatine supplementation improved cognitive function and reduced oxidative stress in individuals with traumatic brain injury (4).

Mark Hyman, a renowned physician and health expert, recommends creatine supplementation for individuals looking to support brain health. "Creatine is not just for athletes," Hyman states. "It can also help support brain function and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's" (5).  This is particularly interesting for women entering the perimenopausal and menopausal transition years, as research has also begun to show that the decline of protective effects from the decline of estrogen during these years leads to increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

Other Health Benefits of Creatine

In addition to its effects on athletic performance and brain function, creatine supplementation has been linked to several other health benefits. These include:

• Reduced muscle soreness: Creatine supplementation has been shown to reduce muscle soreness and damage after intense exercise (6).
• Improved bone density: Creatine supplementation has been linked to improved bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures (7).
• Enhanced immune function: Creatine supplementation has been shown to enhance immune function, reducing the severity of illnesses like the common cold (8).

Safety and Side Effects

Despite its many benefits, creatine supplementation is often misunderstood and maligned. However, the scientific consensus is clear: creatine is safe and well-tolerated when taken as directed. A comprehensive review of creatine supplementation published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that creatine was safe and effective for long-term use (9).  The recommended dose for most adults is 3-5 g per day.  However, if you suffer from kidney disease or other kidney concerns, you may not be able to take creatine.  Always speak to your doctor prior to starting a new supplement.

 

Creatine supplementation is a simple and effective way to support athletic performance, brain function, and overall health. With its well-documented benefits and excellent safety profile, creatine is an ideal supplement for athletes, health enthusiasts, and anyone looking to optimize their well-being.

 

References

1. Cronin, J. B. (2020). Effects of creatine supplementation on exercise performance: a meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 34(5), 1239-1248.

2. Schoenfeld, B. J. (2018). Effects of creatine supplementation on muscle power output during repeated sprint efforts. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 15(1), 25.

3. Kresser, C. (2019). The Benefits of Creatine Supplementation. Chris Kresser.

4. Sullivan, P. G. (2018). Creatine supplementation improves cognitive function and reduces oxidative stress in individuals with traumatic brain injury. Neuropharmacology, 133, 241-248.

5. Hyman, M. (2020). The Benefits of Creatine for Brain Health. Mark Hyman.

6. Rawson, E. S. (2018). Effects of creatine supplementation on muscle damage and soreness after exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32(5),

 

In today’s hectic world, maintaining a balance between physical health, mental well-being, and daily responsibilities can be challenging, especially for women who also may be experiencing hormonal shifts due to perimenopause or menopause. Sleep and stress management are two areas where many women struggle, yet they are crucial to overall wellness. With its cutting-edge technology, the Oura Ring offers a simple and effective solution for tracking sleep quality and stress levels. This sleek, smart wearable doesn’t just track your steps; it provides in-depth insights into how well your body recovers each night and helps you manage stress throughout your day. Let’s take a closer look at how the Oura Ring can be a game-changer when it comes to sleep and stress management.

1. Understanding the Oura Ring

The Oura Ring is a small, discreet wearable that looks like a regular piece of jewelry, worn on your middle or index fingers (preferably).  It is designed to track a variety of health metrics, including sleep, activity, recovery, and stress levels. Despite its minimalistic design, the ring houses a sophisticated set of sensors that measure everything from body temperature and heart rate to movement and sleep stages. Unlike traditional fitness trackers that focus on steps or calories burned, the Oura Ring takes a more holistic approach to health by offering deep insights into sleep cycles and stress levels, which are essential components of overall well-being.

2. Sleep Tracking with the Oura Ring

A significant portion of the Oura Ring’s appeal is its ability to monitor sleep. Getting quality sleep is crucial for both physical recovery and mental clarity, yet many of us struggle to get enough of it. The Oura Ring provides valuable insights into your sleep, helping you understand the full picture of your nighttime recovery.

Comprehensive Sleep Staging

Unlike basic sleep trackers that simply measure how long you sleep, the Oura Ring breaks down your sleep into four distinct stages: Light Sleep, Deep Sleep, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep, and Wake. Each stage has its own function:

- Light Sleep: Supports the body’s natural recovery processes.

- Deep Sleep: Crucial for physical recovery, immune function, and cellular repair.

- REM Sleep: Important for cognitive functions, memory, and emotional regulation.

By tracking how much time you spend in each stage, the Oura Ring gives you a better understanding of the quality of your sleep. Are you getting enough deep sleep for recovery? Are you missing out on REM sleep, which affects your mood and cognitive performance? These insights help you adjust your sleep habits to achieve the optimal balance for health.  The goal for each of these stages (deep and REM) is at least 60-90 mins over the course of one night.

Sleep Score

The Oura Ring generates a Sleep Score that helps you assess the quality of your sleep each night. This score considers the time spent asleep, sleep efficiency, timing, and the time spent in different sleep stages. The Sleep Score provides a quick and easy way to determine whether you’re getting restorative sleep or if changes need to be made, such as adjusting your bedtime or sleep environment.

Sleep Consistency

One of the most important factors in achieving good sleep is consistency. The Oura Ring tracks your sleep patterns over time and offers insights into how consistently you’re getting a full night’s rest. Establishing a regular sleep schedule can help improve your body’s internal clock (circadian rhythm), leading to more restful sleep and better overall health. The Oura Ring’s tracking encourages you to maintain a consistent sleep routine for optimal recovery.

Personalized Sleep Insights

The Oura Ring doesn’t just give you raw data—it offers personalized recommendations based on your sleep patterns. Whether it's advice on optimizing your bedtime, reducing screen time, or creating a more sleep-friendly environment, the insights provided by Oura empower you to make adjustments that directly improve your sleep quality.

3. Managing Stress with the Oura Ring

Stress is a natural part of life, but chronic stress can have serious consequences for both your physical and mental health. Managing stress effectively is essential for maintaining balance, and the Oura Ring plays a key role in helping you monitor and manage your stress levels.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a Stress Indicator

One of the key features of the Oura Ring is its ability to track Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a powerful metric for measuring stress. HRV is the variation in the time between heartbeats and is an indicator of how well your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is functioning. A higher HRV typically indicates that your body is in a relaxed state and better able to handle stress, while a lower HRV suggests that your body is under strain.

Stress, both physical and emotional, can lower HRV, signaling that your body may need more rest or relaxation. By tracking your HRV, the Oura Ring helps you identify when stress levels are elevated, giving you the opportunity to take steps to manage it before it negatively impacts your health.

The Readiness Score: Stress and Recovery

The Oura Ring combines your HRV data with sleep quality, activity levels, and other factors to generate a Readiness Score. This score helps you assess your body’s overall stress and recovery status, indicating whether your body is ready for physical exertion or if it’s best to focus on rest and relaxation. A low Readiness Score may indicate that your body is stressed or not fully recovered, while a high score signals that you're ready to take on more intense physical or mental activities.

For example, if your HRV is low and your sleep score is subpar, your Readiness Score will likely be lower, signaling that it’s a good day for rest. On the other hand, a high HRV and great sleep might mean it’s a good day to take on more physical challenges.

Daily Stress Insights

The Oura Ring also provides daily insights into how your body is responding to stressors, whether they’re physical or emotional. By tracking these daily fluctuations in stress and recovery, you can better understand your body's needs and avoid burnout. The Oura Ring encourages mindfulness and relaxation practices by showing you how stress affects your sleep and overall well-being.

Breathing Exercises for Stress Relief

The Oura Ring’s companion app also offers features like breathing exercises that can help reduce stress. These exercises guide you through deep-breathing techniques designed to calm your nervous system and improve your HRV. By incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can actively manage your stress levels and promote better overall health.  I've seen my stress level readings dip dramatically in real-time after completing a recommending breathing exercise for just 5 or 10 minutes.  The real-time feedback is quite motivating to keep stress management top of mind.

4. The Oura Ring’s Role in Long-Term Wellness

Over time, tracking sleep and stress with the Oura Ring provides valuable insights into your overall health trajectory. By observing trends in your sleep patterns and HRV, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your habits, lifestyle, and daily routines. Whether it’s adjusting your bedtime, practicing relaxation techniques, or incorporating more restorative activities into your day, the Oura Ring helps you take control of your wellness journey. In addition to sleep and stress, the ring also tracks a number of other functions such as activity levels, heart health (it can give you a measure of your cardiovascular age vs. your actual age), a resilience score, and as a female also gives you cycle insights.  

 

The Oura Ring offers a comprehensive solution for anyone looking to improve their sleep and manage stress effectively. By providing detailed sleep insights and real-time stress data, the Oura Ring empowers users to make informed decisions about their health. Whether you’re a busy professional, an athlete, or someone just looking to feel better, the Oura Ring provides the tools to understand and optimize your sleep, recovery, and stress levels. In a world where stress and poor sleep can take a toll on our well-being, the Oura Ring is a valuable ally in the pursuit of long-term health and balance. 

 

I have no affiliation with the company, but thought I would offer a review since I've been wearing my ring for about a year now, and they are having a big Black Friday sale.  You can head over to their website to get one for you or your loved ones today!  And if you need help understanding how to make lifestyle shifts to improve your data, reach out to me for functional medicine health coaching by emailing me Payal@arorawellness.com.  

Perimenopause, the transitional period before menopause, can start in your mid-30s, and with it, can bring a range of physical and emotional challenges as hormonal fluctuations affect the body. Many women seek natural ways to support their health during this phase, and certain supplements can be particularly beneficial. Below, we’ll explore the health benefits of a few of my go-to supplements for women seeking to optimize health during this important phase of life.  Specifically, we'll talk about magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and a B-complex for perimenopausal women. Read More

Prior to the summer, I had been doing a lot of research around the importance of protein in our diets.  I had become a big fan of Dr. Gabrielle Lyon's ideas of Muscle-Centric Medicine, and decided to participate in her 6-week bootcamp which included recommendations on diet, lifestyle and exercise. 

 

There were many important takeaways from this 6 weeks of learning, and below I am sharing some of the key principles of why protein is such an important part of a healthy lifestyle, especially as we age and enter the perimenopause and menopause phases of life.  

 

According to published peer-reviewed research from the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Department of Medicine, University of Southern California, "Muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. This involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength, and function is a fundamental cause of and contributor to disability in older people."1

 

Dr. Lyon says,  "As the largest organ in your body, your muscular system is your metabolic currency, your reservoir for amino acids, and it plays a vital role in fighting inflammation throughout your body."

 

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon's Muscle-Centric Medicine framework focuses on preventing and reversing this decline in muscle mass as we age. Her framework emphasizes the vital role of muscle health in overall well-being, extending beyond strength and mobility. Muscle acts as a metabolic engine, amino acid reservoir, and plays a critical role in inflammation regulation and glucose metabolism. 

 

She discusses the importance of Protein as a Cornerstone.  Protein is fundamental to all cellular functions, encompassing much more than just muscle building. It is essential for the structure, function, and regulation of all tissues and organs, including muscle. Dr. Lyon emphasizes the importance of understanding amino acids, the building blocks of protein, to build a balanced diet.

 

So how much protein should we be focusing on in our daily diets?  According to Dr. Lyon, we should all be prioritizing protein based on your ideal body weight (1 gram per pound).  This recommendation contradicts outdated government guidelines focused on a percentage of calorie intake. The 1g per ideal body weight recommendation ensures sufficient protein even in a calorie deficit.

 

Understanding this requirement for maintaining healthy muscle mass, I wondered - If I hit this protein goal, can I eat whatever else I want? The answer is definitely not.  Hitting this protein goal doesn't then allow you to eat unlimited amounts of fat, sugar, and processed junk! Not if you want to maintain a healthy body with low inflammation and optimize your healthspan.  The bootcamp helped me to instead calculate my ideal macro consumption based on my goals and calorie intake. 

 

This calculation included a Carb-to-Protein Ratio: For metabolically healthy individuals, a 1:1 carb-to-protein ratio is recommended, with a maximum of 40 grams of carbs per meal to manage insulin response. Adjustments are needed based on activity level and health conditions.  Additionally, it was suggested to fill remaining calories with healthy fats, easily achieved through regular food choices. The higher caloric density of fats compared to carbs is important to consider for volume and satiety, especially during calorie restriction (if the goal is weight-loss without sacrificing muscle mass composition).

 

It was helpful to have some quick Do's and Don'ts for Optimal Muscle Health:

 

 

If you'd like to learn more about creating a stronger, healthier body through perimenopause and beyond, reach out to me by emailing payal@arorawellness.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2804956/

I had the opportunity to attend The New Pause Conference in NYC this past weekend, run by The Well and Naomi Watts' company, Stripes.  The conference was packed with expert insights on women’s health, aging, and menopause. Read More

 Stress has a MASSIVE impact on your hormones. So let’s get into a few examples of how this impacts symptoms during perimenopause and menopause. Read More

Perimenopause can feel like a daunting transition for many women, yet understanding its intricacies can empower them to navigate this life stage with confidence. Recently, Dr. Sara Gottfried shared valuable insights on this subject in her podcast with Andrew Huberman. Their discussion touched on the importance of intergenerational health, hormonal dynamics, and lifestyle adjustments to ease the transition through perimenopause. Read More