Surviving to Thriving | Cynthia Thurlow | TEDxTrinityBellwoodsWomen

I've taken care of thousands of patients but nothing prepared me for my own illness three years ago you see I'd always been that person that bounded out of bed at ungodly hours to go exercise and liked it I would round on my patients in the hospital in the office I would take care of my beautiful children and I truly truly lived live a charmed life what I did not know we're realized was that over time the stress of my job my exercise my diet was slowly eroding my health until one day I was so tired I couldn't get out of bed and my clinician side of my brain clicked in and thought I'm not depressed what could be going on I was so tired that I didn't have enough energy to take care of not only myself but my family my own patients I gained weight I had crazy food cravings and anyone that knows me knows that I love to eat healthy and suddenly I was craving chocolate like it was my job I couldn't sleep oh I couldn't sleep I didn't appreciate sleep enough until I didn't have it I was bloated I had no libido all the things that you don't want to have happen and I was completely stunned because I thought I'm doing everything right what am I doing wrong what is my body trying to tell me what am I not listening to and part of this TEDx is showing up it's a part of me showing up is talking about something I find embarrassing and awkward and let's be honest let's be honest no one wants to talk about forbidden topics but I'm going to talk about menopause every woman in this room if they've either gotten there or they're approaching it or it's 20 years down the road it's all something that's such a forbidden topic I want you to think about something menopause is when a woman can no longer conceive a child naturally we have technology nowadays that can sometimes make that happen and you no longer get your periods but prior to that there are five to seven years sometimes 10 where a woman is going through perimenopause a word I had never heard of before and I trained it a big research institution in the States never heard of it never had a conversation with my OBGYN my midwife no one until I went through this whole process so I want you to think about the fact that women go through this process and they come out on the other side but there's so little information there was actually this past week in a big US publication newspaper they were talking about second puberty and they were talking about how there's such little information about this time in a woman's life and people don't feel comfortable talking about it so let's get back to that story I was telling you about I went from being fit in buff to suddenly being bloated tired and grumpy with no seemingly end to what was going on with my body so let's talk a little bit about some statistics it's important to define what's going on we know the American Congress of OBGYNs estimates that 6,000 women a day that's a startling about 6,000 a day go into menopause it's over 2 million a year and yet we don't talk about it and women can begin this process of perimenopause and their late 30s and if you're in your 40s you're already there so when you think about looking back in 1900's the average life expectancy for a woman was 47 years old do you want to know why that statistic when I read it pained me because I'm 47 years old and back in 1900 that would have been the end of the line probably in 2018 it's 84 years old so what does that mean that means that 40% of a woman's life if she lives long enough we'll be in menopause 40% of her life conventional wisdom suggests this is the end I'm here to tell you it's just the beginning over 20 years of working as a nurse and a nurse practitioner I heard countless examples of women expressing concerns that weren't being readily addressed or being addressed with antidepressants sleeping pills or suggestions of therapy and I'm not suggesting that maybe there are a few of those who might have needed a few of those things however what I want everyone to understand is that we're missing opportunities with women we're missing opportunities to address these times to talk about these things so that people have the tools to be able to look forward to this point in their lives and not look at it as they're dreading it's the end of the earth you probably have had conversations or you've spoken with people or they think oh gosh this is the end of the line I don't believe and nor do i subscribe to limiting the beliefs of any kind now I'm going to let you in on all the ticks and the tray and all the tricks of the trade of how you can navigate this time in your life proactively as opposed to reactively you know I'm Western medicine trained we deal with symptoms I'm functional trained which means we look for root cause so I'm gonna let you in on all my secrets the things that I recommend that I talk to women about every single day so that you can live the best life possible I always start with food I love to talk about food who doesn't let's talk about food does anyone have any idea where digestion starts in your body it doesn't matter if I ask a five-year-old if I'm lecturing to a group of elementary school-age kids or an adult no one ever guesses it but think about it digestion starts in our brains if our brains are not actively engaged in the process of accepting food we're never going to digest it properly and this is when women really start to struggle with digestion so think about it this way how many of us stand when we're eating we eat in our cars we eat while we're working we what were yelling at her spouse our kids our parents whomever I mean we're all guilty right I encourage each of you to try this out I want you to take an opportunity take a couple deep breaths and sit undistracted don't sit in front of your computer or your TV or your phone or your tablet or you know being distracted by anything just enjoy the process of eating you have to tap into that parasympathetic the rest and repose side of our brains so so important that's the first thing to do you know in the United States we've something called the standard American diet it's not something I'm proud of to say highly processed foods there are lots of chemicals in those foods that our bodies don't know what to do with I want you to think about the quality of food that you're putting in your body and by that I mean less processed food more highly pigmented fruits and vegetables yes more color on your plate is good I want you to think about the quality of protein the best that your budget will actually allow you to enjoy ideally pastured organic meat wild-caught fish and when you're thinking about fats and fats are so important and you want to talk about guilt of many many years of telling my patients I want you to have low-fat nonfat garbage you want the real thing we don't want canola oil we don't want soybean oil we don't want cottonseed oil they're highly processed oftentimes rancid before they get to the grocery store and very inflammatory not good for us ladies inflammation equals weight gain we don't want that so think about things like grass-fed butter and ghee and nuts and seeds avocado and coconut will are all great for your body our brains like healthy fats our bodies like healthy fats that's how we build healthy form hormones that's how we cushion our joints that's how we stay satiated when we eat a meal here's a caveat carbohydrates are not all bad but quality and quantity when you are making this transition are super important super super important that is the slip-up that everyone makes a mistake with so quality of carbohydrates and quantity so quality means green leafy vegetables lots of low glycemic berries not cakes and cookies and pies and pasta and bread and yes they're delicious but that should not be the basis of our diet that gets us into trouble I want you to think about the fact that it when you consume too many of those kinds of carbohydrates they spike your blood sugar they spike your insulin they lead to insulin resistance if you consume them too frequently too often and we already you're dealing with blood sugar problems when we get towards menopause it is a given we don't maintain our blood sugar as well so good quality carbohydrates less of them we don't need a lot of carbs we need some but not a lot I want you to think about my my absolute favorite tactic that I'm going to lump into nutrition is intermittent fasting and it one ever heard of it it is a deal breaker it is the magic bullet it is why I can say it 47 I feel like I am 20 years younger than I am it is really simple there's no really wrong way to do it you eat less food because you shorten your feeding window some people do a 16 hour fast today some people do 18 hours I promise you you can survive without eating breakfast there of course people who shouldn't do this but that's a whole other topic intermittent fasting is the magic bullet think about it it is a total deal-breaker next there are specific supplements that are really fantastic even if you haven't gone into perimenopause you out are really great for balancing hormones easy things that you can integrate into your diet on a daily basis first is something called maca never heard of it maca is actually a tuber grows in the ground it's called Peruvian ginseng just absolutely amazing helps balance hormones it is great for energy it's great for PMS it's great for hot flashes and it's great for libido so when I have women who are really struggling with this it's I credited for one of those things that helps give me energy that I can use every single day it's and naturally occurring substance next are adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha rhodiola rosea those are the two best researched and studied they are helpful for energy they are helpful for reducing anxiety they are helpful for you know balancing balancing cortisol which is one of those stress hormones and they are naturally occurring things that you can consume in your diet and I think the thing to mention is every single thing I'm talking about is stuff that I'm doing and that women are doing successfully and easily sleep oh god I didn't I didn't appreciate sleep enough until I didn't have good quality sleep for a while sleep is foundational to our health I cannot overemphasize how important it is to sleep well and to prioritize it you do not get a badge of honor if you get three or four hours of sleep and brag about it all the time it is not a badge of honor it is detrimental to your health destructive and not good to do so what am I going to recommend seven eight hours a night of sleep every single night it has to be a priority cold dark room I want you to turn off your electronics I know 60 90 minutes before you go to bed why there is blue light that comes at junk light comes out of that electronic your phone your iPad your tablet your computer that disrupts secretion of a hormone in your brain called melatonin and if that off you are not going to go to about how many people get wired and tired when they're up on their computers late at night happens to me here's the one thing if you have to be on your computer cuz you're working I'm a realist you can wear blue blocking glasses to really great brands sois knees and you vex different price points work really effectively but it blunts the blue light that's coming from the electronics that can be so troublesome with sleep if you want to get even a little more crazy turn off your Wi-Fi at night I know everyone gasps I can't do that yes you can turn off your Wi-Fi we know it dis regulates cortisol in the body cortisol is one of those hormones tapped into the adrenal glands you can absolutely do it here's the another caveat not enough sleep what are you gonna crave you're not going to crave vegetables you're gonna crave junk you're gonna crave carbs and not the good kind of carbs so sleep so that you keep those cravings at bay the other thing I want you to consider is that if you don't get enough sleep good quality sleep deep sleep you will have a 40% inability 40% reduction in being able to balance your blood sugar why does that matter remember we talked about blood Sugar's not well controlled you end up dealing with insulin issues you can you can be insulin resistant you can have diabesity which is diabetes and obesity they typically go together more inflammation more adrenal stress you got to get the sleep gotta get the sleep has to be a priority and frankly what starts to happen is those of us that are middle-aged I'm going to own it on stage I'm middle-aged those of us that are middle-aged need more sleep or as much sleep as our teenagers so I have a tween and a teen I sleep probably as much if not more than they do and my body needs it and I'm gonna embrace it stress management I know one of the earlier talks we were talking about tapping into this parasympathetic rest and repose relaxation mode in our bodies this is one of the hardest things that I found I had to start prioritizing I can do a CrossFit class and I can do all sorts of crazy things and go-go-go-go but what I really struggled with was slowing down so restorative yoga tai chi Pilates bar more of that unless crazy things that are getting spiking your cortisol and getting you going the mindfulness act actions of meditation super super important we know that mindfulness meditation actually changes the structure of our brains it's called neuroplasticity I love this big nerdy word neuroplasticity we want more of that in our lives you want to cultivate the side of your brain and your body this is super important to be prioritizing you also want to think about gentle movement you know I touched on a few of those things but even putting your feet on this time of year probably not doing it in Toronto but getting your feet in the grass when the weather is a little warmer grounding work getting outside just walking very very important and last but not least just being grateful you don't have to write you know sometimes I hear people talk about gratitude journaling that's great I don't have the mindset to do that per se write down two things you're grateful for every day we all have time for that these are practices that we can all make time for that are so important for nurturing our brains and our hormones and our bodies so getting back to the original intent of talking about this showing up so coming full circle recognizing that we have to invest in ourselves you know we as women do a really great job of taking care of everyone else we did such a good job with that we don't do such a great job taking care of us as individuals so when you're sitting with your BFF and she starts to talk about how she's dreading these years of menopause the night sweats the hot flashes all of these things that sound so detrimental I want you to be able to reflect back on this talk and whether or not it's your best friend or it's your mom or it's some other loved one or loved one or person in your life you can think there are things you can be doing right now that are very proactive that can ensure that you go from not just surviving but to thriving because I think when you reflect on the fact that most women will spend 40% of their lives after menopause don't we want it to be the best that it can actually be thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 129,799

Rating: 4.8983784 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Health, Education, Mental health, Nutrition, Women

Id: Z_Li_LyPBlc

Length: 17min 56sec (1076 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 12 2019