Perimenopause Is Your Second Puberty
Trail Notes | Female Physiology
Perimenopause Is Your
second puberty.
Most of us got the memo about puberty. Very few of us got one about the second one.
The years from roughly 35 to 55 can bring significant hormonal, physical, emotional and metabolic change. For active women, it can feel confusing. You are training, eating and living the same way, yet your body responds differently.
What is actually happening
Perimenopause is not just about periods stopping. It can affect the brain, mood, sleep, gut, muscles, bones, temperature regulation, energy, recovery and the nervous system.
If you have noticed poor sleep, more fatigue, heavier recovery, brain fog, mood changes, gut shifts, hot flushes or less tolerance for hard training, you are not imagining it, and you are not weak.
You may simply be moving through a major hormonal transition that asks for a different level of support.
Not a decline, an invitation
It helps to think of this stage the way we think of puberty: as a transition, not a failure. It is a time to start caring for yourself in ways you may never have needed to before.
That means
- Strength work to protect muscle and bone
- Enough fuel and protein to recover
- Attention to sleep and stress
- A willingness to listen rather than push through
Stop tolerating feeling average
For too long, women have been told to push through, shrink, restrict or simply cope. A more useful question than how do I get rid of this symptom is what is my body trying to tell me. Symptoms are information. When you support the foundations, many of them ease as a natural side effect.
This season is not something to survive. It is a chance to build the foundations for the next 30 years of strength, energy and vitality.
a second season, not a decline
Written by the Her Trails coaching team
Trail Notes are evidence-informed coaching journals written for women who train, race and run on trails.
Go deeper inside Her Trails
In Base Camp, our session with Dr Kirstey Holland goes deep on this, and our Peri Power strength program is built for exactly this stage.
General education only, not medical advice. For significant symptoms, please see a qualified practitioner.
