B-UNTETHERED

{ WOMAN ON THE RISE{ B-UNTETHERED } } MAXIMIZE MIDLIFE AND BEYOND

I’m at 17k feet of elevation, somewhere in the Himalayas. My feet feel like they have glass shards in them. I am freezing and exhausted. I’ve been hiking for 12 hours, carrying 30 lbs in a 40% reduced-oxygen atmosphere, which has wreaked havoc on my ability to reason.

I’m alone. Its dark and there are local bandits passing me in open-air jeeps hooting and cat calling, on the singletrack path I am traveling.

This is a part of my midlife transition. You may not know me, but hopefully we’ll become friends over the next several months, as we share science, new learnings and stories from our collective Midlife Transitions via a monthly column entitled Midlife Transition: Mind, Body and Soul.

Mine began in 2014 when both parents passed away, I divorced and sold a business all within 8 months. I was 47 years old at the time. I then made an uncharacteristic decision to spend 4-years traveling the world with a former UK pro-cyclist, climbing mountains, cycling volcanoes, competing in endurance races and living in airbnbs, RVs and tents.

My life took a 180-degree turn.

But this is not unusual, per research. Midlife change is real. A recent Harvard study concluded that midlife transition is “inevitable.”. We will all go through some form of this.

BY ANISSA BUCKLEY

The simple version is that we will re-evaluate our values and purpose. Kids leave, our marriage changes, we take on more in our careers and the list goes on. At some point, we begin to question whether we are we on track with what we want? Life looks shorter and we begin to care about how (or if) we will be remembered. But also physically, we notice changes. This mortality thing isn’t a joke. Our bodies (and our brains) are changing and there doesn’t seem to be a manual for handling it. Or better yet…reversing it.

The good news is that finally, we have science-backed findings to help us understand how and why hormonal changes impact our thoughts, feelings and actions and what we can do about it.

START WITH PHYSICAL.

Estrogen is a key component to muscle retention, blood sugar control and even cortisol management (stress hormones). When you no longer have Estrogen in your body, your body composition changes, blood sugar can get out of control, joint pain escalates and more. Fortunately, recent science has identified several actions we can take to reduce the impact of these changes – and they’re all small changes that we can make in our daily lives. Another key learning is that hormone depletion begins at least 5 years prior to menopause. This means that by the time you actually go through menopause (avg age 52), you have already realized most of your change. Said another way, if you’re in your mid-40s, you are at the prime age to begin making small changes to help reduce menopausal symptoms and improve your aging process.

COGNITIVE. During my life, I have worked for multiple large companies, run national marketing campaigns and started 2 of my own companies. A few years ago, I noticed that I could not stay focused on any particular task. Things that used to consume me for hours, now, couldn’t hold my attention for 15 minutes. This messed with my ego a bit, as I was used to tackling issues and moving on. Now, I couldn’t seem to move my brain from A to B to C. I actually wondered whether I had dementia? There’s much to share on this topic, over the next few months, as we now know that Estrogen is responsible for brain tissue health. History has us believe that there is nothing we could do about brain decline. That is simply not true. In fact, there is much you can do to help reduce the feelings of “brain fog” that many midlife women talk about.

AND SOUL. Were you aware that midlife women between 40-59 yrs have the highest rate of depression over all other segments of society? Scientists believe that this is partly linked to our declining hormone levels. But current studies show us that we can take several steps to boost our happiness. One step is to re-evaluate our key values and priorities, and setting goals for our future self. This helps us feel less out-of-control of

“Were you aware that midlife women between 40-59 yrs have the highest rate of depression over all other segments of society?”

our lives. Also, certain supplements (adaptogens) have proven to be as effective as their pharmaceutical sisters in reducing depression.

So stay with us as we begin to share key learnings for Maximizing Midlife transition. We will also be holding a free webinar entitled “Midlife Intervention” on August 19th and September 9th highlighting insights on what midlife is all about and steps you can take to ensure you are managing your transition the absolute best you can! You can register at www.b-untethered.com.

See you next month and until then – Just B.U.

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