Creating wellbeing habits for perimenopause
The New Year is a good time to think about habits.
Not necessarily change them, but a great time to explore what you’d like to change and see if you can lay good foundations.
Naturally, I tend to think about wellbeing habits, but it’s the same for life and business too.
Recently, I was listening to James Clear talk to Brene Brown on her podcast, Dare to Lead and it got me thinking about how important habits are to our perimenopause.
The day to day actions that add up to wellbeing, well supported physical and mental resilience, and improved hormone balance.
Habits can help (or hinder) good gut health, good brain health, good heart health, good bone health.
It can feel overwhelming if we try and ‘fix’ everything at once.
Stressful even, and we know stress is not good for perimenopause symptoms!
However, small steps make a big difference.
When you think of wellbeing, especially your long term wellbeing. It’s not the marathon you ran once in your 20s, it’s the 5k that you run every week that adds up to stronger bones, heart and muscles (it doesn’t have to be 5K, it could be a dance class, a bike ride, a swim etc etc).
When we create habits we actually reduce cognitive load - we don’t have to think about it. And that’s a good thing for a busy perimenopausal woman/
James Clear suggests that habits need to be obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying.
So, let me take the example of my cold water swimming habit.
I make it obvious by getting all of my kit ready the night before, scheduling it in my calendar and building the school run into my travel plans.
That makes it easy too - I don’t have to think about it.
I make it attractive by meeting a friend to swim with, which holds me accountable but is a great chance for a chat and a catch up (and feels safer too).
And that feeling after you get out of cold water, WOW, is that satisfying!
Cold water swimming supports my mental wellbeing and my physical wellbeing, so it’s a win-win.
One of my favourite habits to work on is hydration
So simple, but it’s one that makes a huge difference to many of my clients is drinking more water.
Make it obvious - have a glass of water by your bed to drink as soon as you get up, put a post it on the kettle to remind you to drink water while it boils for tea/coffee.
Make it easy by bringing a water bottle with you when you’re out and about.
Make it attractive by having a nice water bottle or glass, or by exploring fruit and herbs to add to your water or trying herbal teas.
Make it satisfying by noticing the lack of an afternoon slump, or better energy or digestion all day long (notice that regular trips to the loo keep your step count up too!)