So leptin is a hormone that docks in the brain, um, specifically between 12:00 and 2:00 AM, and that actually is like the energy report card of our body. So if your brain is not getting the appropriate signal from leptin, you're gonna have an insatiable appetite, so you're gonna end up overeating. You're gonna end up having a hard time losing weight, um, because leptin is our satiety hormone.
And so that one is a really, really important one, especially when women are starting to notice metabolic changes during this time, and they are saying, "I'm doing all the things I used to do, and either I'm gaining weight or I'm not able to lose weight."
Welcome to RenewHer, a podcast for women over 50 ready to reignite their energy and explore what's next. I'm Genell Lemley, brain fitness coach. Here, you'll hear real stories from women taking on new challenges after 50, along with brain health tips to boost focus, energy, and the mindset to move forward with confidence.
Let's dive into today's episode.
Genell: Welcome back to RenewHer. Today, we're gonna be talking about hormones and brain health. Lately, there's been a lot more conversation around peri and post-menopause than there was maybe 15 years ago when I started experiencing it. It was just something that was not discussed then. So today, I'm having a conversation with Janell Yule.
I met Janell about maybe 14 years ago or so when I joined a local gym that she and her now husband, Justin, owned, and I honestly owe my transformation of losing 35 pounds, building muscle, eating better, and working out regularly, essentially changing my lifestyle, to them. So for that, I thank you. And as I was thinking about guest experts for my podcast, Janell quickly came to mind. Over the past 20 years, Janell has helped thousands of women unravel the mystery behind their symptoms, whether it's fatigue, digestive distress, weight gain, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, or a deep disconnect from themselves. I'd like to read her short bio to introduce her. So Genell is a certified functional health practitioner and mind-body health coach with advanced training in functional testing and digestive health, who helps women heal their gut, balance their hormones, and regulate their nervous systems so they can feel safe, strong, and fully alive in their bodies. She's the founder of Transformation Life and host of The Transformation Show podcast, empowering women to partner with their bodies instead of fighting against them. So welcome, Janell, I am so thrilled to have you on the RenewHer podcast.
Janell Yule: Well, thank you so much, Genell, for having me.
Genell: That's right, we're both Genells here.
Janell Yule: So, um, it is such an honor to be here because we have such a history together. It's been such an honor to witness your transformation and then see you putting this work out into the world. So thank you so much for having me.
Genell: You're welcome. Okay, so I have many questions lined up for you. So let's get started. I'd like to start with, I guess you could call them maybe a couple of foundational-type questions, and then we'll move more into some specifics.
So, we hear a lot about hot flashes, night sweats, et cetera, but a general question, is your brain affected during peri and post-menopause, and what do you attribute that to?
Janell Yule: Yeah, that's a great question, and thank you for bringing in the conversation of what women think of when they think of menopause, um, versus what is actually happening. So, the first thing I wanna do is I wanna kind of like lay down a little bit of a foundation as far as terms that I'm using, because I think this can just be confusing for women.
So perimenopause is roughly that 8 to 10-ish year transition before you hit menopause, and menopause is actually one day. So you have gone 12 months without a period. Now, mind you, that is outside of if a woman has had anything surgically done as far as an ablation or a partial hysterectomy or anything like that.
Um, so that, you know, is a little bit different of a conversation. But once you've gone that 12 months, that next day, that's menopause, and then everything after that is post-menopause. So just I, I think that's important because I think there's a lot of misconception and confusion around just the terminology.
And so here's the other thing that I am seeing in my practice, in conversations with colleagues, is that this actually transition starts in your late 30s. And a lot of women unfortunately are going to their doctors and saying, "I'm experiencing these things," and their doctors are saying, "Well, it's way too early for you to be experiencing perimenopause." It's likely not. And so that's another part of the conversation, um, that I think is really, really important.
And so the other foundational thing is hormones don't work in isolation, and, you know, this is where our Western medicine model kind of is not of service to us. Because it's like, okay, well, you're having an issue. And you go see... let's say you're having migraines, if we're, you know, talking about something to do with the brain. You go see a neurologist. They're not necessarily looking at things like hormones and gut health and how that could be playing in, because they are specified into that thing.
And so when it comes to hormones, every part of your body is affected by these chemical messengers. And so one of the big things that happens in perimenopause is that your progesterone starts to decline first, and that impacts things like your mood and your sleep
And so there's also, and I'm guessing we'll probably get into this a little bit later on in the episode, is that sometimes it's like, well, am I experiencing, you know, certain brain symptoms because my hormones, or is it because I'm experiencing insomnia and disrupted sleep, right? And then it becomes the chicken or the egg conversation.
And so that's one of the first things that happen, and so women will start to notice different things with their mood. And then estrogen starts to decline, and the thing that we wanna know about estrogen is you have estrogen receptors throughout your entire body, including your brain.
And so when this estro- when estrogen starts to decline, you may start to have things like joint issues, because estrogen is lubrication for your joint. Um, your gut microbiome changes because you have estrogen receptors throughout your gut, and your brain starts to change because you have all of these estrogen receptors, um, in your brain.
So it, it's a very, you know, like, it's a big conversation
Genell: Thank you. Yeah, for putting that into perspective. So then, and this maybe relates a little bit, cause you talked a little bit about how our hormones influence the brain, and we'll maybe talk about that a little bit more, too. But why should women over 40 or 50 be paying closer attention to all of this?
Janell Yule: Well, I think the, the short answer would be what you do in even starting in your 30s, but specifically in your 40s and your 50s and into your 60s, is going to determine your quality of life in your 60s, your 70s, and your 80s. And I think that is-- that's a big, big part of this. And so you wanna start to pay attention to the hormones because of how they affect things like sleep, because of how they affect things like mood, because of how they affect things like blood sugar.
And if we really wanna get into, you know, some of the, some of the concerns that a lot of my clients come to me with are they have family history of things like Alzheimer's or dementia, and that is not a path that they wanna go down. And especially in this, you know, I guess you can call it the sandwich generation. You know, you're experiencing, um, your children are getting older, they're becoming adults, but then you're also likely navigating and managing elderly parents, which is a conversation that I don't think is being had enough at all. Um, then you know, you are really in that place where you wanna think about how you are going to age.
And, you know, those things like dementia and Alzheimer's are known as Type 3 diabetes. So truly, it is a metabolic kind of situation that you're dealing with as these hormones start to change. And the other thing that I think is really important to bring into the conversation, because it's not being talked about enough, is as your hormones start to change, there are symptoms that are related to those hormone changes, like suicidal ideation, and that is something that is not being talked about enough in, you know, with women.
And then there is also, um, there's the gut health piece of it, um, there's, you know, the mood, the anxiety, just all of these different things. And so it is so important that you have an understanding of what's happening in your body and then what you can do about it to influence not only your current experience, but moving forward as well.
Genell: Oh, very good. It is definitely, what do I wanna say, with the sandwich generation,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: Something that needs a lot more conversation, as you mentioned. We started talking about some of the brain-related symptoms
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: brain fog and things like that. What other type of symptoms do you hear about the most?
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: Or should I say, what are the most common cognitive and emotional symptoms that you see tied to the hormonal shifts?
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so brain fog is one of them, and also, um, like I would say like memory issues. Not necessarily memory loss, but memory issues. And how I differentiate brain fog from memory issues is brain fog is that, like, you're having a hard time focusing, or you don't feel like you have the mental fortitude or capacity that maybe you once had.
Or the way that I have... fortunately, I have not experienced much of it, if at all, and if I have, it's more this like I kinda just feel like my head's in the clouds a little bit. Whereas memory issues are like I go into a room and I forget why I went in the room. Or I go to the grocery store and I didn't make a list, and I went for one thing and I ended up with five things and not the one thing.
So, you know, or, you know, you have Post-it notes. I'm looking at my Post-it notes. Like you have Post-it notes to remind you of things. Um, and then there's the, there's the mood thing. So oftentimes it's the anxiety. It's, you know, and, and that can, and it, it can also be depression. And like I said, the, the most severe piece of this is the suicidal ideation, and it is, you know, it's a big thing.
Genell: I had not heard of that previously. That's the first time I'd heard of it.
Can you expand on that a little?
Janell Yule: Yeah, so, um, like I, I for example have had friends who, you know, they, they... it's kind of like they're suffering in silence unfortunately, and when they do open up, it's like, "Yeah, I've had thoughts of like the, this, like I don't, I don't know that I wanna be here anymore." And then once they were able to get support, and specifically hormone replacement therapy, and hormone replacement therapy's a big conversation.
It's a nuanced conversation. Um, you know, I don't operate from the place that hormone replacement therapy is for everyone because there, there are some caveats around that. And, um, I think that women for a long time were being underserved or there was a huge disservice to these women because of the Women's Health Initiative, and now that has been all debunked.
Like I was actually just having this conversation with my mom yesterday. So she is 74, and she was in that generation where she hit her late 40s and a whole bunch of things happened, and nobody was equating it to her hormones, and there was no mention of hormone replacement therapy support at all.
I had a mentor that I lost, um, by suicide last year, and she was in her late 40s. And so like it is, it's a real thing. A lot of what's coming to the surface for women in perimenopause is they have been able to, I'm gonna use this word, they have been able to manage trauma, or they've been able to manage certain emotional situations for a long time. And once they no longer have that buffer with progesterone and estrogen, a lot of that, they're, they can no longer hold that trauma anymore, and there's a lot of trauma that can come up to the surface to be healed during this stage. And if there isn't support, the, you know, just depending on the situation, um, yeah, it, it can be a real thing.
Genell: So would you consider this and, like, the brain fog and all those
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: symptoms that we talked about if you wanna call it, normal? Or is it a signal that something maybe, you know, is, is out of balance?
Janell Yule: I always describe symptoms is just because something is common doesn't mean it's normal. So you get a group of women together, right? And they're talking, and they're talking about their experience and, you know, or you're, you go on social media, and if you're a woman in your 40s and your 50s and maybe even in your 60s, all your content, you're being fed all of this stuff around, you know, perimenopause and menopause.
Um, and so just because it's common doesn't necessarily mean it's normal. Now, and we're not going to be able to operate in the same way that we did when we were in our 20s and our 30s. And I don't necessarily think that is a negative thing. I think that there's a lot of wisdom, there's a lot of experience that comes when, you know, with our time on the planet.
And I think this stage in a woman's life is really truly an invitation and an opportunity if she's willing to take it, to understand her body on a deeper level and then provide support. So it's the support that the body is needing because of some of these symptoms
Genell: So sometimes you hear comments made, "Oh, you're just imagining it,"
Janell Yule: Oh,
Genell: Have you run into that with some of your clients where they're told, you're just imagining it.
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: it's, it's not happening"?
Janell Yule: Yeah.
Genell: What do you have to say to that?
Janell Yule: Well, number one, um, whoever's telling you that, especially if it's a professional, find a different professional. I mean, that's my, that's my easy answer. And, and, you know, there are some really good Western medicine, you know, practitioners and doctors out there. And there's some really not so good ones.
And so, you know, first off, if you are being dismissed, if you are being told it's all in your head, find a different practitioner, find a different person. Like, that's, that's not... It's not okay. It's just not okay.
Genell: Mm-hmm.
Janell Yule: And I think that's where it can feel really isolating when you're going through something and you don't understand what's happening.
And so I think it's really, really important for women to educate themselves. I mean, yes, like, I support my clients, and I help them be their own health advocate, and truly, we all need to be our own health advocates in today's world.
Genell: How would you suggest women study up on it, or what steps can they take, for example?
Janell Yule: So I mean, here's the good news. We don't have a lack of information coming at us. So, however you like to consume information, whether it's this podcast, whether it is audiobooks, whether it's reading books, There's a lot of really good information out there. Um, and information alone is not necessarily the only piece of this, because you need to be able to apply or integrate the information.
And in some cases, and I'm speaking to myself when I say this, more information isn't necessarily what you need. That is actually perpetuating a pattern and a cycle of keeping you stuck in this more, more, more sympathetic stress state. And it's disconnecting you from your own body.
So I think that's the other thing is, you know, maybe you go on social media or you listen to this podcast. You also need to be very discerning around the information that you're hearing and how does it apply to you. And this is where really, truly creating awareness in your own life and in your own body is really important. Because there is a lot of things, whether it is social media, whether it is biohacking devices, whether it is your Oura Ring, like you name it, that are actually you're outsourcing that awareness to.
Genell: I think it's important for women to understand really the role that hormones play. I mean, we often
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: think about estrogen,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: progesterone, but there's so much more to it than that, that you kind of alluded to at the beginning.
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: Um, would you be able to walk us through some of the key hormones that impact brain health?
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: What they are, and whether it be estrogen, progesterone, insulin, cortisol, and what they do?
Janell Yule: Yeah, so I kind of already talked a little bit about estrogen and progesterone, right? Progesterone is very much, not always, but it's very much tied to mood and sleep, and specifically with progesterone, it's tied to being able to fall asleep. Estrogen is typically tied to being able to stay asleep. Now, there are very...
There's a lot of different reasons why a woman would be experiencing insomnia and waking up at a certain time of night. It's not just estrogen, but that is one of the reasons. And when it comes to insulin, so this is one... And this is where I'm a huge advocate of getting complete lab work done, and complete lab work is not usually what your doctor's doing.
I have a labs to ask your doctor for. Some doctors will m- you know, pull those labs for a client. They can bring them back to me. Some doctors won't, and it's not that I don't... It's not that I think that the doctors are just being hard-nosed or, like, you know, like, they don't want to.
It's that they actually are handcuffed a lot of times by insurance or by the fact that if they don't have a clinical reason as to why to request a lab, then they, they can't do it. So this is where I do think that, you know, finding a practitioner, you know, somebody like myself, that can do some additional testing is really, really important. Because insulin, for example, um, it is really known as a blood sugar hormone.
And if we go back to that conversation around dementia and Alzheimer's being around type 3 diabetes, managing your blood sugar is really, really important, and I would guess that you probably talk about blood sugar a lot, Genell, as do I. And so fasted insulin, oftentimes you're going to see something that maybe is suboptimal in insulin before it's gonna show up in glucose. And so having a fasted insulin number is important, and I've seen recent, studies and research saying that a fasted insulin above six oftentimes will exacerbate perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms. So it definitely, there is a correlation there.
And then when it comes to cortisol, um, cortisol is that stress hormone. It's that hormone that is secreted by our adrenal glands, um, in response to stress. Now, cortisol is not the villain that we have thought it out to be. Um, we actually need cortisol. It's we need it in appropriate amounts, and where a lot of women are living is in that sympathetic dominance part of their nervous system.
And so their cortisol has either been chronically high, or it's been high, and now their body isn't actually producing enough cortisol. And so that can impact how we think. That can impact how we feel. That can impact our focus, our sleep, and our ability to actually regulate emotions. So, you know, um- Cortisol is a big hormone.
The other ones that we didn't necessarily... I haven't brought up yet are hormones like leptin. So leptin is a hormone that docks in the brain, um, specifically between 12 and 2:00 AM, and that actually is like the energy report card of our body. So if your brain is not getting the appropriate signal from leptin, you're gonna have an insatiable appetite. So you're gonna end up overeating. You're gonna end up having a hard time losing weight, um, because leptin is our satiety hormone. And so that one is a really, really important one, especially when women are starting to notice metabolic changes during this time, and they are saying, "I'm doing all the things I used to do, and either I'm gaining weight or I'm not able to lose weight."
So that's a really important, um, hormone in the brain, and just like you can become insulin resistant, you can actually become leptin resistant. So the brain is not getting the signal, "Hey, we have enough energy stores on board. We can let go of some of these, and we have more of a natural appetite regulator."
And then melatonin is another one. And so melatonin, you know, um, we always think of it as a sleep hormone, but really truly, melatonin is, you know, a, a really important hormone in the body, not just for sleep, but also for, um, balancing other hormones. So, I mean, that's kind of the synopsis.
Genell: Thank you. So, you know, with estrogen and progesterone, if, if needed
there's the hormone replacement therapy.
Janell Yule: Yep.
Genell: But for, like insulin, imbalances in cortisol, leptin, and,
melatonin, as you mentioned, are there different strategies that can help, if you want to say, level that out,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: balance that out a bit?
Janell Yule: Yeah. Yeah, and honestly, the biggest one, and I talk about this a lot, is your light environment, so circadian rhythm. Because melatonin is our darkness hormone, and we have more melatonin in the winter, and we have less in the summer based on the seasonality. And, you know, one of the reasons why melatonin is impacted is we live like it's a perpetual summer.
You know? We're in front of blue light. We have, you know, overhead lights on, um, and we don't really experience a lot of darkness. And vice versa, you know, when, you know, we wake up in the morning, if we don't get natural light on our eyeballs, so no sunglasses, no glasses, no contacts unless they don't block that UV light, we're actually not signaling to our brain to dim down those nighttime programs and bring up those daytime programs, um, and that has a massive impact on pretty much everything in the body. So that is a big one.
Um, and it seems, a, a lot of times when I talk about this, one of the things that I think happens is, you know, we have something in our brain called our critical faculty, right? It's like our filter, and I think a lot of people filter out this whole conversation around circadian rhythm and your light environment because it just seems like, "Oh, that can't help anything," like, "I need a supplement," or, "I need a protocol," or, "I need, you know, I need something, you know, that's harder," or, "I need something that's more tangible."
And I will tell you, this has a massive impact on hormones and brain, just everything in the body because it also impacts your sleep. And your sleep impacts your brain health so much because if you're not sleeping, right, your brain goes through a detoxification when you're sleeping.
And so if you're not sleeping, that is a big thing. Um, the other thing, especially around things like leptin and insulin and even cortisol, is really truly, um, different nutritional strategies, eating whole foods, balancing blood sugar. And it's not just about eating protein. Like we, we all can agree that we need to make sure we're eating enough protein.
Genell: Oh, thank you. That was very informative. I think that was very beneficial. Let's see. I'm trying to see what other questions I have. Okay, so the good news is, as you, as you were alluding to, we're not powerless,
Janell Yule: Right
Genell: when it comes to this.
It's important to be our own advocate. But I'll combine a couple of questions together. So, where should a woman start if she wants to support her hormones and her brain? And are there maybe everyday habits perhaps that might be unknowingly disrupting our hormones, and therefore maybe our brain health?
Janell Yule: Yeah. So I think, If a woman is still cycling and still having some kind of menstrual cycle, I think tracking her cycle is really, really important. And if she is no longer having a menstrual cycle, just creating awareness for herself. I think this is before you even seek out external support or before you start to consume information, really truly dropping in and creating awareness for yourself.
One of the most simpler ways that you can do this is to, you know, kind of do a diary. Like, what time did I go to bed? What time did I wake up? You know, not, not in a way of tracking macros, but, like, just, you know, this is what time I ate, this is roughly what I ate, this was the next time I ate. And then the most important column in that kind of diary or, like, how you're experiencing your day is how did you feel?
Whether it is your energy, whether it is your focus, whether it is your mood, whether it is, um, your digestive health. Because, you know, we haven't gotten into this and maybe after this question, if you'd like, we can dive into a little bit, like, you have a gut-brain axis, right? And a brain-gut axis, and these, you know, there's a super highway in between.
And so your gut health massively impacts your brain as well. And everything from a hormonal standpoint is starting in the brain because you have a hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis, and we talked about cortisol and how the adrenal glands secrete cortisol. You have a hypothalamus pituitary thyroid axis, and the thyroid gland can be definitely something that is impacted during this transition of hormones.
You also have an, uh, HPA ovarian, right? So hypothalamus pituitary ovarian axis, and this is where, you know, your ovaries say, "Peace out. We've done our job. We are done now," um, once you go through menopause. So I think the very, very, very first place to start is, like, really understanding what's going on in your body.
Like, what, um, symptoms are you experiencing? How do you feel on a day-to-day basis? And can you find any patterns of, oh, you know, when I start my day and I really am intentional about getting 30, maybe even 40 grams of protein, I notice that my energy and my focus through the afternoon is fantastic. We don't need to outsource that to someone else. You can create that awareness.
Um, and then, you know, there are wonderful practitioners like ourselves that people can work with and, and really, um, have somebody guide them. And finding someone who asks really good questions and who will educate you and help you to, um... Like, I always say, like, if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Right? And so really, like, teaching yourself about your body.
And again, there are numerous podcasts. I mean, you have podcast episodes on this. I have pod- I mean, there are podcasts upon podcasts. Just don't, you know, go podcast crazy. And then, um, and then if you, and if you're curious about things like blood sugar and things like that, like, that's probably another place to start because yes, hormone replacement therapy can be so helpful, and I have seen it change women's lives. And if you don't have a foundation of blood sugar and nervous system support and sleep and, you know, those kinds of things, you put hormone replacement therapy into that system, you're likely not going to get the best results.
And I think that, you know, sometimes, um, we as humans want, like, I don't want to say the quick fix, but we want the easy way, right? I've had women come to me and they're like, "But I've been taking hormone replacement therapy, and I haven't magically lost 20 pounds or sleeping through the night or..."
I'm like, "You didn't change any inputs. You just are, you know, putting hormones into a system that is dysregulated."
Genell: So let's circle back to that topic of, as you mentioned, the gut health,
Janell Yule: gut health, yeah.
Genell: yeah, the gut-brain connection.
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm
Genell: So can you talk a little bit about that, too?
Janell Yule: Yeah, so there's a, like I said, your gut typically changes during perimenopause and menopause. Um, and there's several reasons for that. One is the estrogen, and the decline in estrogen, and you have those, those estrogen receptors through the gut. The other thing, um, is that after about age 45-ish, um, your stomach acid starts to decline, and stomach acid is your first line of defense against pathogenic organisms.
So, um, you know, we are exposed to pathogenic organisms all the time. And, you know, if you have pets, you are exposed to them. If you travel, you're exposed to them. If you eat food in this world, you're exposed to them. And so if we don't have a really a- acidic environment, then we're more susceptible to those.
And so a lot of times women, as they are going through this menopausal transition, um, they're experiencing more gas, more bloating, like those kinds of things, and they're like, "I'm not changing anything that I'm eating," and it's because of this reason. So bringing in digestive support, potentially looking at the gut microbiome, what is actually happening.
And the gut microbiome, you know, shifts during this time. Um, a lot of that has to do with estrogen because you have something in your gut called your estrobolome, which is really tied to estrogen. And it can also be a time where if there's a lot of stress, then you're going to, um again, stomach acid's gonna come down, and that's gonna affect your gut lining.
So you have heard of leaky gut. I'm sure some of the listeners have heard of leaky gut, and that's where things are getting out into the system you don't want getting out. Things are getting in that you don't want getting in. And if you have leaky gut, you also likely have leaky brain because of that connection.
And so the other piece that is tied to gut health is, um, a lot of your neurotransmitters. Your serotonin, your GABA is affected by your hormones, um, dopamine, things like that. Serotonin, specifically, though, most of your serotonin is actually made in your gut. So if you're dealing with gut issues or symptoms, you're not gonna have that serotonin production.
And then also melatonin, a lot of your melatonin is also made in your gut. Um, and so then you have the vagus nerve that connects... It's like the super highway that connects those. And so, you know, if you are in that sympathetic dominant state a lot, your body isn't also prioritizing digestion. And so you, um, you know, you're maybe having more digestive symptoms, um, constipation.
You h- you have a motility issue, right? Whether it's constipation, whether it's diarrhea, or you're creating fermentation in the gas, the bloating, those kinds of things. So it definitely, um... I mean, when I'm working with somebody on gut health, we're also, we're also impacting the brain. I've had numerous clients, um, come in experiencing anxiety, brain fog, um, memory issues that were massively improved just by looking at gut health.
So they're very much tied together.
Genell: So when when should someone consider hormone testing?
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: And are there other labs or functional tests that can provide clues, um, to, to what's contributing to the symptoms?
Janell Yule: Yeah. So I think a, a really good full blood panel is important too, because then you're gonna be able to look at things like the metabolic health, right? And, and we talked about the insulin, the fasted insulin, um, the glucose, the A1... We didn't mention A1C, but A1C is tied to glucose, which A1C is roughly a three-month trailing average, we'll call it, of your blood sugar, um, versus fasted glucose is just a snapshot of that day.
Um, you know, inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein. Often C-reactive protein is, you know, more tied to cardiovascular disease, but I just look at that as overall inflammation in the body. Because, you know, one of the things around brain health is you want low inflammation in the body, 'cause if your brain is inflamed, not a great thing, right?
Genell: Right.
Janell Yule: And so making sure that you're getting a comprehensive and full panel, and again, that may require you to reach out to a functional practitioner to get that information at least. Your doctor may run that, but at least get that information. Um-
Genell: I was just gonna ask about that because at least from my experience, a,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: if you want to say a Western medical doctor
Janell Yule: Yeah.
Genell: there are many benefits to that. However, they're generally not gonna provide
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: a full blood panel.
Janell Yule: Yeah
Genell: The only way that I've been able to get one previously is through going to a functional practitioner
Janell Yule: Right.
Genell: such as yourself.
Janell Yule: Yeah
Genell: And yeah
Janell Yule: And, you know, there are other ways now. Um, you know, you can, um... There are labs that, like, you can pay out of pocket and just go to the lab. Or, um, I have had several clients do Function Health, the Function Health panel, which is a very comprehensive panel, and because of the volume that they're doing, they can bring the cost down for people. And then clients bring that to me because they get all these labs, and other than the AI-generated report, which isn't super helpful um, they don't know what to do with it.
So it... a lot of it is getting that information. So there are ways to get the, you know, to at least get comprehensive blood work done. We just need to be willing to potentially pay out of pocket a little bit. And I think, you know, unfortunately, this is just how the system is. If you really want optimal health, not, you know, tertiary care, not, you know, sick care, as I like to call it.
If you really truly want healthcare, you're probably gonna have to invest in it, just like you invest in a lot of different other things.
Genell: Hmm
Janell Yule: So and then thank you for asking about, about hormone testing, Genell. So I actually do a comprehensive hormone test. Um, it's called a DUTCH test, Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones.
Um, so it's done at home, and the thing that I really, really love about the DUTCH test is it doesn't just measure hormones. So, it does estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, um, cortisol. It does melatonin. It does DHEA. It also looks at your metabolites, and this is really important because it's not just the level of hormone in your body, it's how your body is detoxing or metabolizing that hormone as well because that gives me additional information.
And specifically, I have had women come to me who are on hormone replacement therapy, and they want to understand and make sure that their body is detoxing those excess hormones in a positive way. Um, so I think if you have gone to the doctor and you are having lots of symptoms and your doctor has said to you, "All your labs are normal," like, "I don't have anything for you," that's where you wanna start to look at some functional testing.
Um, if you're experiencing a lot of GI stuff, that's where a stool test can come into play because you can look at the gut microbiome. You can look at what's going on pathogenically. Um, and, you know, even a mineral test because I have seen, especially with anxiety, there's something on a mineral test called a calcium shell.
So calcium is actually not in the bone. It's in the tissue, and that can actually ramp, really ramp up someone's anxiety.
Genell: That's very interesting.
Janell Yule: So I, like, I love... I'm a data nerd. I love all this stuff
Genell: So as we get close to wrapping up, I
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: have three questions. One is, what's one misconception about hormones and aging that you wish more women understood?
Janell Yule: That it's not all awful and downhill and it's not all terrible. You know, I, I hear a lot of women just, like, when I am participating in circles just, like, "Oh, it's just... It's all downhill from here, and there's nothing I can do." And, and it just, it just doesn't... That doesn't feel great. Or there's a lot of, um, for lack of better words, a lot of complaining.
And here's the reality, is the transition through menopause, no woman is gonna go through life with getting out of it. It's, it's just not gonna happen. Um, it is natural. It's biological, um, and I truly, truly believe that it is a beautiful opportunity and invitation to start to do things differently. To start to support your body in a different way, to start to live in a different way, to start to work in a different way, um, to start to be in relationship in a different way.
Because as these hormonal changes are happening, what I experience with a lot of my clients is, yes, I work with them on their nutrition, I work with them on their you know, nervous system health, I work with them on their sleep. And one of the biggest things I work with them on is the patterns and behaviors and habits that they learned, likely at a very young age, that are no longer working for them because of these hormonal shifts.
So the people-pleasing, the, um, you know, saying yes to everything that they don't wanna be saying yes to, the over-functioning, the over-doing. All of that comes up, um, at this stage.
Genell: Everything is so integrated. It's amazing
Janell Yule: It, uh, yeah. The, nothing is separate.
Genell: So is there, um, anything that maybe we haven't covered that you think is important for women to know?
Janell Yule: Um, I think we've touched on it a little bit. I think the biggest thing is coming back to the nervous system,
Genell: Mm-hmm.
Janell Yule: and understanding your nervous system, and understanding stress. And understanding that it's not about getting rid of stress. It's not about getting rid of your husband.
It's not about getting rid of your kids. I mean, we are going to have stress. It's about how do you meet yourself inside of that stress? How are you able to sit with that stress rather than reaching for a lot of these unhealthy coping mechanisms that massively affect the brain, like sugar, and alcohol, and social media, and shopping, and whatever else that you are maybe reaching for.
Uh, and so these are the things that, like, we're not taught about our nervous system. Like, no one is teaching you these. And, and, and here's what I will also say is it's not always about regulation and calm. You know, nervous system work is about being able to be in activation and being like, "Okay, I'm experiencing overwhelm right now, and I have a choice on how I do this and how I support myself," versus thinking there's something wrong with me because I'm experiencing overwhelm.
You're experiencing overwhelm because you've got all these plates spinning in the air, and of course you would experience overwhelm. And so I think a lot of times there can be a lot of shame that comes up at this stage in life around not, you know, quote-unquote, "being able to keep up" or do what we used to be able to do or look the way we used to be able to look.
And so, um, I really think that that mental and emotional piece with the nervous system is just-- it's massive.
Genell: So do you find that you spend quite a bit of time with your clients on that piece of it?
Janell Yule: Yeah, because the reality is, is you've gotta stabilize the nervous system before you can really, um, ask someone to create a lot of transformation. A lot of times women come to me and they're saying to me, "I am doing all the things and it's not working." And so we really work on what actually matters for you, because part of the reason why it may not be working, and a lot of times I will say that they're, what they're looking for as far as a result often is weight loss.
And, and so it's like, "I'm doing all these things and I'm not losing weight." And it's because you're doing all of these things, perpetuating a stress response, and your body is like, "This is a threat. I'm not doing that. This is a threat." Or they want to do certain things, whether it is lift weights or have more movement or make different nutritional changes, and if their nervous system perceives that that's a threat, it doesn't matter how much they want or, or what strategy I give them, it doesn't matter.
So really, like, working on that foundation of awareness with your nervous system, and really it's like learning to, um, speak the language of your body. That's what your nervous system is doing, right? That's what symptoms-- symptoms are truly communication that your body's asking for something different.
It's asking for more support
Genell: Finally, if there's one message you'd like women in peri- and post-menopause to walk away with today, if you haven't already touched on it, what would be?
Janell Yule: I think I've mostly touched on it.
Genell: Okay
Janell Yule: I mean, really it's truly that your body's not broken. You're not failing. You're not, you know, you don't lack willpower. Like all of these stories that women get wrapped up in, it's simply a time where your body, your nervous system, therefore your brain, is asking you to take care of it differently.
Genell: I think you offer such, if you want to say, encouragement and support for women- Yeah ... who are going through it, because until you've gone through it, like,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: I wish I would've known you.
Janell Yule: Yeah. And, and I mean, I'll be honest with you, like, yes, I've been in, you know, the health and fitness world for 20 years, and there are times where I look back and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this was what women..." 'Cause, 'cause we haven't... I mean, it's really been... I mean, even back in 2022, I think, was the first, like, perimenopause webinar that I did when I was really starting to get into this.
Um, and I was even a little early to the conversation in that sense. It's really only been the last couple years, and I think it was 2023 maybe where the whole women's health initiative thing kind of blew, like, got debunked, right? Um, and so after that, then the conversation really shifted. And as a woman who's 44, like, I'm barely dipping my toe into this transition, and I'm starting to notice certain things.
And I have said to, you know, my mom, or my friends, or my husband, like, if I didn't know what I know, I would be going to the doctor and expressing these things, and likely I would be being offered, you know, anti-anxiety medication or an antidepressant. Or s- And, and I'm not saying that those things are not warranted, because I know women in this stage of life where an SSRI has absolutely, you know, been also very supportive along with all these other foundations.
It's just that, that, that's not where the conversation needs to end.
Genell: I think it, it's just knowing... I mean, well, knowledge is wealth,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm. Yeah
Genell: You know? I, I just think, I look back and wish I would've known a lot of this
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: at, at the time.
Janell Yule: Right.
Genell: Um,
Janell Yule: I wish I would've known a lot of this for you at the time.
Genell: So again, so I wanna thank you for sharing, as I just mentioned, your wealth of knowledge, and helping us better understand hormones, peri- and post-menopause, their effects on our brain, what's going on with our body,
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: and that it's not, if you wanna say, like, need, it doesn't need to be this, what should I say, awful part of your life.
Janell Yule: Well, yeah, it's not a life sentence.
Yeah. Like, it's not a life sentence. I think, I think there's just this whole like, "Oh, it's so ter-," like, and I really, I don't think that's serving women.
Genell: So I want to mention, too ,that I will provide Genell's contact information in the show notes, but if someone wants to connect with you, what is, what would you say is the best way to do so? And maybe mention your Hormone Harmony Method in
Janell Yule: Mm-hmm.
Genell: case someone might be interested.
Janell Yule: Yeah, so the best way to connect with me, um, on social media would be I hang out on Instagram the most, so that is thetransformationlife, all lowercase. Uh, my podcast, The Transformation Show, so I've got a lot of different, you know, hormonal type podcasts. It's like, a, a lot of times people are intrigued by the leptin conversation, especially if metabolic health and weight loss is something that, you know, they are desiring.
So I have a whole episode on leptin, so go over and check that out. You can watch it on YouTube. It's on Spotify- all, all the places. Uh, so The Transformation Show, and then my home page gives you all the different information around functional testing, my hormone program, um, getting on my free newsletter, all of that.
So that's thetransformationlife.com. So Transformation Life, Transformation Show, that's how you can find me
Genell: So whether you're dealing with fatigue, weight gain, hormonal balances, digestive issues, maybe an autoimmune condition, or just, I know she deals a lot with women too on being a harsh inner critic
Janell Yule: Hmm.
Genell: of themselves. Janell wants you to know that you don't have to figure it out, and her coaching and, and programs are designed to get to that root cause so that you can, as she puts it, feel at home in your body and confident in your life. Thanks again so much, Janell.,
Janell Yule: Of course.
Genell: And thank you to all of you for tuning in for this podcast about hormones and brain health.
Janell Yule: Thanks so much, Genell
Genell: You're welcome. Thanks
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