By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Today’s article is more about perimenopause, and especially the unusual symptoms beyond irregular periods and hot flashes. Perimenopause is the period of time when your hormones, especially estrogen levels start to fluctuate, which can last up to 10 years before menopause. What this means is that you may begin to …
What’s your perimenopause type?
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Let’s talk. Hormone changes in the 40’s and 50’s affect everything from mood to energy, and also weight, cognition, bone density, cardiovascular health, and athletic performance. This is also an essential time to reverse disease processes that are starting to become evident as we age, and get the foundations in place …
Coping with Prolonged High Stress
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND It certainly has been a challenging couple of years, with ongoing stresses living through the pandemic. I find it interesting that everyone I speak to has had different stresses, but it does seem that almost universally, the load of stress has been significantly higher than it was previously. We are very good at …
Are you close to Burnout?
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND It’s typical to feel the impacts of stress after the stress is over, or when you finally let go and begin to relax. Think about getting sick after final exams in university, or the flu that hits over Christmas holidays. After this incredibly challenging year and a half, I am hearing from many women overwhelmed, …
Exercise and Training – Tips for Women in your 40’s and 50’s
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND As many of you know, I am an avid runner and in the past couple of years have been learning more and more about how training needs to change once we reach our mid-40’s or ‘perimenopause’ years, and extending through post-menopause. If you exercise or train regularly, you may have noticed some of these changes too, such …
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My favourite sleep tips to rest, recover and repair
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Sleep issues come up in my discussions with patients very frequently, and sleep is one of the most important health foundations for optimal health, and also to heal from any health issue. I will admit that there are cases where it is difficult to completely fix sleep struggles, as with menopause, concussion and chronic …
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Metabolic stress: why your hormone imbalance may be caused by over-exercising and under-fueling
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I’m writing this article because it’s a pattern I see quite regularly, where exercise or nutrition habits are taken too far, and then some type of hormone imbalance develops. This is usually more subtle than an overt eating disorder, where the imbalance of caloric intake and energy burned is more extreme. There can be too …
10 Common Mistakes in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hormone Issues
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND The majority of my practice focuses on hormonal health - ranging from issues at puberty, with fertility, thyroid disorders, PCOS, endometriosis, irregular periods, perimenopause and menopause. I wanted to explain some of the common pitfalls in treating hormonal issues which can save a lot of time in assessment and …
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Your period is trying to tell you something
This article is inspired by a colleague, Lara Briden, ND in New Zealand. The quote above is from Lara, and I really love the idea of looking at the period as a way to learn about your overall health. What is your period trying to tell you? What is a normal period? Let's begin with what is considered normal for periods. Here are some useful …
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