Hello my friend Reader,
Can we talk about something nobody warned us about?
The anxiety. Not the regular, I have a big presentation anxiety.
The kind that shows up out of nowhere at 3 am, in the grocery store parking lot, in the middle of a perfectly fine Tuesday.
If you're somewhere in the perimenopause-to-menopause stretch and you've been wondering why does my own body feel like a stranger right now, I want you to know two things:
#1 You are not losing it. Even though I know it feels sometimes like you are.
#2 Traditional Chinese Medicine has a simple explanation for it, so don't worry if a 4,000-year-old medicine can explain what you're experiencing, you're definitely not going crazy.
In TCM, what we call menopause is a major energetic transition. The body shifts from being governed by reproductive cycles to conserving its deeper reserves.
It's not a malfunction.
It’s an evolution
And anxiety, isn't a random symptom, it's a signal that something underneath has gotten out of balance.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, your body holds a reserve called Yin, the cooling, grounding, calm you down energy.
Through our 30s and 40s, that reserve naturally goes down.
By the time we hit perimenopause, Yin can dip faster than the warming Yang energy that balances it.
The result?
Heat where there used to be calm. Hot flashes. Night sweats. And yes, that exhaustion, but feeling anxiety that loves to show up in the small hours.
This pattern has a name: Kidney Yin deficiency. And once you can name it, you can start working with it instead of feeling ambushed by it.
One thing to try this week
Eat one Yin-nourishing food a day. That's it. Pick from this list:
- Black sesame seeds (sprinkle on oatmeal or yogurt)
- Goji berries (a small handful they're sweet)
- Walnuts
- Eggs
- Bone broth or a slow-cooked stew
- Pears or berries
These foods are doing something subtle but real: rebuilding the reserve your body is asking for right now.
And if you can, ease off the things that burn through Yin: caffeine after noon, alcohol , hot spicy food, and skipped meals.
Next week I'll tell you about the second pattern that drives menopausal anxiety and why you might feel like you want to scream into a pillow over something tiny.
Oh, and by the way, screaming into a pillow isn’t a bad idea. Because when we don’t release an emotion, it becomes internalized in the organs and causes illness, pain, and inflammation.
All in good health
Jeanette xoxo
If you'd like personalized support during this stretch, herbs, acupressure, and lifestyle adjustments shaped to your specific pattern [book a consultation here]. We'll figure out where your body is and what it's asking for.