Perfectly Pl@nted
Perfectly Pl@nted
Heart Health During Perimenopause and Menopause
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In the fourth episode of our menopause series, co-hosts Vesime Schroering and Dr. Daphne Bascom dive into the critical topic of heart health during perimenopause and menopause.
As estrogen levels decline, women face an increased risk of heart disease, making it essential to understand the connection between menopause and cardiovascular health. This episode covers the key factors that influence heart health during this life stage, including cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and systemic inflammation.
Dr. Bascom shares practical tips on assessing your heart health risk, improving sleep quality, and adopting heart-healthy habits. Listeners will gain valuable insights into how movement, nutrition, and stress management can significantly impact heart health and overall well-being.
This episode is packed with actionable advice to help women navigate menopause with a proactive approach to heart health.
Links:
Thank you for listening and being part of our community. Stay well.
Perfectly Pl@nted: Planting seeds of knowledge and empowerment
Keywords: #Menopause #HeartHealth #PerfectlyPlanted #HealthyLiving #Podcast #WomensHealth #VeganLifestyle
Follow Perfectly Pl@nted on Instagram
Follow Perfectly Pl@nted on YouTube
Follow Perfectly Pl@nted on Pinterest
Menopause and Heart Health
Speaker 1Welcome to the Perfectly Planted Podcast, where we are dedicated to growing with you on your journey to a healthier, happier and more sustainable lifestyle. I'm Dr Daphne Bascom, your co-host, and superhero vegan extraordinaire Bessamay, how are you doing? It's good to see you.
Speaker 2Good to see you too, daphne. I'm doing great and really excited to round out another episode of the menopause series that we've created, where today we're really going to focus on heart health, which I know some of you may be thinking. What the heck? You know? We're talking about estrogen levels. We're women, we're not. You know our hormones are changing. What could heart health possibly be part of? And I know that I was. I had the correlation. I did not make the correlation when we first talked, and so I thought, daphne, this would be a great topic for us to cover and continue to dive into a little bit more, so that we just the key is really longevity and living our best lives.
Speaker 1I would agree lives.
Speaker 2I would agree. So listen for women. Based on the AHA study, heart disease really is a leading cause of death in women in the US specifically. So what I really want to understand is what is this link between heart disease and menopause? And maybe we could dive into that a little bit more, but let's start there.
Speaker 1Fesame, this is a very important conversation because I think that we forget that cardiovascular disease, as you said, is still the number one killer of women in the United States and the link between menopause and heart disease is largely related to our beautiful friend, estrogen. And you know she is. She is beautiful because estrogen has so many, does so many wonderful things in our body. It is protective, wonderful things in our body. It is protective, cardioprotective, when the estrogen levels are high. It is anti-inflammatory when the estrogen levels are high. It helps maintain the flexibility of blood vessels. It supports healthy cholesterol levels. But when the estrogen levels decrease during menopause, these protective effects diminish and this can increase the risk of heart disease to the point where postmenopause, the risk of heart disease for women, I mean it becomes a great equalizer. During premenopause, perimenopause, our risk of heart disease is lower than men. We start to get to that equal risk as we move into post-menopause.
Speaker 2So I guess, what are some of this, what are some things I guess I should ask, really that can strengthen our heart health as we continue to age? I know that, just to recap, from our prior episodes. We just finished an episode on muscle, muscle mass and how that's so important specifically for bone health and continuing to live our lives the way we want to live. But what about the heart health? What are some of the things that we could do to strengthen that?
Speaker 1do to strengthen that. Let me take a step back. Let's talk about heart health, strengthening our heart health, but also let me make sure that we share how to assess your risk, because Because where you are premenopause may not be where you are today. So things that can happen as estrogen decreases during our midlife transition is that your low density lipoprotein, your LDL cholesterol, can increase. So this is a public service message to everyone listening. If you haven't had your annual physical exam, you need to know your numbers, and we talk about this a lot. Know your numbers. So the reduction in estrogen can result in an increase low density lipoprotein, which is the least it can increase your LDL, which is the- Lousy oh, being lousy, I like lousy yeah.
Speaker 1It can decrease your HDL H.
Speaker 1Being healthy, you may notice that your blood pressure goes up.
Speaker 1So if you are able to have a blood pressure monitor at home, making sure that you monitor your blood pressure not just once, a sure that you monitor your blood pressure not just once a year when you go to the doctor, but measuring it intermittently at home, is a great way of understanding where you are at any point in time.
Speaker 1Estrogen also is anti-inflammatory, so we talk a lot about systemic, chronic inflammation and those declines in estrogen can result in increases in inflammation. So, having blood markers like your high sensitivity C-reactive protein, your homocysteine level, they may be things that you can monitor over time to also assess your level of total body inflammation. Other thing and we've talked about this on a prior episode is the change in body fat distribution. So, going through menopause, you may go from a pear shape to more of an apple shape, and that apple shape may also be associated with increases in your visceral fat, which, yes, is also a risk factor for not only cardiovascular disease but I would say cardiometabolic disease. So it may put you at an increased risk of type two diabetes, insulin resistance, other things that we've had conversations about and are important to your overall heart health.
Speaker 2And visceral fat is that fat around your organs.
Speaker 1Yes, visceral fat is the fat that's around your body organ, so it's not the stuff you can pinch on the outside, it's the fat that you can't see on the inside.
Speaker 1The it's best measured you can if you get a DEXA scan, a dual x-ray absorptimetry scan, which most women are familiar with from looking doing a DEXA for bone scan, but you can also do it for a body composition and you can get an estimate or a baseline of what your visceral adipose tissue is there. You can get it with an MRI, a much more expensive and less commonly used test. But if you're if you, if going through menopause, you did notice that shift from your hips to your belly, your visceral fat may have also increased. Getting back to your primary question, so that's how, how do you figure out your risk? Am I at risk? And I would say that every woman going through menopause is at risk. It's understanding what that risk, what your risk profile is, and including that on your family history and other conditions that you may be navigating.
Speaker 1To strengthen our heart as we age are all the things that we talk about in terms of the pillars. So movement is key. You need to regular exercise. Whether you're looking at the US recommendations for 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, which may seem like a lot, the key is to move, even if that movement is walking five to 10 minutes a day, but you have to move. You need to have a healthy diet, so your nutrition is key to your heart health. And food carries information so including lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains. Information so including lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains. Healthy fats are another way that you can help protect your heart health. You want to maintain a healthy weight, so if the scale is creeping up as you move through perimenopause into postmenopause, you want to find ways to either maintain a healthy weight or move towards a healthy weight if you are currently overweight or obese.
Speaker 1Meals, movement, mindset I'm going to put mindset and stress together. So stress management is key and most people don't think about it as an important part of maintaining heart health. But chronic stress can negatively impact heart health, and so mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep breathing Leif and I recently did a podcast on mindful breathing Incorporating those as part of a heart-healthy routine can be key. Sleep I can't speak enough about sleep, but making sure that you are getting adequate sleep. And then I would add in if you are using alcohols, if you're smoking, even vaping, I would revisit the importance of alcohol as part of your healthy nutrition. And if you're currently smoking, I would strongly advise you to quit smoking because it is a major risk factor for heart disease. You to quit smoking because it is a major risk factor for heart disease.
Speaker 2That was a lot. It's all very important. Daphne, I think it's still the same pillars movement, mindset, sleep, rest, recovery, stress, de-stressing your life I mean really all of the things that we've really been talking about for some time now. But associating it to you know, the heightened, heightened awareness, as within menopause, within the various stages of menopause, especially as estrogen is reduced, it just becomes much more important to manage some of these aspects of our lives, and I think, one. I want to dive in a little bit deeper with what the specific link is between heart health and sleep, because I think that people, we talk about it a lot, but I think the stress factor comes into play, especially if you're advancing in your career and or other factors. Also, alcohol plays a big factor If you are drinking alcohol or celebrating or whatnot that could impact your sleep. And so what are some of the? You know what's that link between sleep and uh and heart health?
Speaker 1That's to me. That's a great question and let's unpack a couple of things that you just said. So first, and we probably need an episode on alcohol, but alcohol does not improve your sleep and I don't know. So I would encourage you, if you are, if you don't know how much you sleep, and it's not just the quantity of your sleep but the quality of your sleep. So I wear I have two devices that I'm showing, I wear an aura ring and I also have a whoop band and they were instrumental and making me realize that I wasn't going crazy, that my sleep.
Speaker 1You go to bed, but your sleep may not be as peaceful as you think it is and even though I'm far post-menopause, I still have nights when I wake up drenched. I get out of bed, I towel off, I go back to bed. Those nights aren't the most restful nights. So I've come to better understand my sleep quality and my sleep quantity. But alcohol, if you're coming home from a hard day at work and you're de-stressing with a glass or two or three of alcohol, thinking that it will also help you sleep, it may help you fall asleep, but it does not help you get a good sleep. Quality may help you fall asleep, but it does not help you get a good sleep.
Speaker 1The quality is not there, no, so just wanted to touch on that in case I forget. So poor sleep. There are plenty of data to correlate the quality of sleep with maintaining overall cardiovascular health and it's tied to blood pressure inflammation, blood sugar regulation, reducing your risk of obesity. It's also related to making sure that you are getting the adequate recovery you need, because sleep is there for a reason, and it's funny that the menopause mastery class that I taught yesterday we actually talked about sleep and stress and the 50 to 60% of women going through menopause report sleep disturbances, and there is also a significant correlation between poor sleep and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. One other thing that came up, which was interesting just in talking to the women in yesterday's class, is the risk for obstructive sleep apnea, so it's not something we talk about frequently with women.
Speaker 1I think that, in particular, we tend to think of obstructive sleep apnea with OSA. Obstructive sleep apnea, untreated, can also increase your risk for cardiovascular disease.
Speaker 2And is that because of the lack of sleep quality, because sleep apnea is in the way? Maybe the breath, or what is it specifically?
Speaker 1It's tied to both sleep quality and then also depending on the severity of your sleep apnea, when, during those periods of apnea, your blood oxygen concentration is going down and that can negatively impact your cardiovascular health and your brain health.
Speaker 2So it's interesting because you would never correlate sleep with heart health. You know people think about it mainly like diet, weight, you know, lack of physical activity, but rarely ever sleep. So it's fascinating to learn more about that.
Speaker 1But those two. So diet and weight may also be linked to sleep. So if you think about it, the nights that you don't get a good sleep, what are you like the next day? You've got the munchies, yes. So poor eating decisions may also result from poor sleep and poor sleep habits. You may be less insulin sensitive when you're getting poor sleep than you are when you're getting adequate sleep. So I think that you're, and because the other thing that sleep impacts and I can't remember if we've touched on this in a prior episode or not your hunger hormones, your leptin, your ghrelin are impacted. There are, you know, sleep is really complex things that are going on from a hormone perspective, from a inflammatory perspective, from a body repair respective. That makes sleep very important.
Speaker 2So let's talk about some key tips to incorporate in our daily lives, and maybe we could focus in general and then specific to sleep, because I think that you've mastered a really good routine in the evenings to ensure that you know, to ensure you get a good, good rest and we talked a little bit about, you know, through the vegan gym, menopause mastery, but also specific to your podcast with Lef around mindful breathing. I mean, some of these things all must be aid in good sleep or, you know, if, as long as you're uh, um, exercising them throughout the day or right before. So let's talk about some tips, key tips that you would recommend Daphne.
Speaker 1That's the way I I think the biggest. Let's break it down into a couple, into navigatable chunks. Um, the first thing is establishing a routine, meaning having fixed times for you to go to bed and wake up and that are to the best possible. You know, to the best extent possible, that you do that seven days a week, not thinking that you can sleep, deprive yourself five days a week, and that you're going to catch up on the weekends. Yeah, that, that used to be how I thought about it, but establishing a bedtime and a wake up time really has been beneficial to my physical health and my mental health.
Speaker 1The other thing is a wind-down routine, so setting an alarm. I don't always adhere to it, but I have an alarm on my phone, that one. It shuts down my notifications at 7 pm, so I stopped getting notifications on my phone. I have a reminder at 8pm that it's time for me to start to wind down, which for me means turning down the lights. I try not to eat after 7pm in the evening because I sleep better when I don't have a significant amount of food later in the evening. Maybe it's time for some mindful breathing, maybe it's time for some tea, one thing I've been doing consistently for the past several months is that I have one of those higher dose sauna blankets and I get in there 13 minutes before I go to bed every night and usually I fall asleep in it. So I set a timer.
Speaker 1But finding some consistent way to wind down every evening, I think is very important because it prepares your body to wind down. So a good night's sleep is a combination of eating healthfully and not eating too late. Staying physically active which can help you get ready for a good night's sleep. Finding ways to de-stress during the day, whether it's mindful breathing, whether it's getting up and going for a walk. Having a clear wind down routine so that you establish boundaries in your life, for it's time for me to turn off my brain and my body and get ready for bed. Having a wake up, a fixed wake up time so that you're consistently trying to get up within you know 30 minutes or so of a consistent time every day. Those are some of the tips that I would say I would never. I would advocate for people to start to adopt.
Speaker 2And I think that these are tips to help sleep much better. But also these tips are also aiding in heart health a better heart health throughout throughout your life, throughout the days, the weeks, the years, the months. So I think that that's what's so important is that what you're doing to help have a good night's sleep which sleep is so important is also helping the overarching increase in heart health for you specifically. So I think that that's so important and I love how we link the two together and also it's almost like chain, that it's like linking of a chain. They're all linked together and they're so important. So I would also love to learn you know a little bit more about, sorry.
Speaker 2What we want to know is really what's one key takeaway that you want our listeners to understand today, and primarily in order for them to maybe make a small tweak that will essentially become a large, make a larger impact in their lives, or maybe they continue to build on that small tweak, because I think sometimes, when we think about changing, it's a lot to change at once, and making a small step is more encouraging to then make another small step to lead us to there. So what are some things that you would recommend as just something that we can incorporate, where it's not going to be such a drastic change, but more of an encouragement to make more changes. So what is? What are some things that you would recommend as just something that we can incorporate?
Speaker 1Where is it not going to be such a drastic change, but more of an encouragement to make more changes? That's me. I think the most important thing you said is that small, tiny, tiny habits, small change. So if I had to encourage our community to make one change today, I would say it would be add more plants to your plate, because nutrition is foundational for everything we're talking about your heart health is in your hands. While we're talking about menopause, we're talking about healthy aging.
Speaker 1Yes, these can increase your risk of heart disease, but if you adopt a holistic and proactive approach to your health, it can make a significant difference.
Speaker 1And you can start by looking at what you're eating every day, what you're putting in your body, because your food is fuel, your food is information and your food can be medicine, because eating more plants eating you know it can help lower blood pressure, it can help get a healthy night's sleep, it can help more phytoestrogens may help navigate some of those changes that we're experiencing as we're going through perimenopause and postmenopause.
Speaker 1So food is key and if there was one thing I would ask people to do, that would be it Embrace a lifestyle that adds more plants to your plate. I'm not asking you to take anything away. I'm asking you to add the other things you know, depending on where you are, would be movement. Regular physical activity is also key for your heart health and it's key for your sleep, and so linking those two together and it ties back into bone health, it ties back into our last episode on musculoskeletal health, which are also linked to nutrition, by the way. So movement is also going to be key and making those two positive changes. If you think about what you're putting on your plate and if you can prioritize moving every day on your plate, and if you can prioritize moving every day, you can protect your heart, but you can also protect your quality of life and make positive changes that impact your longevity.
Recap
Speaker 2I love that. No, I think that that's spot on, daphne. If we're adding more plants to our plates, you know we're going to eventually and actually sooner rather than you know later feel more energized to make that movement change, and then that movement change is going to improve our sleep, then it's going to encourage us to continue to, you know, grow and make the additional positive changes, because we'll all feel better, I think, and all of this also helps with mental health, which I know is another topic that's near and dear to our hearts. On that that we've covered in the past. Well, daphne, thank you again so much for another amazing podcast, a wealth of knowledge. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2I love that we can educate our listeners and viewers on the importance of heart health through menopause as well. I want to thank our viewers and listeners Also. If you're enjoying this podcast, please go ahead and hit the like button, send us a comment, send us a note. We would love to hear from you. If you are enjoying it, please go ahead and subscribe and share with your families and friends and loved ones, and we all appreciate you so much. Be well, everyone. Until next time we'll be together.