What to Do in Your 40s So Your 50s Don’t Suck: Preparing for a Smooth Menopause Transition

As we move through our 40s and into our 50s, something significant happens: our ovaries begin to slow down their estrogen production. Around menopause (usually in your early 50s), your ovaries say, "Okay, I’m done. I’ve been producing estrogen for 40 years, and it’s time for a break." Your ovaries, once the size of an almond, shrivel up and essentially retire. No more estrogen from them.

So, where do we get our estrogen now? This is where the adrenal glands come back into the picture. Before puberty, it was your adrenal glands making estrogen from testosterone, which is what made you a little girl and not a little boy. Once your ovaries took over, the adrenals got a break. Now that your ovaries are stepping down, it's up to the adrenal glands to start producing estrogen again. But there’s a catch...

After 40 years of not making much estrogen, your adrenals aren’t always thrilled about stepping back in. They’re busy—very busy. Caffeine, sugar, stress, fragrances, intense exercise—they all make the adrenals work overtime producing adrenaline. So when menopause hits, and your body asks the adrenals to start producing estrogen again, they often say, "No way! I’m too busy dealing with all this other stuff!" This is why so many women experience hot flashes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, and other symptoms of menopause.

The good news? You can help your adrenal glands out, but it’s going to take some effort. If you want to sail through menopause without all the discomfort, you need to start supporting your adrenals now.

How to Support Your Adrenals for a Smooth Transition

Cut the Caffeine and Sugar:

These are major adrenal stressors. If you can start reducing or eliminating them now, your adrenals will thank you. The less they have to deal with adrenaline production, the more they can focus on making estrogen when the time comes.

Cut Out the Fragrances

This one’s huge. Fragrances are everywhere, and they can wreak havoc on your adrenal glands. The synthetic chemicals in perfumes, scented lotions, soaps, and even laundry detergents are a constant stressor on your system. To give your adrenals a break, it’s time to go unscented. That means switching out all your soaps, body gels, cleaning products, lotions, and laundry detergents for unscented versions. The fewer artificial fragrances you expose your body to, the better chance your adrenal glands have to recover and function properly. You’d be amazed at how much calmer your system feels when you’re not being bombarded by synthetic scents all day.

Don’t Overdo the Exercise

While staying active is important, overdoing it with high-intensity workouts can also stress the adrenals. Balance is key here—find a routine that keeps you healthy without pushing your adrenals into overdrive. During your workouts, aim to keep your heart rate below 180 minus your age. For example, at 42 years old, you should keep your heart rate under 138 beats per minute. This helps prevent the release of excess stress hormones during exercise.

Think back to when we were little girls. Before we went through puberty, our adrenals were doing most of the estrogen production. The pituitary gland was orchestrating the whole thing. As we hit puberty, the ovaries took over, and our bodies adjusted. Now, as we approach menopause, it’s time for the adrenals to step back up. It’s a natural cycle, but in our modern world, we’ve put so much extra stress on our adrenals that they need some extra help to get back on track.

What Happens If You Don’t Support Your Adrenals

If your adrenals are too tired or stressed to make enough estrogen, you’ll start feeling those classic menopausal symptoms. Hot flashes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, migraines, depression—you name it. It all comes down to tired adrenals not being able to take on the responsibility of estrogen production.

Here’s the amazing part: your adrenal glands can regenerate! Even if you’ve been living on coffee and sugar for years, your adrenals can bounce back. But it’s going to take time—at least three months to start seeing real improvement, and up to 18-24 months for full recovery in some cases. But the good news is, no matter your age or current health, your adrenals can heal. Even women in their 70s and 80s can find relief from hot flashes and other menopause symptoms by starting to support their adrenal health.

You can go through menopause without all the unpleasant symptoms, but it requires preparing now. Start by cutting out the things that stress your adrenals and focus on nourishing your body with healthy foods, like beans, which help remove excess waste from your body. It’s a simple yet powerful way to take control of this next phase of life.

Eat More Beans

Now, let’s talk about beans. Beans are loaded with soluble fiber, which plays a critical role in helping your body get rid of excess hormones, like adrenaline. The soluble fiber in beans binds to these excess hormones in your intestinal tract (which are packaged in the bile) and ensures they’re eliminated in the toilet instead of being recycled through the enterohepatic circulation system. This system recycles bile at a rate of 95%, and since bile is where the liver packages hormones like adrenaline for removal, eating beans helps keep your system running smoothly.

Ideally, you should aim to eat about ½ cup of beans with all three meals each day. By doing this, you support your body in regularly excreting those excess hormones as they present themselves in your gut. It’s a simple but powerful way to help your adrenal glands function better and keep your hormone balance in check.

So, let’s get started now, in our 40s, so that by the time we hit menopause, we can sail through it with ease. We owe it to ourselves to support our bodies in the incredible work they do. And remember, it’s never too late to start. Whether you’re 40, 50, or beyond, your body has the wisdom to heal and thrive—you just have to give it the support it needs.

P.S. for the guys: There's likely a special woman in your life who will go through menopause, too. Your support, understanding, and helping to reduce stress can make all the difference as we navigate this transition. Trust me, we notice and appreciate it!