Put Down the Perimenopause.

Your body is changing. It does not need to become your full-time job.

If you're a woman somewhere in your 40s or early 50s and you've spent any amount of time online lately, there's a good chance your algorithm has decided that perimenopause is now your entire personality.

Every scroll seems to come with another warning about what's happening, or about to happen, to your body. You're going to gain weight. You're going to lose muscle. Your cortisol is too high. Your metabolism is changing. You shouldn't be doing that kind of cardio anymore. You need more protein, more fibre, more sleep, more steps, heavier weights, less stress, creatine, supplements, Zone 2, sprint training, jump training, morning sunlight and possibly a completely different breakfast.

And listen, some of that information is genuinely useful. Perimenopause is real. Hormonal changes are real, and for some women the symptoms can have an enormous impact on sleep, energy, mood, body composition and quality of life. We're not interested in minimizing any of that.

But somewhere along the way, better education about women's health turned into an endless list of things women are apparently doing wrong.

And it's exhausting.

At a stage of life when many women are already juggling careers, kids, aging parents, relationships, finances and approximately 900 other responsibilities, we've somehow added perfectly managing perimenopause to the list.

We'd like to suggest something a little different….maybe we can put some of it down.

There are things worth paying attention to.

Getting older does change what our bodies need, and there are some things we should care about. Maintaining muscle matters. Protecting bone density matters. Cardiovascular health matters. Sleep and recovery matter. And yes, the menopause transition can affect all of those things.

But knowing that doesn't mean we need to approach our bodies with fear.

One of the most discouraging messages being served to women right now is the idea that certain changes are inevitable and there's very little we can do about them. It's hard to imagine anything less motivating than being told you're going to gain weight, lose muscle, feel exhausted and become increasingly fragile no matter what you do.

That's not a particularly helpful way to talk to women about aging, and it certainly isn't the whole story.

There is plenty we can influence. And rather than trying to do everything, we'd rather focus on a few things that have a pretty significant return.

Pick up something heavy.

Strength training is one of them. As we age, maintaining muscle mass and strength becomes increasingly important, and resistance training gives our bodies a reason to keep both. It also provides an important stimulus for our bones, supports our joints and helps preserve the strength we need for everyday life.

And none of this requires reinventing exercise because you've entered perimenopause. The foundational movements still work. Squat. Hinge. Push. Pull. Carry. Learn to do them well, load them appropriately, repeat them consistently and gradually challenge yourself as you get stronger.

We talk a lot at CHURCH about the fact that muscles don't need complexity. They need consistency. That becomes especially relevant when the internet is trying to convince you that you need an entirely new workout protocol every six weeks.

You probably don't. You need to keep moving your body and give it a reason to stay strong.

We also want you to leave the ground sometimes.

Jump training has suddenly become a hot topic in conversations about perimenopause and bone health, which can make it sound like another thing you now need to add to your already overflowing wellness checklist.

It doesn't need to be.

Appropriately programmed impact, things like hopping, jumping and landing, can be useful for bone health as we age. That doesn't mean everyone needs to start launching themselves onto a 24-inch box. It means that, when appropriate for your body, impact can have a place in a well-rounded movement practice.

At CHURCH, we don't add movements simply because they're hard or because they'll make a good Reel. There should be a reason you're doing them.

Sometimes that reason has a lot more to do with the body you want to have at 70 than the body you have at 49.

And then there's stress.

This might be our favourite contradiction in the entire perimenopause conversation.

Women are being told constantly that they need to manage their stress and regulate their nervous systems, while simultaneously being handed an increasingly impossible list of things they need to accomplish every day in order to age correctly. We're stressed about being stressed. Nervous system regulation doesn't need to become another performance metric.

Sometimes it can be as simple as putting your phone away for an hour. Taking a few slow breaths. Moving your body. Listening to music you love. Spending time in a room where you don't have to make any decisions. Lying on a mat in the dark long enough to notice that you've been holding your shoulders somewhere near your ears all day.

This is part of why we believe so strongly that fitness should be about more than what happens to your muscles. Strength matters enormously, but so does learning when to push and when to soften.

Your body needs both.

Other people matter too.

For all the attention we're paying to protein intake, supplements, sleep scores, steps and training protocols, we don't talk nearly enough about something much less sexy:
Having people.

There is something powerful about belonging somewhere. About walking into a room and seeing familiar faces. About laughing before class starts. About having someone notice you weren't there last week. About being around other people who are also just trying to take care of themselves while navigating everything else life is throwing at them.

Community isn't a replacement for medical care, good nutrition, sleep or exercise. But human connection matters to our wellbeing, and it can make consistency a whole lot easier.

You don't have to navigate every season of your life alone, or optimize your way through it.

Maybe we don't need to do more.

This is probably the least exciting perimenopause advice on the internet, but maybe that's exactly why we need it.

You don't need to do everything.

Lift weights consistently. Move your body in ways you enjoy. Include some impact when it's appropriate for you. Eat in a way that supports your body. Prioritize sleep where you can. Give yourself opportunities to actually recover. Spend time with people who make you feel good. And if symptoms are significantly affecting your quality of life, talk to a qualified healthcare professional who can help you understand, and advocate for your individual options.

Then give yourself permission to stop consuming quite so much information about everything that is supposedly wrong with you.

Because there is a strange irony in spending an hour scrolling through content about the optimal way to move, eat, breathe, sleep and manage stress when you could have spent that hour actually moving your body, eating dinner with someone you love, going outside or going to bed.

Perimenopause deserves better research, better healthcare and better conversations. Women deserve to understand what's happening in their bodies and to have access to support when they need it.

But we don't need to spend the next ten years afraid of aging.

So maybe today, put down the perimenopause.

Put down the phone. Pick up something heavy.

Take a breath. Find your people.

And keep going.