17/09/2026
This comes from lived experience as well as education! If you’re in perimenopause and feeling more anxious, exhausted, emotional or overwhelmed, stress may be playing a bigger role than you realise. This happened to me.
During perimenopause, oestrogen and progesterone naturally fluctuate, sometimes wildly out of sync! At the same time, your body is constantly responding to everyday stress. Your hormones help regulate cortisol (the ‘stress’ hormone) and your stress response.
When you’re under prolonged stress alongside perimenopausal hormone changes, cortisol and adrenaline remain elevated for longer periods. This can contribute to poor or disrupted sleep, increased anxiety, difficulty concentrating, low mood & palpitations
Things you previously coped with easily can suddenly feel much more difficult. Another negative of all this is that prolonged elevated cortisol leads to weight gain around the middle. Weight that can be difficult to shift (thanks cortisol, you absolute dick. My jeans barely fasten now 😭)
I was burnt out, struggling with daily tasks and waking up anxious at 2/3am and struggling to get back to sleep. I knew it was the cortisol effect and I started taking steps to rectify it.
Instead, focus on supporting your nervous system and overall health. Prioritise sleep, eat at times to promote sleep, practice good sleep hygiene, reduce caffeine after lunchtime, get a good sleep/wake routine. Use supplements to promote calm. Use apps to practice mindfulness (I use the Calm app and it’s brilliant)…..or you can come in to see me and we can formulate a plan together going through all the little positive changes you can make.
Perimenopause is a time of significant hormonal change, and stress can interact with those changes in ways that really affect how you feel physically and emotionally. Understanding what is happening is the first step towards managing it.