Dr. Mindy Pelz, functional medicine expert, discusses all things hormones. She shares how a woman’s cycle may impact sleep and other aspects of their life, as well as how women can adjust their lifestyle according to their cycle to optimize personal wellbeing.
SHOW NOTES
💬 How women can work with their cycles
💬 How did Dr. Mindy Pelz fall into this area and how hormones can affect sleep
💬 Dr. Mindy Pelz’s map based on a woman’s cycle and how lifestyle should differ based on this map
💬 How it empowers women to have this knowledge about their cycle
💬 Relationship between full moon and ovulation
💬 How can women navigate menopause naturally
💬 How fasting can be powerful for women and how it can help with hormonal issues
💬 Adrenal gland fatigue and hormetic stress
GUEST BIO
Dr. Mindy Pelz, D.C is a best selling author, keynote speaker, nutrition and functional medicine expert who has spent over two decades helping thousands of people successfully reclaim their health. She is a recognized leader in the alternative health field and a pioneer in the fasting movement, teaching the principles of a fasting lifestyle, diet variation, detox, hormones, and more. Her popular YouTube channel combines the latest science with practical lifestyle tools every person can use to reset their health. She is the host of one of the leading science podcasts, The Resetter Podcast, and the author of three best-selling books; The Menopause Reset, The Reset Factor, and The Reset Kitchen.
Mollie McGlocklin
0:00
and welcome to the sleep is a skill podcast. I am very, very excited to have my guests here today. Uh, Mindy, Dr. Mindy, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Um, and I'm happy to, you know, go deeper with you. I know we had an opportunity to connect at, um, uh, biohacking Congress earlier this year and was blown away with your content, uh, and certainly had been aware of some of the work that you've been doing, but just to see you speaking live and to see the passion so palpable up there on the stage, uh, I am just elated to get an opportunity to speak with you more. So thank you.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 0:41
Oh, thanks for having me. And like I said, I mean, if we can chat about sleep, I'm like become like obsessed with it. And I have, I have like a long list of hacks and have been working for my menopausal body. So I I'm just excited to be here. Yes.
Mollie McGlocklin 0:57
Oh, I'm love to hear that. I know we were chatting before we hit record and you were saying how you're really stepping into this, uh, element of like what's possible in mastering sleep. And I know you've got tons of things to share. Um, and I was also sharing with you too, before we hit record of one of the things I thought was really one of my favorite honestly, takeaways out of biohacking. Congress was one of the things you said on a panel where you mentioned, um, how a reframe for, for women and our cycles and what can be possible if we work in alignment with our cycles of this ability to almost have this built-in sort of system or map, if you will, of how to really lean into different times to ebb and flow of, uh, you know, when to fast, when to take it easy when to eat certain things when to, um, you know, incorporate certain types of workouts, all of these things that I think many of us might not be aware of. So I'd love to, uh, turn the spotlight on to you a bit to hear how you became such, um, so knowledgeable in this area, uh, and how this can relate to sleep.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 2:02
Yeah. You know, what's really interesting is that I think that I never fully appreciated my hormones until they started to go away. So it was like, they were just there, you know, when we get pregnant, I think we had at sort of our experience of like what that feels like we went through puberty, there were waves, but when I hit 40, I really started to see the effects of my hormones coming and going and very unusual patterns and, uh, in an attempt to solve my own hormonal issue, I I'm, I personally like a personal value system for me is to solve as many problems with my health as I can through lifestyle. I, I'm not a fan of like, I definitely, I haven't taken a medication since I was 20. I am not a fan of what I call the magic mushroom, where we just start throwing all these random supplements and hope that one of them sticks. Although I do think supplements are great. I'm just not a fan of that being solution. So when I started getting hot flashes and not sleeping and feeling depressed and putting on a little bit of weight and energy crashes, I really went looking for what was the solution. And in that, that, that discovery, which was so fascinating, I got reconnected to my cycle and I started to really analyze all the hormones that were coming and going in a 30 day period. Now, the funny part about this story is that my cycle was disappearing. So, but yet I was charting it. I was analyzing like, well, when does estrogen come in and what does estrogen need me to do? And when does testosterone come in and how can I make testosterone more efficient in my body? And why do I need progesterone? And I started to look at all of this and I, and I walked, I came out of my own desire to solve my own health problems and realized, oh my God, as women, we should not be eating the same. We should not be fasting the same. We should not be exercising the same at every single day of our cycle. We have different needs with, because we have different hormones. And once I figured out how to eat, how to fast, how to exercise in accordance with my cycle, like my hormonal health was better than ever. And then I started thinking, why aren't we teaching this women to women? Why aren't we discussing this? Why is this like, this is so obvious when you look at it, why have we never had this conversation before? So that's kinda where my journey started. I love
Mollie McGlocklin 4:32
That. And I love how you share of your own story and how that kind of motivated this, going down the rabbit hole on this topic and learning so much about it and really solving, um, and making a difference with your own struggles. And then now so many other women as well. Um, and, you know, I can share from my own experience, there was a period before, you know, some part of my stories. I went through my own period of insomnia and that's what birthed, you know, the sleep is a skill. Uh, but before going through that period of insomnia, I had this outlook that, uh, you just want to, you know, kind of put the pedal to the metal and, uh, you know, this concept of like, oh, well, don't baby yourself. Oh, just because it's a particular time of the month. Like, that's just, you know, you gotta be your word and let's do this. And you know, this type of ethos and clearly that didn't work so well for me. Right.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 5:24
So, you know, it's, you know, what's so interesting is that like sleep navigating menopause, both of those have two commonalities. You can't muscle your way through it. Yes. And so those of us that have been type a, like, let me just do a little bit more, let me just push myself a little bit harder women. We are not biologically made to push at any time of our life. So whenever we approach anything from that pushing standpoint, our hormones suffer. And that is, that was my, another really big aha because I was a competitive athlete. I played on a tennis scholarship in college. I was always under the impression that I could outwork anybody. I could out exercise anybody. But then when I hit menopause, I realized, no, this is not a moment to push. This is actually a moment to understand myself and to actually do the opposite, to kind of ease up a little bit. And that's another thing that I think, you know, I, I have this picture of Rosie, the Riveter in my kitchen and I would, I would pass and I'd look at her one day. I remember looking at her and going, I don't, I don't know, Rosie. I'm not sure we're supposed to do it all. And I'm like the total feminist, I'm like the one who's like, I'm the primary breadwinner of my family. Like you, I, I believe women can accomplish anything yet. Our physiology tells us we have to take breaks. We have to eat different. We have to rest at certain times of our cycle and we're not being taught this. Hm.
Mollie McGlocklin 6:55
Yeah. Even as you share that, I feel like there's like a, um, nervous system. Like, ah, just even hearing the reminder that yes, this is important. And to have that built in and to be aware of that and that that's okay. We don't have to make ourselves wrong. So even just from that philosophy, I think is so important. Um, and you have a bit of a kind of map that you've created for people. I'm wondering if you can kind of walk us through what that looks like and how, um, you know, we can be, uh, use that to fuel some of our decision-making on what we're taking on and whatnot.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 7:27
Yeah. So what I did is I took an, and I would encourage any woman that's listening, just Google a woman's monthly cycle, and it's very linear. So you'll see that there's there's times that our hormones are peaking and there's times that our hormones are dipping. So the first thing to understand is that in those dips, we can do something different than in the peak. So then what we did is we took that and we created a circle. So it was like, and I'm just, I just use 30 days, you know, this is the other confusing thing is that some women have 24 day cycles. Other women have 34 day cycles. So what we did is we took it and put it into a circle. And then I decided, you know, you hear a lot of women talk about the, you know, the luteal phase, the follicular phase, it's, it's really boring. So I'm like, let's just name it for what it is. And so I created a different languaging around it. And basically the first part of our cycle day one through day 10 is what I call a power of phase. When I go into the oscillation phase, which is day 11 to day 15, I call that the manifestation phase. And I'll, I'll explain why. And then when you come out of that observation, your hormones are low. Again, this is a power phase, another power phase. And then the week before our cycle, about day 20 is what I call nurture phase. And the reason I gave it, that name is because we need to nurture ourselves. At that point, we need to slow down. That's a really pivotal time that week before our cycle. So then when I looked at these different hormones, I started to figure out, okay, what are the, what are the hormonal needs? So if you look at estrogen, estrogen is coming in really strong from day one to day 10, and estrogen needs you to be insulin sensitive. So those of you that do keto, those of you that fast, like go to town from the day, your period starts till day 10. You can do as much as you want. Now I will, I have women say, but I don't feel like doing anything on day one. But if you follow this fasting circle, you will be amazed at when day one happens. You're like, oh, I feel so much better. You don't feel worse. The only reason you feel worse is because you didn't mind that week before your cycle, you didn't pay attention to what progesterone needed. So on day one to day 10, we do keto. We do fasting. If you want to run a marathon, you can run a marathon. That's why it's called the power phase. Once you hit days, you know, 11 now your body's obsoleting. Some women it'll be day 15, that shall opulate. But that little five day window, you've got estrogen at its highest. And you've got testosterone at its highest. So this is when you, you know, estrogen is the hormone that improves language for us. So we're great conversationalists when estrogen is high, we're really good at multitasking. When estrogen is high, our hair looks great. Our skin looks great. We're quite beautiful. And estrogen is at its at its height. So anything you need to do that requires beauty language, uh, that's a good time to do it. You've also got testosterone and testosterone is your motivation and it's your drive. So I always say, if you want to ask for a raise, if you have something really difficult, you need to talk to somebody about, um, if you're gonna, you know, go on a big speaking stage, do it when you're ovulating, because you are powerful. That's why we call it manifestation. And you can, you can, you know, we don't want you to work out a ton at this time. I recommend intermittent fasting. At this point. I don't recommend a longer, fast. Um, I really think you should focus on your microbiome at this moment because all these hormones need to be broken down by the microbiome. You could do more weightlifting. You have, you have so much testosterone in you at that time that if you want to build muscle that little five day, window's a great time to build muscle. So, and then when we come out of that, we have another five days about day 16 to 19, where I call that a power phase. It's very much like the first one you can do more keto. You can do more restriction. You can do more fasting. And then the last phase starts about day 20. And this is the nurture phase, and this is where everything has to change. So you got your workouts need to be yoga and, and, um, walking in nature. Um, if you have a good rhythm with your workouts, great, um, but this would not be the time to start training for a marathon or to push yourself. Uh, progesterone is very vulnerable to, to cortisol. So we want to keep cortisol low. So you don't go into a long, fast. In fact, I don't even recommend you fast during this time. You want to, you don't want to be in ketosis. So more foods like tropical fruits, citrus, fruits, beans, potatoes, squashes, these will feed PEs, uh, progesterone. You don't want to be staying up till two in the morning. You've really got to mind your sleep during that time. And then if you do that once your cycle starts, you'll feel good again, like day one starts over and the whole cycle starts again. Yeah.
Mollie McGlocklin 12:41
Yes, I I'm. So I'm so well, one, thank you so much for taking the time to, you know, work those out or just taking tons of notes. And two, I love what you're pointing to around day one through 10 in particular. And that's one of the things we see too, is, um, sleep is a skill. Everyone we work with, uh, as of 2021, uh, are all wearing the aura ring. And so every single person they get to see, um, so for women that are menstruating age, they can see some of these measurable effects of the changes in their body temperature and their HRV. And I think one of the things, once we start getting more of these dialed in, it can be really, uh, such a new way of relating to our cycle and our in our period in particular, because what you're saying is so true, that's what eventually often women, um, shift to is like, they're excited for their period in a new way that right now suddenly, oh my God, our HRV went up, our heart rate went down, everything, you know, like really measurably shifted, any temperature, went down, there's all kinds of things. Um, so that it can really be a power phase where it's so much of the there's there seems to be this misnomer that that's the period where you really baby yourself, but not baby yourself, but where you really, right?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 13:56
Yes. It's a total misnomer. Everybody's like, oh, you know, it's like the red tent theory, like, oh, you're bleeding, go, go chill out. But actually it's only because you didn't manage that week before. Right? You, the, your hormones are at their lowest. And honestly, if you do the, the circle the way I just explained it, when your period starts, you'll be like, okay, I feel normal now. I feel good. And you won't, you won't. And the other weird part for the fasting world is that you actually will feel like fasting on day one. But when I get women that are like, I'm struggling to fast, and I always ask them, what day is your cycle? And they're like, oh, I dunno. It's like, it's like day, you know, 22. And I'm like, yeah, I struggled to fast on day 22 as well because your body wants you to bring up glucose. It doesn't want you to fast. Yes.
Mollie McGlocklin 14:45
Yes. That's so helpful. And I think also for the sleep conversation, so, and we can certainly speak to of your, I know you've got tons of information on there. Um, but I think even that alone, that reframe can be so powerful for women of, um, almost the awareness that, that area, that time is so important to nurture and to prioritize sleep, because it is so common to have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, all of those things. So one to know that we're not alone, we can pay this area, but then take care of it accordingly. Um, and so from that place, do you find that that's an empowering place for women to be able to, um, almost have the heads up to take care of themselves during that period versus like, oh no. Now I have insomnia. Now it's a snowball effect. And with question marks as to why.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 15:34
Yeah. I think it's a total empowerment to know that when our hormones are coming and going, they are a giving us superpowers, which is great. So let's stop like estrogen. I always say, like, I feel like estrogen gets a bad rap, but I'll tell you we need estrogen. Good estrogen. It is, uh, it makes us, uh, I don't want to say superior cause that's right. Makes us very, very powerful and we should not villainize it. Um, but there are, we need to understand how to work in alignment with it. Progesterone really makes us calm, wants us to chill out. And so yeah, if you don't mind it, sleep is going to be a little harder. So what I'm finding is that we have never been taught this. So when you start to teach women that the hormones are coming and going, and they're going to change your mood, they're going to change your sleep. They're going to change your hair. They're going to change your skin. Then you don't look in the mirror and go, what's wrong with me? Why did I, why can't I sleep? Why is my hair not looking the way I want it to look today? It's all just about your hormones. And when you love on them and you work with them, then all of a sudden it stops becoming your fault. Mm.
Mollie McGlocklin 16:48
Ah, so wise, and where do women fit in, uh, who are either, um, have been on the pill for an extended period of time or they're post-menopause um, you know, those two categories. How do we think about that? Yeah, so there's a
Dr. Mindy Pelz 17:03
Few like weird, like little spots like that. So for starters, I, in, since I've gone publicly to talk about all this, I can not believe how many women don't have a cycle like young women. Yes. That's concerning. Cause your cause your cycle is how you, you detox every month. It is a shedding process. So that part has, has shocked me, um, women on the pill, women on a marina, um, IUD, they tend to have an unusual cycle. I think the best way you can do it is the minute you hit day one, just make sure you're mapping it. Like I use the clue app. So I just, I just mapped that first day. And then that's the start of the fasting circle that I talked about. So you're not necessarily going based off of, or, you know, if all of a sudden 15 days later, let's say you get a period. Well guess what day one starts over again. So you're using that first day of bleed as the Mark Curtis start start the 30 day period that I talked about. Post-menopausal women. The challenge for them is that estrogen is low, progesterone's low, and they're never coming back. So we still have to use the principles. The freedom for the post-menopausal woman is you can do it whenever you don't have to follow a 30 day cycle, but you still have to make sure that you're not fasting all the time. You're not doing keto all the time. You need to have days where you step out of that and you're doing more hormone building days. So you can kind of do that. We've come up with a 30 day hormone reset that I teach in my academy. And I just have them go through just start day one, whenever you want. Whereas if somebody has a cycle, they've got to start day one, they've got to do it in accordance with their cycle. Post-menopausal women don't need to do that. And then the last thing I'll say, that's fascinating and I'm doing more research on this is that more women ovulate at a full moon. So we can map ourselves to the full moon and just say, okay, the moon, the moon is full today. So that's maybe day 10 and then go through the circle the way I explained it, according to the full moon, can
Mollie McGlocklin 19:19
You explain that real quick? Just a little bit more, just because you know, it can land for, we tend to get a lot of like biohacker types. What have you, and akin land is like, wait. Wow. That's like so woo. But it's really interesting. Um, when people dive into that, I believe it was, um, ah, what's the book, follow the sun or some, uh, one of these books, um, that's really centric on the importance of the light dark cycle and, uh, some of the origins of, um, like the word lunatic coming from cycle and some of the changes in the light activity and people suddenly are able to be up later because of the changes in the moon cycle. Um, how women used to lean into the lunar cycle more as a group. Uh, so curious if you can just shed a little, no
Dr. Mindy Pelz 20:05
Pun intended. Yeah. And from a, from a scientific level, I, you know, I'm currently like diving through all that and looking at it to see, but from a physiological level, this is the way it makes sense to me is, is that, you know, the tides change, if you, according to the full moon. So the magnetic resonance of the earth is going to change. And as women, we are more in tune with that magnetic rent, rent, resonance. And so when we, when the full moon is, is going, we're also seeing tide changes. We also, the it's, your body's just in sync with that magnetic energy. And so now not every woman does that, but I think the cleaner, it would be really interesting to see a study that like, if your diets clean, you don't have a lot of toxins, your stress levels are low. Do those women, are they living more? Are they obviating more with the full moon or not? So I don't think we, I haven't seen a study on that yet. Now for the post-menopausal woman. Let's just say the majority of your time of your cycle. You've probably been somewhere around the full moon because the magnetic pull of the earth is so strong that I am sure that you've been more likely to be around that full moon. So we, you, once your period stops, you still have a rhythm to your hormones. It, you know, like if you look like a 13 year old, when she goes into puberty, it takes, you know, four or five years for the, the brain and the ovaries to get a rhythm with each other. Well, when a woman goes into menopause, it's gonna take four to five years for the rhythm to slow down hormones. Don't just turn on and off. They have a pattern that takes time to build up and a pattern to go to, to mellow out. Hmm.
Mollie McGlocklin 21:54
Yeah. So helpful. Um, one of the things that I thought you were really particularly, um, uh, made such a great point about in one of your speeches at biohacking Congress was when women are kind of trying to navigate this period of life, where perimenopause menopause and beyond, and they go into their doctors and they're complaining of some of these different symptomologies and often leave with a recommendation or prescription for, you know, more in the realm of it's kind of their problem or, um, you know, uh, hesitant or a pressure or a suggestion to start layering in, um, pharmaceuticals. And I felt that that was really a cool, uh, you know, mission of yours to help women really navigate this. And certainly sleep can be one of those things. So we might see women leaving and that's one of their main symptoms is the difficulty sleeping. And now they've got Ambien or certain, um, you know, antianxiety medications and all of these things that we know can be really problematic down the road. Um, so I'm just wonder if you can speak a bit more to that and what the, uh, what, what we've seen for so many women with the path can be, and the opportunity that there can be to learn this kind of way of navigating it.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 23:12
Yeah. It's such a great question. And I, and um, what happened to me is at 40, I literally was in the best shape of my life. Like I felt invincible, I slept great. I always joke. I'm like, I just want to fit in my skinny jeans, like favorite pair of skinny jeans. Like I was running marathons. I really felt invincible by 43, I was a hot mess. I wasn't sleeping. I had night sweats. I was depressed. I was anxious. And so I was trying to find a solution and it got so bad. I literally would have taken drug. I was looking to take one, I'm like, just give it to me. Cause I got to end this madness. And I ran into a friend of mine who is a very well-respected OB. And she said, I asked her, I was like, I told her my symptoms. And she, like, there was something about the moment she literally stopped and looked at me and said, Mindy, my, I have a practice full of women with these symptoms and my medical textbooks have failed me. I could tell. And she's like, I could tell you to go on HRT. Um, but I don't see that work for everybody. I could tell you to go onto an antidepressant, but I'm not a fan of them. They're highly addictive. They're hard to get off of. So she started going down each one and I'm sitting there thinking, oh my God, if you don't know the answer, who's going to know the answer. So she was like one of the top OBS at Kaiser in Silicon valley. So I started finding the answers and that's when I realized, gosh, there are things that have to change after 40 in our lifestyle. And if we do not change those things, then these hormones get out of control. And I just started playing with the different pieces and that's how I sort of, I solved my own path. And then I practiced it on all my, all my people in social media and everybody started getting the same result. Wow.
Mollie McGlocklin 25:02
Oh, so powerful. Yeah, because you know, that was one of my stories when I wasn't sleeping, I went into the doctors were traveling internationally with Google translate. I go into the doctor's and I leave with Ambien. Uh, we traveled to the next place and then, oh, here's some Xanax, here's this, you know, and clearly that was a particular path that could have had a particular type of life. So I really appreciate you sharing that and also your vulnerability and saying like, you know, I was, I just wanted to, you know, make a D fix this thing. Right. And so there are times where that's where we're at. So to shed a light that there could be another path is done. Um, real quick, just wanted to touch on because I know you're a known as well. You have lots of different areas of knowledge. And one of the, um, areas that people really look into, uh, look to you around is fasting as well. Um, and you know, when some of us are going through all this and we got a hormonal depict, we might think that fasting would be too extreme or too much. I wonder if you could just quickly touch on how that can be powerful for women. Um, and I know you already laid out the timing, um, but you know, we also see for different people, how leaning into fasting seems to, um, if done mindfully can really make a difference with our sleep or HRV or heart rate, all kinds of other things. Just curious
Dr. Mindy Pelz 26:20
If you can share. Yeah. I mean, the research on fasting is vast and impressive. Yes. So if you're unsure go to my YouTube channel because I bring all the research out so people can see it. Um, but here's the basis of it is if you look at things like PCLs in fertility menopause, when you start, um, even if we go into metabolic syndrome stuff like cardiovascular problems, obesity at the root of all of those problems is insulin resistance. And there is no better way to solve insulin resistance than fasting it's there. The science shows it, people are showing it. There's just no better way. Well, now let's look at a woman like in, uh, in the perimenopause years, as estrogen goes up and down, which is what happens in your forties. It's like going up it's high one day and then it's like lower than it's ever been the next day. I mean, again, just talk to it like a 47 year old woman and ask her how her hair is doing. Like one moment. It's like posh, it's big and puffy. The next moment it's flat, that's all estrogen. And so, uh, what, what that wild ride of estrogen does is it makes you more insulin resistant. So if you already are insulin resistant going into menopause, you're in for a hormonal like shit show. I mean, it's, that's not great. So, um, so I like fasting to really help balance estrogen out where fasting doesn't work for us. Isn't when we're trying to balance progesterone out, because fasting is very much like exercise. It raises cortisol just a little bit. And I, and everybody, when they hear that, it's like, what do you mean? Like, I don't want cortisol to raise, but actually a little bit of cortisol going up makes you very strong. Very alert makes your body adapt. You want a little bit of cortisol except the week before your period, that progesterone does not want an increase in cortisol. So what we started teaching people is in the most simple sense, fast, most of your cycle, it's going to help your hormones, but not the week before your period. That's like the most simple way to explain it.
Mollie McGlocklin 28:38
So good. And I appreciate that too, because I've seen, um, different women navigating different, uh, periods in their life and they might've said, oh, okay. You know, I went through, you know, adrenal issues or lots of stress, chronic stress burnout, yada yada, and now there's, I'm going to be gentle. There's no room for fasting. And I think you really point to, and I think absolutely people should check out, um, uh, your many resources, because there's so much that we can use this as a tool to actually facilitate that healing. So,
Dr. Mindy Pelz 29:08
Yeah. And on the adrenal fatigue thing, I think this is a really important point. We have to not shy away from hormetic stressors. So, and just so your listeners know hormetic stress is when you get a little bit of stress, your body adapts in a very favorable way. So if I'm an adrenal gland, that's exhausted, which is sort of a misnomer onto itself, it's the whole HPA access, but let's say that bigger topic, bigger topic. Um, but you place a little bit of the stress, just a tiny bit through something like fasting on those adrenals and you can actually re-energize those adrenals. So, and I've done videos on this on YouTube, right? I have a whole protocol for adrenal fatigue, but I, I I've, we've taken people in extreme adrenal fatigue and use some really gentle practices of fasting and have watched it heal better than a, than a supplement would. Yeah.
Mollie McGlocklin 30:05
Yes, yes. Okay. Well, I know you have so much knowledge on that. So people definitely have to check that out. Um, and since I know you have really gone through lots of different ways of mastering your own sleep, we wanted to hear a little bit about how you're managing your sleep. So what we can learn from that. So a couple of questions, uh, on your kind of personal relationship to your sleep. So the first question is what is your nightly sleep routine look like right now? I'm sure it evolves and changes, but what do you, what are you leaning into at the moment?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 30:34
Okay. So I have a couple of things and, um, yeah, so I've really recently discovered the routine around sleeping matters. So I'm going to bed at the same time. I'm getting up at the same time. Um, I've also realized the timing and this was through, I've been, I've used aura. I've used woop. I'm kind of used in both, but I really saw that my HRV improved. If I ate two hours before I went to bed, if I eat and I go to bed, my HRV tanks. So I'm trying to eat dinner a little bit earlier. The other thing I've been doing is we have in our bedroom, I leave the shades open on the side where the sun rises. And so I'm getting natural sunrise come in. Since I started doing that, I haven't had to use an alarm clock to wake up. So that has been incredible. And then when I get up in the morning, I go outside, I have a little meditation routine. I do. And I sit outside the spend the first hour of the day outside of my backyard getting sunlight. So I've been really working on the timing, like time, my circadian rhythm with what it is. There's like a pattern to it. Now outside of that, I've got a few more hacks. I've got a weighted blanket. I love it. It's working great. Sometimes I gotta like pull it like the week before my cycle is the toughest time to sleep. I got to pull that thing like up over my head. Like I got to get everything weighted down. Um, I, the game changer is the chili pad. I don't have a game changer and I, and the week before my cycle, I got to put that chilly pad way down. Yeah. So that's another one. Um, magnesium, I've been, I've been supplementing with magnesium and then the other one is melatonin. And since I've been doing that, I'm just, my sleep is dialed in. It's doing really well. That's
Mollie McGlocklin 32:23
Cool. Great. Is there, um, a type of magnesium that you prefer?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 32:27
Well, so I've been experimented with a bunch of different ones. I'll tell you the brand I like right now is upgraded labs. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That one seems to work the best for me. I don't know what Barton put in that product. It works really well.
Mollie McGlocklin 32:40
Yes. I haven't. He's coming on the podcast, uh, later on a couple months and, uh, he'd sent some of those to test out and I've been really, really liking those.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 32:49
The first time I used them, I was shocked. He gave me a sample and my HRV was like, am I asleep? Recovery was through the roof. And all I changed was adding that supplement in a man. And I was like, what is this? This is really cool. So I've tried a lot of magnesium for sleep, but that one worked. Um, and then the other one I'm using recently, and it's not for everybody, but I've been using, uh, melatonin and, um, I'm using, it's a suppository. So it gets in, it's called sand man. It's the same guy who does Zen. Yes, exactly. That is incredible. Wow. And
Mollie McGlocklin 33:25
How do you think about melatonin since I know there's, you know, different camps on oh, no melatonin and some people like high dose melatonin, the suppositories, all these different modalities. How do you think about melatonin?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 33:40
Yeah, I mean, I've had melatonin work really great for me, orally or suppository. They both worked really great. This pository seems to be working better. Um, I'm actually doing a 90 day trial right now with it to see, because I see there's other benefits to melatonin. And so I'm like, let me try it for 90 days and then I want to get off of it and see if I can, if my sleep is still as good. So I'm curious if I have like a, uh, a deficiency of melatonin and if I bring that up, then can I get off the supplement? That's to be determined. Okay.
Mollie McGlocklin 34:12
Well we'll do some, uh, yeah, you tubing and what have you definitely want to play with that? Okay, cool. Uh, and then the second question is what would we see on your nightstand? And that could be like proverbial nightstand or, you know, apps or ambience gadgets, anything to be aware of.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 34:31
Okay. So there's a couple of things, a glass of water. I always have a glass of water. Yes. The, uh, Sarah FOSS is a great supplement. If you're under a lot of stress, it brings cortisol down. So I always have Sarah FOS in case I'm going through a stressful time, wake up at two in the morning. Um, the other really weird thing I started doing years ago, and this is a little more Willow is have you, have you heard of, um, morphic energy fields?
Mollie McGlocklin 34:57
Oh, I haven't heard, but I'd love to hear how you're leaning into that. Okay. So
Dr. Mindy Pelz 35:02
More, I think of, uh, morphic energy fields, like, um, like a radio station, they're like frequencies of information and there's a lot of belief we can tap into these frequencies and your books give off a frequency. So I actually have very positive mindset books on my nightstand as a way of just putting in positive vibes into my sleep area. So I don't, I don't have any fiction. I don't have any like, you know, angry books or books that have any conflicting or controversial topics. They're all like positive, a lot of Pema Chodron. Uh, I've got, uh, letting go let it go by David Hawkins
Mollie McGlocklin 35:44
Books. One of the books that I, that was on the many, many layers of things that kind of brought back my sleep was actually that book was actually the audible version too. That's very calming narrator. Um, but I love that one. And that's one of the first times I've heard anyone mention that and it's almost leans into kind of the funkshway conversation or, you know, what's in your environment really impacting your reality. So I appreciate that, that one that's very unique.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 36:12
It was just something I learned when I learned morphic energy fields. I'm like, I looked at my books different. I'm like, where are they? What are they saying? What energy are they giving off? I love books. I have books all over my house name, but the books on the nightstand are all positive, like calming and the way I want to think in the world, I
Mollie McGlocklin 36:30
Love that. And that's also just an alignment too, with kind of, I'm doing a very least bedroom audit. You can certainly do an audit of your whole life and what's around you, but certainly in the bedroom. And is this in alignment with kind of a sleep sanctuary or something that just brings you joy to go into? So, yeah,
Dr. Mindy Pelz 36:47
Yeah, yeah. And I would also say my, my bedrooms, the cleanest room in my house. Nice.
Mollie McGlocklin 36:52
Yes. Which is also important. You don't want the clutter and to feel like when you get in there. Great. Uh, and then the last question is what would you say has been, uh, kind of made the biggest change to your sleep game or biggest aha moment for, uh, this conversation of sleep for you?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 37:09
You know what the biggest one is, and I want to give you a free solution, but it's, it's really the frickin chili pad
Mollie McGlocklin 37:19
And people can be like, really this like, you know, mattress pad. Right. Honestly, it is a bit, and I was resistant to trying it because first of all, we use,
yeah. It was like, well, I don't want to be dependent on this thing. We've been, we were traveling for three years. Um, digital nomads were in Southeast Asia and, you know, backpack carry on. And we're like, we can't travel around with this giant, you know, it's not giant, but you know, a thing, you can put that in, uh, check that. And yet, so I was hesitant, hesitant then tested it and I I'm, um, I'm with it. I'm addicted now.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 37:51
truly amazing. And, um, I was the same way. I was like, Hmm, I don't understand why would I want cold? Yeah. But then when I started doing the research, your body, your core body temperature, anywhere from one degree to five degrees in order for the parasympathetic nervous system to kick okay. And then what I do now is if I wake up at two in the morning, I put that thing down, I'll
Yeah. It's, it is
my mattress to be
it has to go down
in. And I'm like,
make the temperature go down and it knocks me out.
Mollie McGlocklin 38:19
Yes. I liked how, I think it was Rob Wolf that put it in a kind of ancestral, um, uh, kind of mindset or framing. And he was pointing to this concept that, uh, you know, thousands of years ago, it's likely as we had been living much more in alignment with nature, it really outside in nature, but likely on the ground and the ground would be much cooler than anywhere else in the environment. Uh, and then even this kind of, uh, theorizing that, uh, likely sleeping with things like hides or something heavy, and that could explain this idea of the weighted blanket. Um, so between the cold ground and the heaviness of the, you know, cause almost tapping back into this kind of, um, ancestral knowledge is a thinking, which I like
to think of, like, why are we leaning into this technology, but how this aligns with our, you know, kind of, um, our modern society. So those are fantastic tips. So how else can people learn more about what you've got? I know you have a book that's really, I think so important for so many women to know about maybe even for the significant others in their lives. Yeah. My fiance has, he knows more about my cycle. He's like, are you in luteal right now? What is
Dr. Mindy Pelz 39:28
A good fee? You got to keep him around.
Mollie McGlocklin 39:32
Exactly. He knows all about it. Um, but also for, uh, for people who are mentoring, how to make peace with this, like I had other friends that would call it luteal Lucifer and like, it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad, horrible day, you know, it's like we can really, um, come to a, you know, level of grace with navigating these, these periods. So how can people follow you? What are the best modalities?
Dr. Mindy Pelz 39:54
Yeah. So, uh, you could get the book, the menopause reset if you are over 40, um, it's a quick, easy read. It has everything you need to do. And it's all about lifestyle changes you should make. So, um, that's a great resource. My YouTube channel is really my passion project. Uh, I spent a lot of time love energy making as many videos as I can to really inspire people to fast. So all the science of fasting is there. The application of fasting is there. Um, on Instagram we take little squares from my videos and we try to bring it in and another medium so that people who are maybe not video Watchers, maybe they want to see it on a nice little info square. We'll put that on Instagram. Um, I have a free fasting group on Facebook called the reset or collaborative. So we fast together. We do a five day all different types of fasts once a month. Um, and if you forget all that, you could just go to Dr. Mindy pelz.com and it's all there.
Mollie McGlocklin 40:49
That is awesome. Wow. Well, I didn't know about the Facebook group. I'm definitely going to tap into that. That sounds incredible. Um, I, myself, I've done some shorter fasting period, but I want to start tapping into some longer, fast. Uh, so definitely gonna lean into some of your teammates are so yes. Thank you. And I just so appreciate you taking the time, but also just your passion that you share with the world. Um, you know, it's really resonates. I was honestly very much blown away at the, um, biohacking Congress, just, it was palpable. It was real. And you know, you don't see that every day. So anyone listening, I hope you definitely check out her work, uh, because I think it can really be transforming. Yeah.
Dr. Mindy Pelz 41:29
Oh, thank you. And yeah, I mean, I just want, I think on the women front, we're just, we haven't been given enough tools and we've been disempowered in the healthcare system and it really is time to give women their power back. And so I just, anything I can do to inspire. So thank you for and sleep. My gosh, you know, it's funny because I actually have these five things in the menopause reset and I've been rethinking, I should've put a sixth one and it should have been sleep please.
Mollie McGlocklin 41:55
Oh yeah. Well, it's an opportunity for a part two.
Thank you for sharing. You're very much in the conversation. That's, I'm sure you'll have lots of, um, evolving tips for people. So this is just the beginning, but thank you so much. Thank you.