Embrace the Power of Movement and Healthy Eating in Midlife

Do you struggle with exercise, physical activity, and healthy eating?

You’re not alone. Society has fed you narratives, and you’ve sometimes unknowingly taken on these stories as if they were your own, shaping your perceptions of movement and food. For midlife women, these narratives can be particularly limiting. It's time to rewrite these stories and embrace the joy and benefits of moving our bodies.

Challenging Old Movement Narratives

The number one reason women our age say they don’t like exercise is that they don’t want to sweat. But sweat is a sign of effort, strength, and vitality. You should embrace it, especially as you age. Being strong and fit is an identity worth portraying, and fit people show up sweaty and in their workout clothes!

Think back to a time before Title IX and what society told us about women exercising and being ‘healthy’ - which was all about being attractive and appealing:

- They’d build bulky muscles.

- It was terrible for their constitution.

- Women shouldn't exercise during pregnancy.

- Women are the ‘weaker sex.’

- Sweating is unattractive

- Women should eat like a bird

Even some recent media narratives about female athletes continue to perpetuate these outdated stories about women and fitness, and thankfully, that outdated and biased mentality is starting to change. For years, women were told not to lift weights and to focus exclusively on looking cute in leotards while doing cardio. Pioneers like Jack LaLanne emphasized muscle fitness for women. Still, many early fitness programs  - while terrific at getting women moving - focused solely on cardio and light exercises rather than strength training.

Challenging Old Food Narratives

At the same time, women often encounter outdated or restrictive narratives about healthy eating that can hinder their progress toward achieving their goals. Some of these narratives include:

• "Carbs are bad": The misconception that all carbohydrates are unhealthy can lead women to avoid nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

• "Fat makes you fat": This outdated belief discourages the consumption of healthy fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil, which are essential for overall health.

• "Eat less to lose weight": The idea that drastically reducing calorie intake is the key to weight loss can lead to malnutrition and a slowed metabolism, ultimately making weight management more difficult.

• "Healthy eating is expensive": The perception that nutritious foods are always costly can prevent women from making healthier choices, even though many affordable options are available.

• "It's too late to change": The belief that changing what you eat in midlife won't significantly impact health can discourage women from adopting healthier eating habits.

• "Healthy eating is about deprivation": Associating healthy eating with restrictive diets can make it seem unappealing and unsustainable, leading to cycles of dieting and bingeing.

• "You need to detox": The idea that the body needs special detox diets or cleanses to be healthy can lead to extreme and unnecessary dietary practices.

Challenging these narratives with evidence-based information and promoting a balanced, enjoyable approach to healthy eating can help you make positive changes without feeling restricted or discouraged.

Redefining Your Narratives

Instead of dreading exercise and feeling overwhelmed about establishing a high-quality, nutrient-rich eating pattern to supply the fuel your body needs to move more, reset your mindset to prioritize the joy of movement. 

Your body has been through a lot and has taken you far. Movement is not something to dread; it’s something to embrace with excitement and anticipation! It’s powerful—being strong boosts confidence at any age. In middle age, it helps us become visible and vibrant. Healthful eating does not have to be overwhelming if you focus on the basics and block out the noise that villainizes certain foods or food groups.

You can age with strength instead of frailty, health instead of disease, and independence instead of dependence. You can do everything you envision with just a little effort. 

Remember, you are in training to live a strong and healthy life full of vitality, using your body to help you create a life where you flourish.

Healthy Eating & Moving are Best Friends

Alongside movement, healthy eating plays a crucial role in our well-being. Many women underestimate the amount of calories they consume and overestimate the amount of exercise they do. 

Moving your body more and building healthful eating patterns are essential for maintaining or losing weight while supporting your energy level and fitness as you age. Together, these two habits form a synergistic foundation that promotes vitality and longevity during this pivotal stage of life.  This knowledge empowers you to take control of your health and well-being.

Consider these questions:

• Are you eating enough food to sustain more physical activity and exercise? If you’re tired and lack energy to fuel your workouts, you might not be eating enough. 

• Are you consuming enough protein?

• Is your plate balanced?

• How is your food mindset? 

• Are you incorporating the 'Macros of Movement' throughout the week? Find a balanced mix of physical activity, stability/functional training, strength training, and cardio (moderate and vigorous). Avoid limiting your routine to just cardio or daily walks. Instead, add strength training and functional exercises to your regimen.

• Is your current movement pattern an intense cardio session 3-4 days a week for 30-45 minutes, followed by passive activities like working in front of a screen or reading? 

Making minor adjustments to your routine, like increasing physical activity and ensuring sufficient protein intake, can prevent gradual weight gain and help you stay physically strong and fit as you age and into your later years.

Practical Steps to Get Started

• Find Joy in Movement: Choose activities that you enjoy. Whether dancing, hiking, swimming, or yoga, find what makes you happy and keep moving.

• Strength Training: Incorporate strength training into your routine. It boosts metabolism, strengthens bones, and enhances muscle mass. It's particularly beneficial for midlife women as it can help counteract the natural loss of muscle mass that occurs with age, improving overall strength and mobility.

• Intentional Eating: Pay attention to what you eat. Opt for nutrient-dense foods that nourish your body and support your fitness goals. This balanced approach to eating will provide you with the necessary nutrients and support your fitness journey, reassuring you that you're on the right path.

• Stay Consistent: Move a regular part of your life. Consistency is critical to reaping the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

• Build a Support System: Surround yourself with supportive friends and family who encourage your fitness journey.

Rewriting your relationship with exercise and healthy eating is essential for thriving in midlife. Embrace the power of movement and the benefits of a balanced eating pattern. You have the strength to age with vitality, confidence, and independence. Celebrate your body and the incredible things it can do. Normalize being strong at any size, and don’t shy away from sweating—even if it means showing up to appointments or lunch meetups in exercise gear. 

Rumblings Media has tools and resources to help guide you wherever you are on your health and wellness journey so you can thrive! 

Don’t know where to begin or wonder where you need to focus on adjusting your patterns? Join us in an upcoming online or in-person class to jump-start your plan!

We’re here to help—and to remind you that it is never too late to begin or review where you’re at. 

Start today, step into the identity of a strong, fit, and balanced-eating midlife woman, and flourish!

The Profound Dual Purpose of Travel: Lost and Found

Rumblings trip to Vietnam: Phot is Dong Xuan market in Hanoi

Traveling goes far beyond exploring new landscapes and experiencing different cultures; it’s a journey of self-discovery and transformation. In the words of George Santayana, travel is both a means to lose and find ourselves. Beyond the familiar narrative presented in newspapers and media, travel offers a unique perspective that sharpens our awareness, challenges our assumptions, and enriches our understanding of the world. 

Travel offers the opportunity, joy, and deep, heartfelt interactions that create a connection between people that isn’t bound by politics, culture, or language barriers. It deepens our understanding of the world around us by creating an awareness that our most profound humanity is linked to the humanity of others. It allows us to see the friendliness, hospitality, generosity, gentleness, caring, and compassion in others and ourselves. Travel creates a powerful understanding of our interconnectedness with one another. It enables us to see past differences intended to separate and alienate us and develops an understanding of belonging. We can acknowledge that we differ precisely because of our need for one another. 

The profound impact of travel can open our hearts and minds and help us understand its role in fostering empathy and cultural exchange. As travelers, we bridge the gap between our identity and the world’s diverse cultures, offering a fresh perspective in an increasingly interconnected world society. 

These are the reasons why we look forward to traveling with other women, to share these experiences, and deepen our connection to other women across the globe as well as create lasting friendships with each other. Especially during midlife, it’s an integral part of the journey of self-discovery that leaves an indelible mark on our lives when many women are searching for their vision, purpose, and identity for the re-igniting of this next critical phase of their lives. 

Travel serves a dual purpose: it allows us to lose and find ourselves. It opens our hearts and minds to the world beyond what our newspapers convey. We travel to discover and share the riches of different cultures, to become young fools again, and to embrace the moral holiday of taking risks. Travel compels us to work desperately for a moment, to confront hardships, and to sharpen the edge of life, as George Santayana suggested in "The Philosophy of Travel."

Travel not only shows us different realities but also reveals our complexities. It encourages us to reexamine our beliefs and certainties, to see the world with new eyes, and to challenge our assumptions. Even familiar things, like a fast-food restaurant or a movie theater in a foreign land, can be a source of novelty and revelation.

Travelers understand that the world is full of wonder and hardship, and they embrace both. They bear witness to the moral and political urgencies of the places they visit, ensuring that these locations are not reduced to abstract ideas or ideologies. Travel becomes a way to rescue the humanity of places from abstraction and to save them from being mere curiosities.

Moreover, travelers are like human bridges, transporting values, beliefs, and news to the places they visit. In some parts of the world, they serve as the only contact with the outside world, offering a glimpse into other cultures and societies. Travel is about fostering understanding and empathy, importing and exporting dreams with tenderness.

As the world becomes more interconnected, people are increasingly transnational and multicultural. Travelers find themselves at the intersection of different cultures, languages, and customs, and they adapt quickly to new environments. This adaptability allows them to see the world with a fresh perspective.

Travel is also a journey into one's imagination, a quest to uncover the unknown, and a way to be carried out of one's comfort zone. It challenges our notions of home and identity and gives us a unique opportunity to bring new eyes to the places we visit and learn about ourselves.

Ultimately, travel is a heightened state of awareness, a wakefulness that keeps our minds nimble prejudices at bay and fosters humor. Like love, the best trips are never truly over because they leave a lasting impact on our minds and hearts, forever transforming our perception of the world. 

You can read more about some of our travel experiences in our blogs about our trip to Vietnam and how to navigate multigenerational travel. To learn more about traveling with a group of women, join our list to get notified of upcoming trips.  We also keep a journal documenting our travel experiences, and you can find one we created here. 

Unlocking the Secrets to Aging Gracefully

Aging is an inevitable part of life, but it doesn't mean we must surrender to its effects without a fight. We have a choice in how we age; one powerful way to make that choice is through functional training. 

In this blog post, we'll define functional training and review its importance in mitigating the physiological effects of aging and how it can help you maintain the energy and vitality of someone years younger. Whether you're new to the concept of muscle fitness or looking to enhance your existing routine, this guide will provide valuable insights into aging gracefully.

What is functional training?

As we journey through the inevitable aging process, we face a crucial decision: 

1) accept it and let nature take its course, or 

2) fight it. 

The right exercise program can be a formidable ally in the battle against aging. It can deliver numerous benefits that minimize the physical toll of aging, allowing us to maintain the vigor and vitality of our younger selves. And functional training plays a role. Functional training is a type of exercise designed to train the body for activities of daily living. 

The functional training approach

Functional training is evolving, and exercising as we age can empower us with the strength and energy needed to fully enjoy life's activities and prepare for a healthier future. Instead of obsessing over the mirror and the scale, it's time to prioritize overall physical fitness. Every workout can be a magic pill that extends your life's length and quality.

To help make it easier for you to get started with functional training, we’ve included links to some of our favorite tools and equipment. 

1. Mobility and Flexibility Training - Mobility and flexibility training focus on coordinating body movements through space. This helps prevent common musculoskeletal injuries associated with aging, such as sore knees, aching backs, and general discomfort. By incorporating mobility training, you'll keep your muscles and joints healthy and mobile, paving the way for an active lifestyle as you age.

2. Strength and Power Training - Aging often leads to muscle mass loss and decreased functional muscle capacity. Strength training is the key to combating this age-related muscle atrophy. Additionally, power training enhances your muscle's ability to generate force quickly, which is essential for daily activities and preventing falls. Both strength and power are crucial for healthy aging.

Foundational Movement Patterns 

There are six foundational patterns of movement for mobility training and strength/power training. Whether doing mobility training or strength/power training, focus on these principal movement types:

• Hip Hinge – Hinge at the hip with both feet planted. The movement begins from the hip and has little involvement from the knees. Think of picking up a large empty box from the floor and bending from the hip instead of at the knees.

• Squat – both feet planted, movement begins at the hips but includes bending and straightening the knees. Think of lifting a box up off the floor with your legs.

• Single Leg patterns – It could mean exercises balancing on one leg at a time or having one foot in front of the other but still shoulder distance apart. Many lower body exercises can be done from this stance.

• Push – Pushing an object away from your body – either forward or overhead. Think of a plank, bench press, or pushup.

• Pull – Pulling an object towards you – either forward or overhead. Think of a pull-up or tug-of-war.

• Rotation – Rotation movements combine pulling and pushing motions involving both upper and lower body segments, where the pelvis rotates. Think of the action of chopping wood or an overhand serve in tennis, where your arms or upper body cross the plane of the front of the body.

Start Your Journey with Mobility Training

Incorporating these movement patterns into your training regimen is essential for achieving a well-rounded and functional capacity as you age.

Begin your fitness journey by prioritizing mobility training. This foundational step ensures you develop balanced physical abilities and functional capacity, setting the stage for a healthier and more active life as you age.

Mobility training should be a fundamental part of your routine, encompassing activities like stretching and connective tissue work with tools such as foam rollers, therapy balls, stability balls, and therapy bands. Three effective approaches to integrating mobility training into your regimen are bedtime stretches, Pilates, gentle yoga, and incorporating the use of props. These practices enhance mobility and provide a dual benefit by simultaneously strengthening your body. Whether you're new to exercise or an experienced enthusiast, these methods suit everyone.

Consistency matters. Even when a full workout seems daunting, allocating some time to mobility work, especially through stretching, is crucial. This effort contributes to preserving your muscles' and joints' health and flexibility. You'll be surprised at how spending as little as 15 minutes each day or incorporating brief stretch breaks into your daily routine can significantly affect your movement patterns and overall physical skills. Journaling your activity and scheduling it into your calendar is an excellent way to help you kickstart a new behavior. 

Once you've established a solid foundation in mobility, it's time to incorporate strength and power training.

Level up with Strength and Power Training

After establishing a solid foundation in mobility, it's time to take your fitness journey to the next level by introducing strength and power training into your routine.

Unleash the Benefits of Strength Training: Strength training offers many advantages, especially for midlife women. Notably, the results become apparent relatively quickly, with nearly any exercise involving weights or just your body weight leading to noticeable improvements in strength. The beauty of strength training lies in its versatility, providing you with a diverse range of workout options to keep your routine fresh and engaging.

Crafting Your Strength Routine: Begin your strength journey by incorporating strengthening exercises into your routine at least twice a week. Gradually, as your strength improves, consider increasing your training frequency to three or four sessions per week. You can kickstart your journey with bodyweight exercises. Still, as you progress, you may want to use various equipment like dumbbells, resistance bands, gym machines, or even barbells and heavier weights.

Dive into Specific Strength Patterns: For midlife women, it's crucial to include specific strength patterns in your training regimen. You can either integrate some of these patterns into each workout session or dedicate specific days to focus on each pattern individually. This adaptability ensures that you can maintain high motivation levels and continually challenge yourself as you become a healthier and stronger version of yourself.

• Unilateral Training: Unilateral training involves using only one arm or leg during an exercise. This type of training enhances the strength of the specific limb being worked and has an interesting side effect: research indicates that it can boost the strength of the opposite limb. Additionally, unilateral training contributes to core strength, stabilizing the spine and pelvis. This helps prevent muscle imbalances and enhances overall stability, vital for maintaining a healthy body as we age. The rationale behind this approach is rooted in the fact that many of our daily movements primarily engage one arm or leg at a time. Unilateral training exercises are often performed using dumbbells or kettlebells.

• Resistance Training: While all the discussed exercises contribute to strength improvement, resistance training takes a more intense approach. It focuses on using heavier weights and simultaneously engages the entire body or both limbs. For example, exercises like squatting with a weighted bar or performing bench presses fall under this category. The primary objective of resistance training is to develop the capability to lift heavier objects, thereby increasing overall strength. To achieve this goal, working with heavier weights is essential.

• Power Training: Power training is an often overlooked aspect of fitness, particularly for midlife women. Our bodies contain different muscle fibers, including slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers are responsible for explosive movements and are critical in enhancing the resilience of elastic tissues and ligaments. These areas are commonly associated with injuries and muscle strains. Unfortunately, age-related muscle loss often leads to a decline in fast-twitch fibers. These fibers are essential for preventing falls or reacting quickly, such as jumping out of obstacles or even leaping over small obstacles like puddles. Incorporating explosive movements into your routine can stimulate the development of these fast-twitch muscle fibers. Starting with small activities like brief bouts of skipping, hopping from one foot to the other, or even hopscotch can be an excellent starting point. Gradually progress to more challenging activities, such as jumping onto a box or platform or engaging in medicine ball slams or throws, possibly with a workout partner. Incorporating power training can enhance your ability to react swiftly and effectively, which is especially valuable as you age.

The Importance of Muscle Fitness

Just as aerobic exercise enhances heart health, muscle fitness exercises strengthen and improve skeletal muscles, enhancing your ability to move. Studies show that adults who engage in twice-weekly strength training reduce their mortality risk. Beyond health benefits, functional training adds quality to your years, ensuring you can enjoy your favorite activities for longer.

Aging may be inevitable, but how we age is within our control. Embrace functional training as a powerful tool to age gracefully, maintain vitality, and enjoy life fully. Incorporating mobility, strength, and power training into your routine will unlock the secrets to healthy aging. 

For more information and sample exercises, check out "Ageless Intensity" by Pete McCall, a valuable resource on this transformative journey. Embrace the 'silver bullet' of movement and enhance your cognitive function while adding quality to your years.

Women are Underrepresented in Research. Why Should You Care?

As a woman, you have unique health needs and experiences that can differ from those of men. If women are underrepresented in research studies, the results may not accurately reflect their health outcomes or address their health concerns. This could lead to inaccurate diagnoses, ineffective treatments, and missed opportunities for preventative care.

Women comprise half of the population, and their voices and experiences should be equally represented in research studies. It is a matter of fairness and equity that women have the same opportunities as men to participate in research that impacts their health and well-being.

Research is critical for advancing our understanding of diseases, treatments, and health outcomes. Our knowledge in these areas may be limited if women are underrepresented in research studies. This can slow down progress in medical advancements and result in missed opportunities for discoveries and breakthroughs that could benefit everyone.

It’s our mission at Rumblings to ensure you have the science-based facts and education you need to understand what can impact your health so that you can take informed actions. We feel it is crucial for all women to care about underrepresentation in research because it can directly impact our health and well-being.

So this month, we interviewed women’s health expert and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Manda Keller Ross, Ph.D., DPT. Dr. Keller Ross shares her research background and interest in women's health in this interview. She discusses the gender gap in research, particularly in heart disease risk in women, which has been historically studied more in men. She focuses on studying the influence of menopause symptoms on blood pressure regulation and heart disease risk in women. Additionally, she highlights the barriers women face when participating in research and the importance of addressing the diversity in experiences and physiology among women. Lastly, she emphasizes the need for more women to participate in research to improve preventative strategies and treatments for women.

Rumblings Interview with Dr. Keller Ross.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you became interested in the research that you’re currently doing?

I am a mother of three young girls (8, 7, and 5 yrs), a scientist, and an educator. I have been studying blood pressure regulation and heart disease risk for about 10 years. In the last seven years, our laboratory has transitioned to studying primarily women’s health due to the dearth of information regarding heart disease risk in women and, in particular, how age and menopause influence this risk. The majority of the research in the area of heart disease has primarily been on men, and women have been traditionally underrepresented in medicine and science, particularly women with a non-white racial and ethnic background. This also means we have less available information regarding safe and effective therapies for women who are at risk for or have already developed heart disease. Our laboratory hopes to close this knowledge gap and be able to better understand some of the early risk factors of heart disease for women to identify effective preventative and therapeutic strategies to reduce heart disease risk for women.

We know that there are many age-related changes that women go through that increase their health risk, but is there a particular reason why you decided to focus on research related to menopause?

From what the literature suggests, prior to menopause, men have a greater prevalence of high blood pressure and increased heart disease risk compared with women. After the typical age of menopause, around 50-51 years, this risk increases substantially in women and surpasses that of men. This means that there is something in particular about the loss of sex hormones (estrogens and progesterone) in women that contributes to this greater risk. There is also evidence that menopause symptoms can be associated with heart disease, particularly hot flashes, night sweats, and difficulty sleeping. Our lab focuses on the influence of these symptoms and how the age of menopause influences blood pressure regulation to contribute to these greater risks.

Why is research on women’s health so important?

Women are important and have traditionally been ignored in research and science. For example, women participate in clinical trials much less than men for many reasons; however, this means that many drug trials are conducted only in men, but these same medications are given to women. Much of what we know about physiology was determined in men. Now we are playing catch-up to understand women’s physiology. It’s frustrating, but we are trying to be part of the solution.

What are the barriers for women to participate in research?

Women often carry several responsibilities simultaneously, and participating in research is not often at the top of their priority list. Women are working; they may be primary caretakers and are often not able to get the time off, cannot afford to take the time off, or need to be with their children. We have opened up our laboratory on the weekends for studies to help reduce this barrier, but often childcare is an issue. We have tried to set up childcare at the University for parents, but we have not been successful as there are some liabilities with this process. In addition, there is a lack of information provided to people in general about research and clinical trials, and information about menopause is often not shared with women unless women inquire directly with their physicians. There are often additional barriers for people of color, particularly the African American community, who have been traditionally exploited in research, and as scientists, we need to do a better job of connecting with their communities and building strong relationships and trust before engaging them in research.

Are there certain subsegments of women where we particularly need more research information, and why is that necessary? Can’t we generalize women’s research to all women?

Yes, there are definitely subsegments of women that we particularly need additional knowledge on regarding their health and strategies for disease prevention and treatment. We cannot generalize across subpopulations of women because life experiences have a strong impact on our physiology. One of the strongest examples that I can provide is racial stress. Non-white communities have experienced macro- and micro-aggressions for centuries, and we haven’t even really begun to understand how that has impacted their physiology. We know diverse communities are often at a greater risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney disease, just to mention a few, but we don’t have a clear understanding of why. These factors are often erroneously discussed in the literature as being connected to genetic or physiological differences, but we, as scientists, need to incorporate how life experiences, such as the trauma and stress surrounding racial discrimination, influence risk factors for these diseases.

Why is it important for women to participate in research studies from a researcher's perspective? What benefits can women experience by participating in research?

The majority of the knowledge we have obtained from the research, including clinical trials, drug trials, etc., has come from studies conducted in mostly men, in particular white men. This knowledge gets generalized to the community when it doesn’t always apply to women. Over the last 20 years, we have identified many breakthroughs in how the physiology of men and women are different. Sex hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, influence our muscles, heart, lungs, and blood vessels differently, and men and women have varying levels of these hormones. Thus, it is important for women to participate in research so that we can delineate differences in physiology between men and women, which will lead to improved preventative strategies and treatments for women.

Another important benefit of women participating in research is that they would contribute their experiences to the depth and breadth of knowledge on women. This knowledge will lead to better treatments for them, their daughters, and generations to come. If women do not participate in research, we can’t make strides in understanding risk factors that are specific to women and develop tailored treatments to prevent/reduce heart disease risk in women.

How can women learn about research studies they may be eligible to participate in?

• There are national websites that women can browse for research studies, such as clinicaltrials.gov

• Women can learn about studies at the University of Minnesota’s StudyFinder website: studyfinder.umn.edu

• Women can learn more about our lab and studies occurring in our lab by visiting: https://med.umn.edu/rehabmedicine/research/labs/cardiovascular-rehabilitation-lab.

What questions should women ask before participating in a study?

• What is the purpose of the study?

• What procedures are involved in the study?

• What are the risks of the study?

• How long does the study last, how many visits are there, and how long is each visit?

• Is there compensation for being a part of the study?

What should we do to advocate for getting more women involved in research?

We should educate women on what we know and do not know about women’s health and the consequences of that lack of knowledge. In addition, we should build relationships with the community and discuss the importance of their participation in research.

What is your hope for the future if we could close the gap in women’s health research?

My hope for the future is that we significantly reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and mortality in women; that women know their risks and how to reduce their modifiable risk factors for these diseases; that women feel there is a space and place for them in research and clinical trials; and that women feel comfortable enough to talk to their family, friends and health care providers about menopause and advocate for themselves.

Thank you to Dr. Keller-Ross for taking the time to highlight the progress made in recent years to include more women in medical research and acknowledging that there is still a way to go to ensure equal representation in research. As moms, daughters, sisters, and friends, we need to spread the word and advocate for women to be included in research studies and to raise awareness of the importance of why our representation matters to our health and health care.

Learn more about Dr. Keller-Ross, The Cardiovascular and Rehabilitation Lab, and The effects of menopause on cardiovascular health in women study by clicking the links.

Tips for Better Sleep

I, too pass from the night,

I stay a while away O night, but I return to you again and love you. Walt Whitman

Few people are satisfied with their quality and quantity of sleep. For midlife women, hormones and other life stressors impact sleep more during this life stage than at any other time outside of young parenthood. 

We all want to feel well rested and alert after a night’s sleep to face a day with joy and optimism, but few people realize that a poor night’s sleep is detrimental to our long-term mental and physical health. 

As the research on the impact of sleep on overall health and disease prevention increases, it’s becoming widely recognized as important as eating well and exercising. There is a reason evolution has designed humans to spend one-third of their 24-hour day sleeping. 

Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, the risk of developing metabolic diseases like diabetes, overall inflammation, and, more recently, depression, suicide, anxiety, ADHD, and immune dysregulation. Even newer evidence links poor or inconsistent sleep patterns to an increased risk of breast, prostate, colon, and endometrial cancers.  

While it was previously thought that not much happens during sleep, this is a time for tremendous activity in the body. During sleep, our bodies sort new information and experiences, store new memories, produce red blood cells, repair tissue damage, reinforce the circadian system, contribute to energy balance, and repair tissue. 

There is also newer evidence that the long list of things occurring during sleep impacts health more than previously believed. For example, circadian system dysregulation caused by poor sleep affects every cell in your body. 

The circadian system controls cellular energy production, which controls functions like releasing hormones, digestion, and immune defenses – all of which require a steady supply of energy. If this gets disrupted due to lack of sleep, it’s like your body is not functioning in sync, and that’s unhealthy. The circadian system governs all body functioning, and sleeping helps support its function. 

If you’re getting the sense that sleep is essential to life itself – it is!

Quality matters as much as quantity in sleep. We can do things without too much effort to improve both! Similar to other health habits, our habits of prioritizing our sleep can have a tremendous impact on improving the quality of our sleep patterns. 

Try these ideas to get your sleeping habits on the right track. 

• It starts with waking. What we do when we first wake up in the morning primes us for successful sleeping. A consistent routine helps you feel more in control of your day and enables you to cope with everyday stressors and anxiety. 

You can start your waking routine before rising with light stretching or meditation before putting your feet on the floor. 

One newer recommendation is to expose your eyes to bright light as soon as possible in the morning for 15 - 30 minutes to activate cortisol which will release energizing neurotransmitters and help with your circadian system. Natural, early morning sunlight is best, but you can also use a light box if early daylight is in short supply.

• Spend the day preparing for sleep. Finding what works for you may be a series of trials and errors, but the key is to keep trying to see what works best for you. Some guidelines from sleep experts include:

  • Start the day with water, and if you are a caffeine drinker, hold off for 90 minutes after waking. Adding lemon to your water may be stimulating. Water helps rehydration after sleep. New research shows warm liquids after waking are what contribute to wakefulness. 

  • Avoid hitting snooze may help prevent daytime grogginess

  • Doing something you love in the morning helps motivate you to get out of bed – a coffee meditation ritual, an early morning walk, journal, yoga, or a morning run may work for you.

  • An early morning walk provides additional benefits of physical activity and time in nature and lowers stress levels while boosting your mood and cognition in preparation for your day. Starting your day with movement helps with motivation to keep moving throughout the day. 

  • Be physically active  – this is one of the most important things you can do to help you sleep better. A research study found that healthy adults who did strength training fell asleep faster and woke up less frequently throughout the night. Avoid more strenuous exercise within 3-4 hours of sleep, although this is highly personalized. 

  • Switch to noncaffeinated beverages and food after 2 pm, and be mindful of hidden caffeine sources in chocolate, teas, and sodas. There are even food additives that can contain caffeine. 

  • Be consistent in sleep and rising times, even on the weekends. On those occasions where you just don’t get enough sleep, be extra mindful of your sunlight exposure in the morning or twilight hours.

  • According to the National Sleep Foundation, a 10 to 30-minute nap is good for restoring alertness and boosting performance. However, a nap after 3 pm makes it harder to fall asleep at night, and you want to avoid napping longer than 30-minutes to prevent entering deep sleep. After 3 pm, it’s better to power through tiredness (without caffeine) and turn in a little earlier. 

• Create a bedroom sanctuary. Because of the amount of time spent sleeping, a mattress may be one of the most essential pieces of furniture or health care products in your home. And, your bedroom is one of the most important rooms. A few minor changes can create a space that is a sanctuary and will set the foundation for a restful night of sleep. 

  • Temperature is key. The ideal temperature for most people is between 65-67 degrees, and dropping your body's core temperature helps you fall and stay asleep. A smart thermostat can help you raise the temperature during the last 15 minutes of your sleep, which will help you wake easier. 

  • Any ambient light from night lights or electronics can inhibit melatonin production. Even if you have room darkening shades, it may be helpful to wear a sleep mask to block any light seeping through your eyelids. Even a reflective mirror can impact light in a room.

  • Keep your room free from clutter. If possible, have your home office outside of your bedroom. Soothing, softer paint, and fabric colors can be calming and help set up your environment for a good night's sleep.

  • Invest in cool, comfortable bedding that creates a feeling of being in a cocoon. Don’t forget to include pillows.

  • Limit electronics, including televisions, cell phones, and smartwatches, and the temptation to use them in bed.

• Train your brain to unwind. A routine of winding down between 60 and 90 minutes before bedtime can help you relax and create a foundation for preparing your body for sleep. It assists your brain switch from active to rest mode.

  • Be intentional with your use of electronics. If you get plenty of bright light exposure during the day, it’s OK to use screens in the evening, but turn them off 30-60 minutes before bedtime. 

  • Dim the lights in the house to help your body know it’s evening and not daytime. 

  • Take a warm/hot bath or shower. Not only will this relax you, but it also lowers your core temperature, which will also help you fall asleep and stay asleep. 

  • Focus on your senses. Journal or read to help redirect your thoughts and prevent anxiety-producing self-talk.

  • Incorporate meditation or light stretching as part of your pre-bed routine. It can help quiet the mind, and stretching can help avoid aches and pains that make you toss and turn at night. Stretching may also help you wake up less stiff and achy in the morning. 

  • Avoid alcohol, food, and heavy exercise close to bedtime that can disrupt your ability to sleep. The impact of these things varies among individuals, so journaling what activities precipitated both restful and disrupted sleep can help pinpoint what activities to avoid immediately before bed.

  • Use an app that plays ambient noise and peaceful music or tells soothing stories to help promote sleep. 

• Understand Sleep Disorders. The CDC defines short sleep duration as less than seven hours in 24 hours; almost one-third of Americans get fewer hours of sleep than the recommended amount. Several sleep disorders go beyond a lack of sleep. Common conditions include insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and REM sleep behavior disorder. Of these, sleep apnea is one that often gets misdiagnosed and mistaken for insomnia. 

When is it time to seek treatment? After you’ve tried all the sleep hygiene habits listed for some time and are still struggling to get quality sleep, feel unrested after awakening, and struggle to make it through the day, it is time to talk to a professional about participating in a sleep study. 

Most sleep studies are conducted overnight at a sleep center or will require you to wear sensors at home. Sleep studies can also examine the stages of sleep and your sleep cycles, essential to ensuring quality, restful sleep. During the deepest sleep stages is when information transfer occurs in the brain. A disruption in these deep sleep cycles - during high alcohol consumption, for example - impacts the quality and quantity of sleep.

Newer technology and apps can help pinpoint possible sleep disorders before a sleep study. Sleep tracking through an app is not scientifically exact, but it can help identify sleep trends. For example, knowing if you snore after consuming alcohol or eating that late-night snack can help you adjust your behaviors. 

Midlife women tell us they believe their hormones impact their sleep. While symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats during menopause can cause wakefulness at night, there isn’t good scientific evidence of a causal relationship between hormonal changes and sleep quality. Some of these tips, particularly room temperature and bedtime routine, may significantly affect sleep during menopause.

It is known that deep, restful sleep is more active than previously thought, and it impacts every part of life. It deserves attention and exploration to find the right balance of techniques to ease you into dreamland and keep you there until it’s time to awaken. Pleasant dreams!

Ditch Fad Diets: Become a Conscious and Intentional Eater in Midlife

Have you ever finished a meal so quickly that you don’t remember the taste or consumed popcorn while watching a movie, and suddenly the bowl is empty? Most midlife women can relate to mindless eating at some point. 

Your emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and environment influence what and how much you eat.   Add to the fact that the extreme diet culture penetrating society today (positively or negatively) influences your food beliefs, and how you comply with those beliefs may impact how you feel about yourself.

Whether it’s vegan, paleo, keto, Whole 30, flexitarian, or even “nondiet” diet beliefs, the ideology of ONE WAY of eating versus another can leave you feeling in control one day and frustrated the next, or on the “team” today and kicked out of the club tomorrow. Diet culture promotes the idea that there is one right way to eat, and you must follow strict food rules to be a part of the team. 

It’s time to be done with diets and restrictive thinking! Over our 50-plus years, we have not seen friends or family sustain weight loss or positive health outcomes by complying with one particular fad diet over another. Plus, diets foster a loss of joy in eating and rigid black-and-white thinking around food. We wrote about it here. Yet, we continue to witness new fad diets hit the landscape every year, and the divisive culture followers promote is not helping anyone improve their health and flourish. 

You’ve told us midlife weight gain is one of your biggest challenges, yet you don’t want to jump on another fad plan only to be disappointed again. So what do you do? 

Start with conscious, intentional eating to develop an awareness of the relationship between what and how much you eat and your body, feelings, mind, and interconnectedness. 

It’s assumed we only eat in response to hunger, which we all know isn’t accurate. Our social (who we surround ourselves with) and physical environment (food accessibility, price, and portion size) influence our behaviors including what and how much we eat. 

That’s why developing mindful or intuitive eating principles can help you ditch diets, control how much you eat, and find joy in food, traditions, and culture again.  

Mindful eating refers to being fully present and paying attention to the food you eat, the experience, and your environment with minimal distractions. Jon Kabat- Zinn is considered the founder of mindfulness, which includes mindful eating. Mindful eating (i.e., paying attention to our food on purpose, moment by moment, without judgment) is an approach to food where you focus on the taste, smell, sound, and feelings of what you’re eating when you’re eating it. 

It sounds like common sense, but our lives are full of distractions (television, computers, phones, etc.), which we often use when we’re eating and these distractions can cause us to eat too fast, too much, and without pleasure. 

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a philosophy and lifestyle behavior, not a trademarked diet program or strictly defined principles. Common practices include:

• Eliminate eating distractions, such as the TV, phone, or computer.

• Eat while sitting down versus standing in the kitchen.

• Be curious about where your food comes from, who made it, and how it was prepared.

• Be grateful and offer thanks before meals. 

• Take small bites, chew intentionally, and slow down when you eat.

• Savor the food's smell, taste, and texture. Engage all your senses.

• Pay close attention to how hungry or full your body feels. What cues is it giving you to start, slow down, or stop eating?

• Eat without judgment such as thinking about a particular food being good or bad. When black and white thinking persists, acknowledge your feelings.

• Notice internal and external cues that affect how much you eat. 

• Acknowledge how you feel after a meal or snack.

Mindfulness is intended to cultivate a nonreactive attitude to your feelings towards food and eating, which can help break cycles of over and under-eating. Our eating culture doesn’t promote these principles, so being conscious, intentional, and mindful can help you slow down, eat less, appreciate healthful foods that nourish your body, and find joy in food again. 

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating, on the other hand, is a specific philosophy aiming to free people from the confines of damaging beliefs around food (and often themselves), with the goal of establishing judgment-free eating.  Developed by registered dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, intuitive eating involves ten core principles which include:

• Reject the diet mentality

• Honor your hunger

• Make peace with food

• Challenge the food police

• Discover the satiation factor

• Feel your fullness

• Cope with your emotions with kindness

• Respect your body

• Movement—feel the difference

• Honor your health—gentle nutrition

Intuitive eating is a pattern of eating that focuses on positive psychological and physical well-being first. The focus is to reconnect with your inner hunger and fullness cues, understand external influences such as mood, social, and food availability, disconnect from strict dieting food rules and unrealistic expectations, and love your body regardless of size or shape. There are no good or bad foods, just food. 

You’ll notice neither of these approaches focuses on the health of the food first. They both promote paying attention to physiological signs of hunger and fullness to control eating, how your body feels, enjoying your food, and eating without judgment. It is easier said than done, so we strongly recommend checking out the resources below if you’re struggling with eating mindfully or intuitively.  We believe it’s hard to focus on what to eat to live well and flourish unless you can first eat in a way that brings you joy, fills you up, and frees you from the black-and-white diet culture. 

Midlife Zest

However, we do believe in choosing foods and beverages that optimize your health and eating them in a way that maximizes your well-being. What eating pattern do we recommend?

Our recommendations vary based on you, your history, and your goals. Eating to maximize your health when you’re in a state of good health is different than eating when you’re in a state of sickness or dis-ease, and your goal is to restore health; therefore, our recommendations change accordingly.

Recommended Resources:

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND

The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND

Mindful Eating: A Guide For Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays, MD

The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

5 Ways to Reinvent Your Career

​And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom - Anais Nin

Today’s midlife women came of age during an era where women were told they could have it all; family, career, and fulfilling life where they could shape their destiny and choose their path. 

Many women chose to work. Others worked out of necessity, decided to work at home, or returned to work when children were school-aged. For decades women balanced work and life, leaned in, advanced in careers, and entered their 50s thinking it would be their time. 

Midlife is a time of transition. Children are leaving the nest, careers are peaking, and there is more time to focus on what is essential. It is a life stage when men are at the peak of their careers and earning potential. However, what women encounter is a society that expects us to remain ageless. We experience gender ageism in the workplace. Regardless of our prior accomplishments, we face a society that finds countless subtle ways to tell us we’re not as relevant, not as attractive, and less deserving.

It’s natural and normal to feel unsettled with a desire to explore what’s next. These internal rumblings can also come with inner self-doubt and negative self-talk — “I’m too old,” “I don’t look like I should,” “I’m not seen or heard.” Many midlife women feel stuck even though we have decades left to work, live well,  and flourish. 

Women also describe lacking authentic and deep connection with other women, feeling burned out, exhausted, and disappointed at a time that is supposed to be the pinnacle of their lives.

Women have been trying to live up to an unrealistic standard for too long, and as a result, they feel they’re climbing a mountain but never reaching the top. Sound familiar? The good news is that you can define what will come next. You don’t have to succumb to societal norms of acceptable and how we should age. If the original path no longer contributes to how you want to live your lives, it’s time to find a new one. 

We’ve spent the last year speaking with amazing midlife women who felt that same rumbling and have reimagined their lives and reinvented themselves to design a path for themselves that is more aligned with their values. They’ve reinvigorated their careers, built businesses, or taken risks to create a life to live well and flourish. 

Read their advice and listen to your inner RUMBLING. You can take steps to align your career with your values to flourish through midlife.

Define your universal skills. You have learned many things from your prior roles as mother, sister, daughter, aunt, caretaker, homemaker, and career woman that you bring to the table. You’ve balanced many demanding tasks and been successful at them. For example, women have a unique ability to context switch. It means you can switch between multiple unrelated tasks and improvise as you do it. 

You have superb negotiation skills from your personal, volunteer, and professional lives that you can use in any situation. You have negotiated salaries, employee engagement, bedtimes for a 3-year-old, rules for teenagers, daily living capabilities with aging parents, and everything in between.

You are resilient. You’ve successfully navigated every challenge that has come your way. You know your strengths, and you’ve learned how to either overcome, mitigate, or ask for assistance in areas of weakness. 

Write down the skills you possess that are universal to any situation and how you can use them. Ask friends and family what they think your strengths are and add them to your list.

Choose your core values and purpose over societal pressure. Consider what is most important to you. What are your core beliefs? What are your values? What is most important to you in the future? 

Have those values and beliefs been aligned with your decision-making? For example, have you made career or life choices that are in line with your values and best interests, or have you made sacrifices to put the interests of others first? 

Answering these questions provides an opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional about your importance. For many women, it can be about supporting and empowering others. It can be about giving back to the community and making a difference in the lives of others. 

It’s difficult for many women to focus on putting themselves first and discount any societal norms, but it’s crucial for finding meaningful work. If this is a challenge, ask yourself what matters more than money. Those are your values. 

Dream and design your path. Consider the course that keeps you closest to your integrity, values, and goals for your life and the future. 

What are the ways you can start to move towards that? It could be making changes to your current role, seeking new employment or career, taking on a side job, or volunteering. Where can you find other like-minded people with similar interests or who you can learn from? 

Networking and establishing connections with people you don’t know well is another universal skill that women possess. It is a great place to use those skills to meet new people and hone what unique gifts you have to offer. 

We have been amazed at how willingly other women have been to spend time with other women to share ideas, knowledge and magnify the voices of other women as they endeavor to design a new path.

Living from the inside out creates a foundation of health. It takes a foundation of good health to flourish after 50. Make your health a priority. It will support your self-confidence and help you feel connected while living genuinely from the inside out. 

It’s never too late to pivot. The science around aging and lifespan is evolving. We have been amazed and inspired by all of the remarkable women we’ve met who are continually learning, growing, and changing. 

Today, women who accomplish great things are more frequently in midlife and beyond. Fear is part of the equation, but courage is the calling to find clarity and purpose, and that belief is vital in the women we’ve worked with. 

You are not alone in what you’re feeling or experiencing. 

Women want to support other women in achieving their dreams. If the women in your life don’t support your dreams, seek out those who do. 

Striving to discover your remarkable and fulfilling midlife journey ensures your process will foster purpose, belonging, joy, and gratitude. It feels good!

Embracing and stepping in the beauty, liberation, and wisdom as you move into and beyond midlife empowers other women, young and older, to do the same. By tapping into your knowledge, experience, and wisdom, you engage with others differently and bring value to the people around you. 

Together we can change the way our culture views midlife and older women. We’re excited about midlife, the new things we’ll do, the risks we’ll take, and the women we’ll meet! 

Let’s reinvent, reignite, and RUMBLE through midlife together!

5 Lessons from A Fashion After 50 Event to Inspire Midlife Women

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides...the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. 

~Audrey Hepburn

Over 200 midlife women attended a Rumblings’ Fashion Week MN event. It was an enormous undertaking and a departure from our previous events and outside our self-defined expertise.

It is an understatement to say that we felt out of our comfort zones. Creating an event was familiar; however, the idea of creating a fashion event was very new. We’re not fashionistas and we have the same questions about style and dressing during midlife as many other women. 

We, too, have fashion biases like believing we’re too old to wear something or our clothing choices must hide certain parts of our body we’re uncomfortable with. Yet, we believe how we dress embodies how we feel about ourselves, and living inside out is a part of living authentically. 

Our mission at Rumblings is to create a community of women who come together to learn, connect, and inspire one another to flourish after 50. A Fashion After 50 event was a perfect way to create a new opportunity to personally step outside of our comfort zone and bring midlife women together. 

Planning the event and meeting amazing new women was fun and exciting. The immediate excitement of the event has ebbed. What hasn’t faded is the energy and new way of thinking and self-discovery from doing something different, a bit scary, but a lot of fun!

Aside from the new friends we met and all we learned about fashion, business, and ourselves, several takeaways will inspire us as we plan future events. We hope it will inspire you to continue to learn, connect, and empower other women so that we can all flourish in midlife.

Women empower women when they come together and share their personal stories—especially midlife women. Over twenty-one, female entrepreneurs and small business owners came together to create this event. Most have reimagined their lives during midlife, taken a giant leap to jump into something new, and created the life they want. 

By far, the most inspiring part of the evening was hearing stories of midlife women reinventing themselves, starting new businesses, and creating a life where they flourish. It's not too late to chase your passions. We LOVED hearing their stories and all of them inspired us. 

What is your story that you can share with others? Who do you know who has reinvented themselves in midlife by changing careers, starting a business, or taking up a new hobby? Let’s start sharing our stories. Empowered women, empower women. 

Community is important. Moving into midlife can create feelings of isolation and loneliness for many women. Coming together in a community with other midlife women can help by knowing other women experience similar challenges, stresses, and transitions.

Whether we’re rethinking our careers or our personal lives, midlife women especially need deeper connections with other women in the same life stage. Midlife transitions are messy. There is something deeply personal about acknowledging our collective experiences with one another. 

That’s why we created Rumblings-a community of women who come together to learn, connect, and inspire one another. You can get involved by signing up for our email, attending events, or simply engaging on social media. Together we can support and encourage one another to thrive after 50. 

Together we create energy. When midlife women come together, we can energize a room. The past two years have been difficult. We’ve been managing careers, midlife transitions, balancing caring for family, neighbors, and older parents while navigating a pandemic and constant uncertainty. At the event, we witnessed the collective energy of women coming together, and it was magical! 

We can help one another think about how we want to shape the remainder of the second part of our lives. We are in unchartered territory in more significant numbers than women that came before us. Our mothers collectively may not have had the same options, life experiences, or financial independence as a norm that we have available to us. Sharing inspires. And, inspired women create energy. We must continually lift up one another to navigate midlife together, reimage what it means to thrive in our primetime, and have tons of fun while doing it!

Find your women. Share, support, and let go. Enjoy this fantastic time in your life.

Attendees engage with a few of the pop-up market vendors. All female-owned small businesses.

Support midlife women-owned businesses.  There will be 1.1 billion postmenopausal women by 2025. Yet, few companies market or create things specifically for our demographic beyond societal norms created by others to pressure us to be ageless, beautiful, or thin. We’ve all felt at one time or another to be less relevant because of aging. After years of working, many of us are either financially independent or have significant buying power. There is no reason we have to accept marketing and advertising that caters to younger demographics or males while diminishing our value by either ignoring us entirely or trying to limit our worth based on our appearance or age. We deserve better, and together we can advocate for it. 

There are amazing, diverse, and phenomenal midlife women running businesses. Seek them out. Support them by purchasing from them. Let’s create a social movement for change and show the world what it means to be a midlife woman. 

Fashion is from the inside out. Fashion is a reflection of who we are from the inside out. It should make us feel good about ourselves, which means wearing what makes us happy and confident. 

Download our phenomenal Fashion After 50 Tips curated by the expert panelists at our event. Learn how to edit your closet, build a capsule wardrobe, select swimwear, and more!

Fashion After 50 Tips

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Missed the event? You can watch the entire evening, experience the energy and excitement, hear expert advice from our panelists, and see looks from local boutiques on real-life (non-professional models) midlife women here. 

Sign-up today to get more information on how to Flourish After 50! 

Together We Rumble!

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