- 3 months ago
From puberty to post-menopause, hormones significantly impact women's health experiences—yet they're often dismissed, misunderstood, or inadequately addressed in traditional healthcare settings. From hot flashes and mood swings to cysts and fibroids — the realities of hormone-driven health care are complicated and difficult to tackle. This panel will be an interdisciplinary conversation discussing the necessity of a multifaceted approach to women's health.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I have an amazing panel right now.
00:02Blame it on the hormones.
00:04So allow me to bring to the stage Dr. Phyllis Hovey.
00:12Come on, Dr. Phyllis.
00:16Dr. Sharon Malone.
00:19And Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
00:30We got the white memo, y'all.
00:40All right, y'all.
00:41Thank you so much for joining us.
00:43Okay, I know everybody's been dancing to Boots on the Ground.
00:47Yes, and where them fans at?
00:49How many people been talking about where them fans at?
00:51Show of hands.
00:52How many people been talking about where them fans at?
00:54Now, how many people actually need the fan
00:56because they might be going through a little menopause?
00:58They might be going through a little perimenopause.
01:02So many of us, there's a real mystery around menopause, what it is.
01:07And there's a real mystery around perimenopause.
01:10And I have someone here who actually wrote a book on the darn thing.
01:14So, Dr. Sharon, break down the difference between perimenopause and menopause.
01:19Absolutely.
01:20Thank you, Bevy, and thank all of you for listening.
01:22But, you know, menopause is my favorite topic.
01:25And it is also the thing that most women don't know enough about.
01:30Menopause does not happen to old ladies.
01:33Menopause happens to women at the prime of their lives.
01:35The average age for reaching menopause is 51.
01:39But for African-American women, it comes earlier than that,
01:43about a year earlier than average.
01:44But what we don't realize is that perimenopause, which is that period leading up to menopause,
01:52to having had your last period, can start as early as 10 years before you've had your last period.
02:00So that means that's happening to women in their late 30s, early 40s.
02:04And all of those symptoms that we think about when we think of menopause, hot flashes, mood swings, nights, sweats, sleeplessness,
02:13they start happening well before your periods stop.
02:17And that's where I think a lot of people get confused because they say,
02:21well, this can't be perimenopause.
02:23This can't be menopause because I'm still getting my period.
02:26But this is the message that I have really, really been trying to drive home, particularly to black women.
02:32Not only do the perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms start earlier,
02:37they last longer, and they are more severe.
02:41And that is a long time to be miserable.
02:44Yes.
02:44Yes, that's a long time to be miserable.
02:46Dr. Sharon, I'm going to cut you off right there because we got to get, you know, we got to move around.
02:49Yes, ma'am.
02:50Okay.
02:51Jasmine, while she was talking, your eyes were wide.
02:53Well, Guts, baby, you know, you are a powerhouse in the Congress.
02:58Can we give it up for my sister, my warrior?
03:01This is my warrior sister right here.
03:04But girl, the only, exactly.
03:07But are you fighting a battle, a private summer?
03:11Do you feel like you're having any symptoms at all?
03:14No.
03:15You know, when they told me I was doing this panel, I was like, I thought y'all thought I was young.
03:19I didn't understand what was going on.
03:21No, I really haven't, but I will tell you that I only started to really understand, even though I am woman, right,
03:29I only started to understand about these struggles once I got to Congress, which I kind of think is ridiculous
03:34because you shouldn't have to go to Congress before these conversations become like a norm, right?
03:40And it was my big sis, Ayanna Pressley.
03:43She was the first person that sat me down.
03:45And I was like, girl, what you talking about?
03:47She was like, you need to understand these things, little sister.
03:50You know, so I think she's going to help me, guide me, you know, through Congress.
03:54But it is important that we as women, especially black women, that we engage in these conversations.
04:00And as I was just in the back, I'm not going to tell y'all exactly what Holly Berry told us,
04:04but Holly Berry has been advocating for legislation that will make sure that we can get the research that we need
04:13so that women can get the treatment that they need because so many doctors don't know how to treat us when it does come around.
04:21And she started describing what menopause was.
04:24Y'all, I about fell out.
04:26Every time somebody explains something, I'm like, I'm going to die.
04:29I'm going to die.
04:30I'm going to die.
04:31The Lord knows I'm here today.
04:33And thank God, it ain't my time.
04:35It ain't your time.
04:36Just yet.
04:37Now, okay, so that's interesting because you are a young woman.
04:40I want to go on the record as saying that.
04:43But so is Dr. Phyllis.
04:45She's a young woman.
04:45She's only 37 years old.
04:47And you are actually experiencing perimenopausal symptoms.
04:51I am experiencing perimenopause, and I think it's such an important conversation
04:55because a lot of women wouldn't expect perimenopause, 37, 38.
05:00They think, you know, I'm going to wait until my 50 to start dealing with that.
05:04And it's so important for women to know themselves.
05:07It's important to know yourself because when your body starts to change,
05:11no test is going to be needed for you to know that you're entering this season of life
05:15because very often a lot of these symptoms get dismissed.
05:18So when I started noticing irregular periods, more, I'm more irritable, okay?
05:24I'm a little angry.
05:25I'm not going to lie.
05:26But you know what?
05:27Increased libido.
05:28That's a fun one.
05:30I realized, I didn't need a test to tell me that, yep, I am in perimenopause.
05:35And from when I lost 100 pounds four years ago is when I started to really start listening to my body.
05:41Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
05:41You lost 100 pounds?
05:42I lost 100 pounds understanding my genetics.
05:46And so unraveling my DNA and understanding epigenetics, which I can talk about forever, but I won't.
05:52I promise I won't.
05:54The fact that we're in charge, our body's listening to us every single day, how we eat, how we sleep,
06:00how we show up day to day, how we manage stress.
06:02I know, Dr. Sharon, you'll probably talk to us about stress today.
06:05But that's what our body's listening to.
06:07And our genes can express based on how we eat for our body, how we exercise.
06:13Or we can downregulate some of those disease processes in our body.
06:17So I'm not dealing with a lot of the typical symptoms of perimenopause because I'm not dealing with a lot of inflammation.
06:23I cut back the anti-inflammatory foods.
06:26But I wouldn't have known to do that if I wasn't paying attention to my body and if I didn't realize I was in that phase of life.
06:33And I would have waited too long to start dealing with this problem.
06:37And that would have been a more reactive situation than preventative.
06:40Speaking of a reactive situation, you know, Jasmine, you've been on the front lines fighting against that big, ugly bill.
06:47And sadly, we lost that battle.
06:49But we still have to keep moving.
06:51I know you know all about the disparities in health care for black women compared to white women.
06:57And a lot of that, of course, has to do with government policy.
07:00This doesn't just happen in a vacuum.
07:02This is literally a plot.
07:05And you believe that health care is a human right.
07:09And so with the passing of this horrible bill, you stated that we could lose at least 16 million people could lose health care
07:17because they're destroying Medicaid and Medicare.
07:20Hospitals will close, especially in rural communities.
07:25They're already dealing with a crumbling health care infrastructure.
07:28So we know we have to keep fighting.
07:30But so how do we do that?
07:32How do we help you help us to keep fighting against the evils that are trying to keep us sick?
07:38Because you know health care is a big business.
07:41And they ain't interested in the prevention and they're not interested in the cure.
07:45They're interested in keeping us sick.
07:46So talk a little bit about what we can be doing from a political point of view.
07:51Yeah.
07:51So I think this is a great conversation for us to engage in.
07:55Number one, it's a lot to try to go through everything that's in this bill.
07:59But one of the things that I recognize in this election is that a lot of people were not voting for the greater good.
08:05They were voting for what they thought was just themselves.
08:08And now they figured out that, well, we are all connected in some way.
08:12I want you to understand that even with this bill, I want you to look at this in a very holistic way.
08:18Because I don't know that many of you are necessarily on Medicaid.
08:22I don't know how many of you may be on Medicare.
08:25Okay.
08:25But the reality is that you just brought up a really good point.
08:28You're saying that hospitals are going to shut down.
08:31This isn't fear mongering.
08:32This is basic understanding of business and how it works.
08:37So here it is.
08:38When you look at our larger urban centers, they're going to be in a better position to survive.
08:43But they're literally going to be hanging on by a thread because there's a certain amount of money.
08:48We're talking about $1 trillion, y'all, cut from Medicaid.
08:51$1 trillion.
08:53That's a lot of money.
08:54We should be outraged.
08:55We should literally be outraged in the streets.
08:59Absolutely.
08:59Dismantling the patriarchy that is doing this to us.
09:03And you're talking about 16 million people.
09:06But when they talk about the 16 million, they're talking about the 16 million that are actually on Medicaid.
09:11The reality is that if you aren't on Medicaid but you do have health insurance, your costs are going to go up so that those hospitals can survive, so that those doctors can survive.
09:22So everybody is going to be impacted.
09:25I just want to be clear about that.
09:26It's not just the 16 million on Medicaid.
09:31So the best thing that you can do is to educate yourself from a holistic lens so that you can go out and you can advocate and educate your own community.
09:41Because if everybody sits back and says, well, I'm not one of the 16 million, so this ain't got nothing to do with me, wrong.
09:49Same thing when it comes down to SNAP benefits and the amount of people that are going to go even hungrier in this country.
09:57It is going to impact you, whether or not your grocery store still exists in your community, because there's going to be money that's not going to go into it.
10:06So we've got to better understand.
10:08I know we're talking about hormones right now.
10:09But overall, we've got to understand that when you talk about all of the reckless policies that have come through from tariffs on, you've got to look at this holistically because it's impacting our entire economy.
10:24Right now, even here at Essence, we know that the numbers are down right now, when we look at tourism into this country, they are anticipating that we are going to lose close to $13 billion worth of tourism dollars because of the crazy issues that we're having on immigration.
10:44I need y'all to understand that they want to silo us and say, well, this ain't my problem or that's not my problem.
10:50It is all of our problems.
10:51It's all of our problems.
10:52And I appreciate, I'm done because baby going to get me.
10:55I'm going to get them.
10:56But I want to say that I do appreciate the men that are here today, too, because you understand that this is an all of us problem.
11:04The more that we can look at things holistically, menopause, perimenopause, it's not just women.
11:11If you're relying on women, you need to understand it as well, okay?
11:16This is the perfect segue, Jasmine, because I actually want to ask Dr. Sharon about how we need our men to show up and what they need to understand.
11:26I see there's a few men in the audience.
11:28But as Jasmine just put, like this affects the men in our households as well because we do have mood swings.
11:36We are, so much is changing about us mentally and physically.
11:41So what do the men need to know and how can our men support us?
11:44Well, you know what?
11:45I think the first and foremost thing that men can do is to understand what's happening.
11:51You know, women are not just being difficult for no reason.
11:54We don't feel well.
11:56We're not sleeping well.
11:58We are not our best selves as we are transitioning through perimenopause and menopause.
12:02And that's why I wrote my book.
12:05My book is called Grown Woman Talk.
12:07And it is everything you need to know.
12:09But it is also not just for women.
12:11It's for every person who knows a grown woman, whether it's your mother, your sister, your wife, or your friend.
12:18It is vitally important that we have the support that we need.
12:21But let me say this because I think a very important point about my book is making sure that women are educated, that they know what to expect at this point of life.
12:32And don't just sit there and suffer silently.
12:35We have solutions, but it involves educating yourself, knowing how to advocate for yourself.
12:42But there's another problem that we're going to have that's going to get bigger as a result of this and lack of education on the physician front.
12:50We don't have enough doctors who know how to treat menopause and perimenopause.
12:57And if you are a black woman, here's a statistic for you.
13:00I told you you already suffer more, longer, and more severely.
13:04You are least likely to get a prescription for the most effective treatment for menopause, which is hormone therapy, if you go to a doctor.
13:15Now, why is that?
13:16Black women only get about 1% of black women are being treated for their menopausal symptoms.
13:22That's a lot of misery.
13:23And that's why, you know, with my job at Alloy Women's Health is to make sure that all women have access.
13:30It shouldn't matter what your zip code is.
13:32All women to have access.
13:33All women should have access.
13:34All women.
13:37You know, Jasmine touched on another really pertinent thing because, see, it's all connected.
13:43None of this works in a silo.
13:44So, when she talks about SNAP benefits and she talks about food scarcity and food insecurity, do you guys realize that most of us live in food deserts?
13:55If we live in urban centers, we live in food deserts.
13:57I live in Harlem.
13:58I love my hamlet of Harlem.
14:00But, y'all, it's hard to find a good salad there.
14:03But I can find a lot of fried chicken.
14:06And that's problematic.
14:07And that brings me to you, Dr. Phyllis.
14:09You know, one of the biggest things that women complain about when it comes to menopause is the weight gain.
14:16And that becomes, like, the actual elephant in the room.
14:20And as our butts spread, our attitudes also get bigger.
14:25Right?
14:26Thank you for catching the joke.
14:27Y'all, come on.
14:28Wake up, y'all.
14:30We're talking about hormones, but we don't have to be so dour.
14:33So talk a little bit about what we can do about our food and the way we're just living our lives on the day-to-day.
14:42Because you also talk about stress and the business that you do as well.
14:45So the stress and the food of it all.
14:48Oh, my goodness.
14:48So what I do is genetic weight loss.
14:51What I do is help women understand the answer is inside of you.
14:55When you understand your genetics or when you understand how your body reacts to certain foods or why you have cravings in the first place,
15:03I think that a lot of us feel a lot of shame when we're dealing with weight or when we haven't dealt with weight issues
15:09and then we hit perimenopause.
15:10And for the very first time ever, we're dealing with these cravings.
15:14We think this is a willpower issue.
15:16This is a discipline issue.
15:17It's not.
15:18Your cravings are telling you a story.
15:20And so for me, I was a fat doctor.
15:22I knew the perils of obesity, but I was still 100 pounds overweight advising people and telling them to diet and exercise more
15:31when I knew that didn't work for me specifically.
15:34And so what I needed to do and what I learned to do was understand my genetics and create a proprietary system
15:40where I could understand what women gain weight because of cortisol.
15:44Some women are cortisol carriers.
15:46Some women deal with hormonal imbalance.
15:48I call them hormone havoc.
15:50So I talk about that in my book, Lean Genes, and that's a lot of the work that I do.
15:56But what you can do is when you start paying attention to your body and realizing,
16:00how do I feel after I eat certain foods?
16:03Why am I craving something?
16:05Am I bored?
16:06That could be a dopamine issue, dopamine deficiency.
16:08Or is it always the same type of thing that I'm craving?
16:11I thought I was just a chocolate addict.
16:13But really, it was a specific magnesium type of magnesium deficiency.
16:17And so very often times, we just want to get rid of the problem.
16:20I don't want the cravings.
16:21Give me a medication to get rid of the cravings.
16:24As soon as you get off that medication, those cravings come right back because underlying there's a reason why you had that craving in the first place.
16:30So if you're entering a stage where you're like, every single woman, doc, please just get rid of the belly fat, you're gaining that belly fat for a reason.
16:39So let's get an understanding as to why it's there.
16:41Get to that.
16:42And then you can feel, have more vitality, feel more confident than ever.
16:46So that's a big part of the work that I do.
16:48And it starts with first paying attention to yourself, but also asking the right questions so that you can get the answers to fix this problem once and for all.
16:57Yeah.
16:57So asking the right questions.
16:59It's all about advocating for ourselves.
17:01So Jasmine, you are obviously a strong advocate, not just for yourself, but for us.
17:06In your life, have you ever had to deal with doctors kind of like undermining what you come in and you say, this is going on with me and them saying, no, it's fine.
17:18It's okay.
17:18It's this thing.
17:19And have you ever been misdiagnosed?
17:21Have you ever felt like you weren't being heard when you go to your doctor?
17:24So luckily for me, that has not been my experience.
17:29But what you bring up is a very real thing.
17:31Um, I unfortunately have had friends who have been ignored, um, their pains have been ignored.
17:38In fact, um, I recently sat down with a, a man that is a constituent.
17:45Unfortunately, um, I had met his wife.
17:48She had interviewed me and she died right after childbirth.
17:53And he has now found himself on the front lines of advocating and trying to educate,
17:59but no one would listen to her as she was explaining like the pain that she was feeling.
18:05And it kind of goes back to what doc was just saying about this idea of there's a lot of complications about why we don't get the treatments that we need.
18:13Yeah.
18:13From not being able to access healthcare in a way that we need to access it, whether it's the providers or whether it's even the medications.
18:20And it's only going to get worse.
18:23But also it's just this idea that when you look at a black woman, if she says that I'm in pain, it's like, oh, no, no, no, you're fine.
18:30Because we do, there is this perception of we're so strong and this and that.
18:34And it's not to say that we're not strong to literally be able to walk into a doctor and say, but I am human.
18:40Yes.
18:41And so here is my pain.
18:42Yes.
18:43But this is why I, again, applaud the men that are here.
18:45Because if anything ever happens, it is incumbent upon men to be our advocates because we may not be able to speak for ourselves.
18:55And they are going to have to go through hell and high water to fight for us.
18:59So it is important to make sure that everybody in your life is in tune and doesn't just look at you and say, oh, well, you're so strong.
19:07Because at the end of the day, we are still human, which means that we still bleed and we still hurt.
19:12Amen.
19:14Dr. Sharon, let's talk a little bit about some tips that we can give to the folks in the audience about how to advocate.
19:21What do we say to our doctors when we're going there?
19:23Because we had a conversation and I told you that I'm not on HRT.
19:27And you were like, well, Bevy, you probably should be.
19:31But tell them what you were talking to me about.
19:33It was so interesting to me.
19:35Because I don't, like you, Jasmine, and I'm 58.
19:39And I don't feel like I'm exhibiting any of the kind of stereotypical signs of menopause.
19:46I mean, the weight gain, which also Dr. Sharon hit me to that.
19:49Because I was like, I ain't waiting until I was like 45.
19:52And Dr. Sharon was like, yeah, girl, menopause.
19:54But so talk to us a little bit about how to advocate for ourselves.
19:59You know what?
19:59The first thing to be able to do to advocate for yourself is to realize that you have more power than you think.
20:06And I think that we are beyond the point now of thinking that someone is going to take care of us.
20:11You know, my book is called Grown Woman Talk.
20:13But to be honest with you, one of the working titles was Nobody's Coming to Save You.
20:17And that's been the message over and over and over again for women and particularly for black women.
20:24So the more you know, the more you can go in.
20:27When somebody tells you something and that does not sound right to you, just like you were saying, don't go, well, I guess that's what the doctor said.
20:34No, you know, speak up for yourself, but come in there from a position of knowledge and power so you know how to advocate for yourselves personally.
20:46And if you can't do it personally, bring someone with you.
20:49And it's so funny because I was just looking at a feed a couple of days ago.
20:53And Venus Williams was talking about the fact that she's been suffering with fibroids for 30 years and doctors telling her she's fine.
21:03I was like, wait a minute.
21:05And this is, there's a message that I want to give you, everyone today, is that one, there is no metal for suffering.
21:13So if you are suffering, then you make someone listen to it and answer that.
21:17And by the same token, just understand that you have the power.
21:23And if someone says something to you and that doesn't sound right, move on.
21:27Go to someone else.
21:28Because nothing makes me sadder than seeing that women have been suffering and have been ignored.
21:35And black women often suffer in silence.
21:38Women in particular.
21:39We push through.
21:39Right.
21:40And let me say, don't let anyone tell you how you feel.
21:45Only you know that.
21:46Yes.
21:48Dr. Phillips, I know that you really do work a lot in the holistic space.
21:53Are there any holistic tips that you can give to the audience that doesn't require them to do something drastic?
21:59And just some things that they can do maybe around in their community that can change and shift the way they're dealing with menopause?
22:06So your body's actually listening to you and your body's taking the lead.
22:11That's the whole premise of epigenetics when I talk about activating genes and turning off certain genes.
22:17So day to day, you're making choices for the future you.
22:21How you eat.
22:22So yes, sugar.
22:24You want to cut down sugar.
22:25Learn to read a label.
22:27There is sugar in everything.
22:29There's sugar in ketchup.
22:29So yes, initially, it might feel quite difficult to lower the amount of sugar that you're eating.
22:36But when you start paying attention, when you vote with your dollar, when you purchase foods that are low in sugar, then you'll start to see those types of foods more and more on your shelf.
22:46Cut back on the alcohol.
22:47Look, I know I've never been to New Orleans.
22:49I did have some drinks.
22:50I got to tell you that.
22:51Yeah.
22:51I'm paying for it today, okay?
22:54Listen to your body.
22:55Don't write it off.
22:57Obviously, my inflammation is going to be a little bit higher today because of drinking alcohol.
23:01So cut back on the alcohol.
23:02Pay attention to how you feel when you don't have it.
23:05And cut back on that processed foods.
23:07When you start cutting back on inflammation today, when you do eventually go through menopause, it'll be easier because your body's not reacting in such an inflammatory way.
23:16Because with menopause can come things like joint pain, brain fog, irritability, heavy, heavy periods towards the end.
23:24All of that is symptoms of inflammation.
23:27A lot of women having to get hysterectomies because their fibroids are growing larger and larger.
23:32Again, what?
23:34Inflammation.
23:35And so you have more control than you think.
23:37Not everything needs to be a pill or a medication because very oftentimes if you go on a medication, plan to be on that medication for the rest of your life.
23:46So I love that question.
23:47What can we start to do today?
23:49You could start to do a lot.
23:50Start today.
23:51Well, it's still the weekend.
23:52So start on Monday.
23:54Thank you so much for that.
23:55I actually just recently stopped drinking.
23:58And don't you feel amazing?
24:00Well, you look good.
24:02But I've lost weight.
24:03And that's a bonus.
24:04But more importantly, the inflammation has gone down and everything.
24:08And that's been really great for me.
24:10Oh, I'm so glad.
24:10But now I'm craving sugar.
24:12So we have to talk about that later on.
24:13We've got to get you a genetic test.
24:14My nutritionist told me that because I cut back on the sugar, that's the reason I'm on alcohol, that's the reason why I'm craving sugar.
24:21Do you find that to be a correlation?
24:23Is there a correlation there, Dr. Sharon?
24:26I don't know that that's true.
24:27I mean, but we like the things that we like.
24:29So there's that.
24:30And I think that it's just changing your mindset and understanding the things that, you know, you can do things in moderation.
24:37Because I'm also not an austerity program person, you know, but occasionally, maybe not every day, twice a week.
24:45Twice a week.
24:45Twice a week.
24:46But sister, you know, you are out there running and gunning.
24:50And you are the number one.
24:52They are stressing you out in Congress.
24:55They're stressing you out in Washington, D.C.
24:57How do you do self-care?
25:00What do you do to alleviate the stress?
25:02Because as I know you said you're not going through any kind of perimenopause or anything like that.
25:07But the stress will come in a much bigger, deeper, meaningful manner once you hit that.
25:14So we have to start trying to modify your stress levels right now.
25:19Yeah, so this is a great question because I consistently talk about the fact that while I'm not a doctor, I understand that stress absolutely kills us.
25:28And so I walk in some days and I'll be like, y'all are not going to kill me.
25:33Now, as it relates to self-care, I ain't doing it.
25:38I'll just be honest.
25:39I ain't doing it.
25:40I'm not, you know, I could sit here and lie to y'all.
25:42It's just not really who I am.
25:43I'm not doing it because I get so overwhelmed.
25:47I mean, y'all don't understand.
25:49Like, y'all see kind of maybe what's on social media.
25:52You maybe see some things on TV.
25:54But, like, y'all don't see the death threats.
25:57Y'all don't see the emails that I get, whether they're love or hate or worry.
26:01And so, for me, my solution is that I'm not going to be in Congress half as long as the average, at least, person on my side of the aisle.
26:12Because I don't think that it is healthy for me.
26:15So long as I care the way that I care, I just don't know that I can sustain that.
26:20Now, I am trying to be thoughtful about being more intentional.
26:23For me, I feel like I need to find the exercise that I like and also allows me to get some stuff out.
26:31So I feel like punching something is going to be, like, my thing.
26:35Pretending that somebody faces.
26:37I feel like that's, like, going to help me.
26:40But I literally, since I've been here, I was like, okay, I've got to carve out time because it's only about to get so much worse.
26:49Like, every day since that man has been in office, I've been like, okay, well, this is bad that he got elected.
26:55And I'm like, okay, so this is real bad.
26:58And it just, I feel like there's no, every time I feel like there's no lower that we can go.
27:03Yeah.
27:03The fact that literally in my state right now, this is the final point that I'll make, and I ain't got nothing to do with menopause, but the fact that we're in my state right now in Texas, there are people that they are still looking for.
27:14There are people that have perished.
27:17Yeah.
27:17Y'all don't understand that literally, as far as I'm concerned, this administration has killed people because of their incompetence as well as their cruelty.
27:27It is, you know, people that have never heard of Noah didn't understand necessarily the importance of Noah.
27:34But it matters when we are specifically in a state like Louisiana right now.
27:39Yes.
27:39When we are walking into hurricane season or putting somebody over FEMA who did not even know that there was a thing called hurricane season.
27:47Like, we, I am nervous about what is going to happen and about what has already happened.
27:54I know.
27:54But here's the thing, Jasmine, yes, y'all can clap it up for Jasmine.
28:01And you have, and I know you're on it and you are fighting for us every single day, but you've got to take care of yourself because if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of us.
28:12And I pray for you all the time, but I worry about your health.
28:16I really, really do.
28:18And so to that point, Dr. Sharon, I know this has nothing to do with menopause really, but let's talk a little bit about how we, all of us in this audience, can be controlling our stress or trying to alleviate some stress.
28:32Well, you know what?
28:33I always say this.
28:34I say we can't always control the stress that comes to us.
28:38The only control we have is how do we deal with that stress.
28:42And, yeah, and it's sometimes it involves whether it's prayer or meditation or exercise, but you've got to deal with it because if you don't, it really takes a toll on the inside.
28:52And the one thing that I would say to women, and particularly perimenopausal and menopausal women, is that I cannot emphasize enough for you the importance of sleep.
29:03Because if you do not get a good night's sleep and whatever's keeping you up, be it stress, be it hot flashes, you have to treat that.
29:11Because stress is not only just, you know, difficult in the moment or uncomfortable in the moment, it has long-term health implications.
29:20Women who have hot flashes and who don't sleep at night, guess what they're at higher risk for?
29:26Cardiovascular disease, weight gain, hypertension, diabetes, all from not getting a good night's sleep.
29:34So I say to all of you who are perimenopausal or menopausal out there, if you are having hot flashes that keep you up at night, please get treated for that because it's not going to go away.
29:47Remember, it can go on for decades.
29:48Oh, Lord, she told me that bad news.
29:50And that is too much stress on your body.
29:53So sleep.
29:53Yes, it is.
29:54And do whatever you need to do to make sure you get a good night's sleep.
29:56Thank you, Dr. Sharon.
29:58And Dr. Phyllis, I'm going to leave it with you, my love.
30:01Tell us what we should be doing about our stress levels from a holistic point of view.
30:08So I love everything that Dr. Sharon talked about sleeping is so important.
30:13But put a plan in place.
30:14If you know your job stresses you out and you come home and you start doom scrolling or you go in the cabinet, put your running shoes by the door and make yourself go for a 10-minute walk as soon as you get home.
30:26That's going to lower your cortisol levels so dramatically so that you can sleep better, so that you're not getting belly fat, so that you're not having cravings, so that you're not up in the pantry in the middle of the night.
30:36So that little action, 10 minutes, and please do not wait to be motivated.
30:40You do not need to be motivated to brush your teeth, right?
30:42It's just something that you do.
30:44Look at it the same way.
30:45That's how important it is to manage your stress because, like we've already mentioned, it can cause heart attacks.
30:51It can cause death.
30:52It can cause stroke.
30:53It can cause diabetes.
30:55It can cause havoc in every organ system.
30:57And so if you have, I know I can talk on and on for this on hours, but we do have a booth down at the Unbothered Wellness Sanctuary.
31:05Please come by and check us out or head to geneticweightloss.com if you want more information.
31:10I just really want to empower you to know that the answers are inside of you.
31:13So I hope to hear from you guys.
31:15Thank you, Dr. Phyllis.
31:16And thank you, Dr. Sharon.
31:18And thank you, Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, for everything that you do.
31:24That's my sister right there.
31:26And, guys, please check out Dr. Sharon's book, Grown Women's Business.
31:31So, you know, and, of course, everybody, please praise up for Jasmine at all times.
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