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