『What The Peri? - With Kirsten Cooke』のカバーアート

What The Peri? - With Kirsten Cooke

What The Peri? - With Kirsten Cooke

著者： Kirsten Cooke
無料で聴く

You're not going crazy. You're not broken. And no — it's not "just stress."


Somewhere in your 40s or 50s, your body starts doing things nobody warned you about — the weight that won't shift, the broken sleep, the brain fog, the anxiety from nowhere, the feeling that you've lost yourself. And when you finally go looking for answers, too often you're dismissed, brushed off, or sent away still confused.


What the Peri? is the podcast for women navigating perimenopause and menopause who are done being dismissed and just need someone to make it all make sense. Each episode cuts through the noise, the myths and the medical gaslighting — with honest conversations, real science, and plain-English answers about your hormones, your symptoms, and what actually helps.


I'm Kirsten Cooke — a personal trainer, women's health coach, perimenopause and menopause coach, and mum of four. I'm not talking to you from the outside looking in; I'm walking this road myself. These are the conversations I wish someone had sat me down and had with me years ago.


You are not imagining it. It is not your fault. And you are not alone.


The change you didn't ask for. The conversations you need.


Follow now so you don't miss an episode.

© 2026 What The Peri? - With Kirsten Cooke エクササイズ・フィットネス フィットネス・食生活・栄養 衛生・健康的な生活
エピソード
  • Perimenopause & Mental Health - Mood, Anxiety, Depression & The Mental Load (Ep 7)

    Perimenopause & Mental Health - Mood, Anxiety, Depression & The Mental Load (Ep 7)
    2026/08/28

    (Ep 7) You get through the day. But you are not the woman you were, and you cannot work out where she went. The sadness that turns up with no reason attached. The rage that goes off before you can stop it, and the guilt at eleven o'clock that night. The days you feel nothing at all — not upset, just flat. And the swinging between all of it, with no warning and no pattern, until you genuinely start to wonder whether you're losing your mind. You love your family completely — and you also want everyone to stop needing something from you for five minutes, and you feel horrendous for wanting it. And underneath it all, the question nobody can answer: how long is this going to last?

    That was my life for years. The hardest part wasn't any single symptom — it was that I didn't feel like myself, and I had no idea how long it would go on. I was prescribed antidepressants, more than once, and not one person asked a single question about my hormones. It took me about three years to work out what was actually happening.

    This week I'm going to the emotional side of perimenopause — the part that does the real damage. What's happening in your brain chemistry and why it's the swinging that hurts, not so much the low. How to tell hormonal mood changes apart from clinical depression. What to ask for at your next appointment so you don't lose the years I lost. And what genuinely helps.

    In this episode:

    → What it actually feels like — the rage that arrives before you can stop it, and the anxiety in women who've never been anxious

    → Anhedonia — why you can be clinically depressed without ever feeling sad, and why so many of us get told "you don't seem depressed"

    → What's happening chemically — why erratic hormones do more damage to your mood than low ones

    → What to ask for — and the one question that changes the appointment

    → What actually helps — what the guidelines really say about lifestyle before medication

    YOUR MOOD TOOLKIT — where to start this week:

    Name it out loud to one person, in the true version · Ten minutes of daylight within an hour of waking · Two sessions that make your muscles work — strength training came out better for women than men · Book the appointment and ask "could this be perimenopause as well?" · Ask for your thyroid, iron and ferritin, and B12

    Small changes stack. You don't have to fix it all at once — you just have to start.

    If you've spent months, or years, quietly believing you've become a worse person — angrier, colder, smaller — please consider that you might simply be a woman whose chemistry changed underneath her without anyone telling her it would. You have not lost your warmth. It's still there.

    ───────────

    Ready to work with me? The Peri Protocol is my personalised coaching program for women in perimenopause and menopause. Apply here → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/apply

    Grab your free guide — download your free What the Peri? guide → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/free-guide

    Come say hi 🌸 Follow along on Instagram and Facebook @kirstencookecoaching — I'd love to hear what resonated with you.

    ───────────

    Research referenced:

    Badawy Y et al. (2024). The risk of depression in the menopausal stages: a systematic review and meta-analysis — J Affective Disorders

    Malhi GS et al. (2021). The 2020 RANZCP clinical practice guidelines for mood disorders — ANZ Journal of Psychiatry

    Noetel M et al. (2024). Effect of exercise for depression — BMJ

    Senate Community Affairs References Committee (2024). Issues related to menopause and perimenopause — Parliament of Australia

    Note: Perimenopause raises the risk of depression, and mood changes are often the first sign. If your low mood is persistent rather than fluctuating, see your GP — and ask about your hormones as well, not instead.

    This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for personal medical decisions. If you're struggling, please reach out — Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 (Australia), both 24 hours a day.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 14 分
  • Brain Fog & Perimenopause - You're Not Losing Your Mind! (Ep 6)

    Brain Fog & Perimenopause - You're Not Losing Your Mind! (Ep 6)
    2026/08/21
    (Ep 6) Have you ever been mid-sentence — mid-thought — and had the whole thing simply vanish? Not slip away and come back a moment later. Gone. Or walked into a room and had no idea why you were there? Or reached for the simplest word — banana, fork, the name of someone you’ve known for years — and found nothing there at all? For months, that was my every day. It honestly felt like someone had invaded my brain overnight — this sharp, capable brain I’d built a whole career on, suddenly not mine anymore. And the hardest part wasn’t the forgetting itself. It was the frustration of grasping for a word that just would not come while everyone waited, and the quiet loneliness of holding it all together on the outside while, on the inside, I no longer recognised the person I’d become — and for all my trying, could do nothing to control it or make it stop. It took me a long time to understand what was really going on. It’s hormonal. It has a name. And for the vast majority of us, it’s temporary.This week I’m pulling perimenopausal brain fog apart properly — because it’s one of the most frightening symptoms and one of the most misunderstood, and it does not stay politely in the background. This isn’t “just push through and hope it passes.” It’s what’s actually happening in your brain, why it goes after your words specifically, how to tell it apart from Alzheimer’s, and a real toolkit for getting your sharpness back — everything from what you can change this week to the honest long-term picture almost nobody talks about. It’s the episode I wish someone had handed me before I lost months to the fear.In this episode:→ What brain fog actually feels like — at home and at work: the blank rooms, the words that vanish mid-sentence, the paragraph you read five times, and the invisible exhaustion nobody around you can see→ What’s really happening in your brain — oestrogen’s role across your memory and focus, and why your brain is recalibrating on less fuel, not breaking down→ Why it’s almost certainly NOT early dementia — the three clear ways to tell the difference, and when to see your GP anyway→ The honest long-term picture — the higher Alzheimer’s risk in women, and the genuinely hopeful flip side: up to about 45% of dementia risk is within your control→ What pours petrol on the fog — sleep loss, stress, low iron or B12, an underactive thyroid, alcohol and ultra-processed food→ What actually helps — protecting your sleep, lifting heavy for your brain (not just your body), eating for your brain, and lightening the invisible mental load→ The one thing to start this week to feel a little more like yourself againYOUR BRAIN-FOG TOOLKIT — where to start this week:Protect your sleep first · Lift heavy two or three times a week and move your body daily · Eat for your brain — protein, oily fish, and 25–30g of fibre · Ask your GP to check your ferritin and iron, your B12 and your thyroid · Get it out of your head and onto paper, without shame · Have the honest conversation about your options with a practitioner who understands menopauseSmall changes stack. You don’t have to fix it all at once — you just have to start.If you’ve been quietly terrified that you’re losing your mind — you’re not. Your brain isn’t broken and it isn’t slipping away. It’s recalibrating, on less fuel than it’s used to, in the middle of a hormonal upheaval nobody warned you about — and for the vast majority of us, the sharpness comes back. You’re still in there. Your clever, capable brain is still in there. And there is a great deal you can do to help it.───────────Ready to work with me? The Peri Protocol is my personalised coaching program for women in perimenopause and menopause. Apply here → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/applyGrab your free guide — download your free What the Peri? guide → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/free-guideCome say hi 🌸 Follow along on Instagram and Facebook @kirstencookecoaching — I’d love to hear what resonated with you.───────────Research referenced:Greendale GA et al. (2009). Effects of the menopause transition and hormone use on cognitive performance in midlife women (SWAN) — NeurologyMosconi L et al. (2021). Menopause impacts human brain structure, connectivity, energy metabolism, and amyloid-beta deposition — Scientific ReportsMaki PM et al. (2022). Brain fog in menopause: a health-care professional’s guide for decision-making and counseling on cognition — ClimactericLivingston G et al. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission — The LancetNote: Perimenopausal brain fog is extremely common and, for most women, temporary. This episode isn’t a substitute for assessment — if your memory changes are severe, steadily worsening, or frightening the people around you, please see your GP.This ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    32 分
  • The 3am Club - Perimenopause, SLEEP, and How to Get Your Nights Back (Ep 5)

    The 3am Club - Perimenopause, SLEEP, and How to Get Your Nights Back (Ep 5)
    2026/08/13
    Have you ever fallen asleep exhausted, only for your eyes to fly open at 3am — wide awake, heart pounding, mind racing through everything you forgot to do today and everything you have to remember tomorrow — while the whole house sleeps around you? Welcome to what I call the 3am club. I was a fully paid-up member for years: a personal trainer who spent her whole career telling everyone else to protect their sleep, quietly running on four or five hours of broken sleep myself. I told myself it was the kids, that I'd simply become a light sleeper — until it kept getting worse and I realised something bigger was going on. It was hormonal. And once I understood the mechanism, everything started to change.This week I'm pulling perimenopausal sleep apart properly — because it's one of the most devastating symptoms and one of the least talked about, and it does not just stay in the bedroom. This isn't "have a warm bath and cut out caffeine." It's the real, physiological reasons you're lying there wired at 3am, what's actually happening in your body while you're awake, and a proper toolkit for getting your nights back — from what you can change tonight all the way through to the options most women are never told about. It's the episode I wish someone had handed me before I lost years of sleep thinking I just had to cope.In this episode:→ Why perimenopause wrecks your sleep — the hormones that gang up on you all at once: falling progesterone (your built-in sedative), night sweats, oestrogen and melatonin, and the 3am cortisol and blood-sugar surge that wakes you wired rather than groggy→ Restless legs and night cramps — and the surprising link between your dropping oestrogen, your iron, and the ferritin test to ask for→ What's really happening while you sleep — why your nights got lighter and more fragile, and why it's always 3am and not 11pm→ Why there's no one-size-fits-all — how your own biology and chronotype (whether you're a night owl or an early bird) change what actually works for you→ The toolkit, layer by layer — the foundations, the natural support worth knowing about, and the bigger levers, including the option for sleep that hardly anyone mentions→ The one thing to start tonight to take back some controlYOUR 3AM TOOLKIT — where to start this week:Anchor your wake time (yes, weekends too) · Get morning light within 30 minutes · Keep the room cool and try a warm shower before bed · Move the last glass of wine earlier · Long, slow out-breaths when you wake at 3am · Ask your doctor about your ferritin, and about progesterone and CBT-ISmall changes stack. You don't have to fix it all in one night — you just have to start.If you've been lying awake at 3am, quietly convinced you've simply become a terrible sleeper — you haven't. Your biology changed, and no one told you. It's real, it's physiological, and a great deal of it is workable.───────────Ready to work with me? The Peri Protocol is my personalised coaching program for women in perimenopause and menopause. Apply here → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/applyGrab your free guide — download your free What the Peri? guide → www.kirstencookecoaching.com/free-guideCome say hi 🌸 Follow along on Instagram and Facebook @kirstencookecoaching — I'd love to hear what resonated with you.───────────Research referenced (all verified Aug 2026):Baker FC et al. (2018). Sleep problems during the menopausal transition: prevalence, impact, and management challenges — Nature and Science of Sleep. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S125807McCurry SM et al. (2016). Telephone-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women with Vasomotor Symptoms (MsFLASH) — JAMA Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1795Balban MY et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal — Cell Reports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895Note: In Australia, melatonin is TGA-regulated and largely prescription-only (with a pharmacist-only prolonged-release option for adults 55+). Speak to your doctor or pharmacist.This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for personal medical decisions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 (Australia).
    続きを読む 一部表示
    30 分
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
まだレビューはありません