Every time I learn something new about women’s health, I feel a profound sense of grief. At the center is always rage. Why did I not know this before? I ask myself. How many women in my lineage – in all of our lineages – died without ever knowing this information? That is, without ever knowing how to exist in communion with our bodies.When I first learned about perimenopause, I immediately thought of my mother.  What was she balancing while her body was shifting and asking her to slow down? Did she even know that her cycle would change years before she entered menopause? 

The truth is, in a lot of ways, we weren’t supposed to know. It’s no secret that women’s health is notoriously underfunded and under-researched. Including women in clinical trials only became legally required in 1993, with the passage of Public Law 103-43. Factor in race and cultural stigma, and Black and Brown women are left even more in the dark. 

Perimenopause is the season before your body transitions into menopause. It usually begins in your late 30s to early 40s and is commonly marked by changes in your menstrual cycle, due to fluctuating hormones, which can lead to more severe PMS, sleep disturbances, and hot flashes. There is so much that we still do not know about menopause, and while conversations on perimenopause are becoming more common, they are still relatively new.According to Angelica Lindsey-Ali, a sexual and reproductive health educator, Black and Brown women often miss the signs that they are undergoing any sort of hormonal changes because of chronic stress. 

“When it comes to stress and perimenopause, for a lot of us, we do not realize the signs because stress is neutral for us,” Lindsey-Ali says. “It’s something that we always experience and because we find ourselves in a constant state of hypervigilance, we may not pick up the hormonal shifts and changes. Stress can mute our body’s ability to recognize itself and the processes that it’s going through. From a biological, medical, and emotional standpoint, stress exacerbates symptoms of perimenopause.”

She says that she often sees Black women diagnosed with chronic stress-related ailments, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, during perimenopausal years. While doctors often recommend dietary changes and exercise to mitigate these risks, she says it’s not enough for women experiencing chronic stress.Womb Wellness Educator Chantal Blake says she often meets Black women who are perimenopausal and frustrated with their bodies but unaware of the role strain plays.“So many of my clients tell me that they don’t have time to eat or sleep because of life’s demands, but how we eat and sleep are fundamental to our health. Even if we got through our 20s and 30s with poor self-care, our 40s are the decade of reckoning,” she says.“It might feel like a betrayal when you can’t use your body as you previously did. But the symptoms of perimenopause are opportunities to start giving more intention and attention towards the body that has held you through so much and now needs to be held.”

A common response I’ve received while having conversations on cycle syncing or preparing for perimenopause is that “we” don’t do that. That our grandmothers and great-grandmothers didn’t need to take a week off during their bleed, and that their bodies were strong and built for durability. But what was done out of survival cannot also be what happens when there is choice. 

And African history shows that was not always the case. 

As Lindsey-Ali points out, traditional African societies saw perimenopause as preparation for becoming an elder. Women weren’t seen as disposable once they entered the golden years of child-rearing. Instead, they were being prepared for another role that would require less physical energy and more spiritual grounding.“When you enter perimenopause, you become the foundation and the pillar for the family. You become the person that people seek out advice from. You become a repository of knowledge and that is a place of deep, deep honor,” Lindsey-Ali says. 

“It’s not a place of like discardment. It’s a place of trust and vulnerability,” she adds. “These are the queen mothers. These are the priestesses. These are the guides. These are the teachers. Not just for the women but for the men, and I feel like that is the spiritual and emotional disconnect that we have with perimenopause, because we feel as if it is like our time is up when really our time is just beginning. It’s a recalibration and a reimagination of what it means to be a woman and the space that women hold in society.” 

When you’ve been socialized to see your value as dependent on your productivity, prioritizing rest can feel like a threat to your nervous system. But studying ancestral wisdom and the ways of traditional communities shows us that the ability to slow down is a strength and a deep-rooted connection to the body. 

Lindsey-Ali says that your 30s is the best time to prepare for this next chapter.  

“I tell younger women: start tending to your liver, your sleep, and your boundaries. Eat foods that support hormonal health, such as leafy greens, seeds, and omega-rich oils. Learn the rhythm of your cycle so that when it changes, you’ll notice. And cultivate spiritual and emotional rest,” she says. 

“We can’t supplement our way out of chronic stress, nor can we fast our way into balance if our souls are exhausted. In the same way we prepare financially for retirement, we should prepare emotionally and physically for menopause. The earlier you begin living with awareness, the gentler the transition will be.” 

Changing our relationship with our bodies is the key to a healthy perimenopause. “The perimenopausal transition can be eased by slowing down our gears a bit. Investing more time into our well-being and personal joy,” Blake says. “Having clearer boundaries in our personal and professional lives. Nourishing our gut health and kidney health. And expanding our ecosystem of care to include acupuncture, massage, naturo rel="tag">health and wellness menopause perimenopause Prevent and Protect

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