Fuel up:

Hot flashes can be exponentially worse for women with unhealthy BMIs. Of course, a healthy diet is necessary to prevent obesity and other chronic issues, “but specific to women’s health, we also need good foods for our hormones,” says Dr. K. “Our hormonal health benefits greatly from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, essential fatty acids, fiber, and fermented foods,” Dr. K says.

Gut health is important, too. “Research proves that your gut health impacts your immune system and your liver, which are all connected to your hormonal health,” Dr. K says. “Educate yourself about nutrition and get in at least three servings of fruit and vegetables daily.” You’ve probably heard it before, but concentrate on “eating the rainbow.” That is, a range of differently colored fruits and vegetables (think: apples, spinach, and cantaloupe) to get the biggest nutritional bang for your buck.

Not sure where to start on a nutrition improvement journey? Consider talking to a nutritionist. You can chat one-on-one with a Registered Dietitian trained in menopause-related topics by downloading the Phenology app. Here, you can ask an empathetic professional about how your nutrition, wellness, hydration and lifestyle can affect your symptoms, and get real answers via text-based chat.

Adopt an integrative approach:

How’s your sleep? How do you respond to stress? How are your relationships? Do you exercise? “It’s difficult for many women to understand the relationship and connection between stress, your lifestyle, and your hormones,” Dr. K says. But all these factors contribute to your overall health and wellness. Exercise won’t be enough if you’re stressed all the time.

Take a moment to do a complete life audit before you start experiencing perimenopausal symptoms, and address what’s no longer serving you. More important, take action to find the support systems you need to create a healthy lifestyle.

"I always joke that if there was baggage that you had in your pre-menopausal life that you hadn’t dealt with yet – maybe you weren’t eating so well, maybe you weren’t exercising on a regular basis, maybe you were juggling too many balls in the air — when you hit the perimenopausal transition, guess what? Your body is going to remind you that this is the period of time where you really need to be trying to turn the focus within," says Dr. K.

Dr. K is a big advocate of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). “CBT can help you adjust your behaviors; it’s been proven to work with insomnia. Often, we know what we need to do to improve the quality of our lives, but making that change is challenging. CBT helps you retrain your responses to life and employ new strategies that serve you better.”

Related: Menopause & Depression

Dial in your sleep hygiene.

Now is the time to take sleep seriously. Poor sleep can make other symptoms (like brain fog or mood swings) worse. To help, try saffron—there is surprisingly consistent evidence on the benefits of saffron on mood, stress, and sleep, areas that are so important for this life stage. Head to myphenology.com for more info on how to help perimenopause mood swings.

On sleepless nights affected by menopause, magnesium and melatonin can be very helpful in easing the body to wind down. For example, Elevated Evening gummies pair melatonin with saffron, clinically shown to reduce stress and anxiety and support a positive mood and restful sleep. Combined with genistein, which reduces the frequency and duration of hot flashes, plus the calming effects of CBD, these gummies can help with more restful sleep.

Related: Is Menopause Disrupting Your Sleep?

The bottom line? Take a beat. Look at your schedule. Revamp. If you spend more time doing those things that make you happy, you’ll have more peace and less stress, and you’ll be better able to weather any transition.