April Newsletter: Reward pathways & mindset shifts

Who else has enjoyed the fabulous weather we (were) having? Nothing like a boost of the vitamin D-soaked sun warming your skin to energise and motivate. There’s been spring cleaning, there’s been new purchases for the office and I’m feeling invigorated right now.

Of course, it is not always the case to feel so consistently invigorated and on point. At the end of last month, I had to rely more on discipline than motivation when I wanted to get going in the morning for those lovely early morning walks. They feel fab whilst you’re doing them, and after but that alarm going off before the sun is even considering rising can be a draw on the mentality and even motional reserves. Even though I KNOW I will feel better after, this isn’t always enough to do the thing… be it the early walk, the workout, the project, the clean out… the list goes on. So, what can I/we do to help get started?

Discipline, we know discipline will get us further than a motivation alone, but how do we support and break down the desire to be disciplined, to help us day to day and task to task?

Well let’s break it down, one use of a reward pathway is considering small things you can look forward to, not the ‘I’ll feel good after’ as sometimes the feeling good/comfortable right now will win that battle. I decided one way to hack my reward pathway, was looking forward to listening to a podcast (current focus is on Mel Robbins as needed the break from a lengthy true crime binge). 

I even utilised one of Mel’s tips ‘the 5 second rule’ of counting down from 5-1 to initiate behaviour change. The 5 second countdown allows you to acknowledge resistance to the thing, i.e. get out of bed/ study/ clean/ organise your finances etc. When you hit 1, you make a move to start the action you want, for me, getting out of bed for instance. This then leads to the actions to complete the task: getting my shoes on earbuds in etc, etc. The cumulative effect of this after 5 days, 10 days, 15 and so on, is that it becomes more habitual, more disciplined the more you do it and it can help us to act more in alignment with who we want to be.

Of course, being aware of changes in our motivation, energy levels and mood in relation to how we feel overall is good to often do so we can notice key, significant changes to pay attention to. Ongoing fatigue, low energy, poor sleep or even waking more in the night may indicate low progesterone levels, or higher cortisol in your system. This can be affected by the time of the month, or time of life also and rather than feeling like you’re doing something wrong, it may be that you need more support.

For instance, blood sugar levels and needs to manage them can change over a female’s life, becoming more difficult to get a grip on after the age of 40, does any of that sound familiar?

Boosting your protein intake at each meal can help with blood sugar regulation and introducing more nutrient dense foods, with more magnesium and B vitamins can make a vast difference too.

Some of the key symptoms that can be experienced in perimenopause can be related to hormone changes and fluctuations, most of which have some diet and lifestyle interventions that can help. 

Any subscribers to my email, will have had a more comprehensive (but not exhaustive) list of these symptoms, hormones alongside some nutritional aids that you may find interesting. Let me know if it helps and I’m wishing you a fab and sunny rest of April.

All my Irish subscribers you can avail of a 10-20% discount code on supplements online at Pure & Natural supplies, whilst my UK followers you can access the same discount (time/date dependent) from The Natural Dispensary, so just reach out for the current discount when you need it 😊

Health & Happiness all

From Dee