Wellness After 40
A podcast that empowers women in their 40s and beyond to embrace aging with vitality and purpose.
Wellness After 40
Stuck in Fight-or-Flight? How the Vagus Nerve Affects Women's Health After 40 | Dr. Elissa Chambers
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Have you heard of the vagus nerve? Maybe it's been popping up all over your social media feed. And if it hasn't, ask yourself this...
Do you constantly feel stressed, anxious, exhausted, overwhelmed, or like your body just can't relax?
For many women over 40, these symptoms are often dismissed as "just stress," "just hormones," or simply part of getting older. But your nervous system—and specifically your vagus nerve—may be playing a much bigger role than you realize.
In this episode of Wellness After 40, I'm joined by Dr. Elissa Chambers, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner specializing in women's health and nervous system function. Together, we break down the science behind the vagus nerve, what it actually does, and why understanding it may help explain everything from poor sleep and digestive issues to brain fog, anxiety, inflammation, and feeling stuck in survival mode.
In this episode, we discuss:
• What the vagus nerve is and why everyone is talking about it
• What really happens when you're stuck in fight-or-flight
• Why stress often becomes more physical during midlife
• How hormones, chronic stress, and the nervous system work together
• Common signs your nervous system may be dysregulated
• The connection between stress, digestion, inflammation, metabolism, and immune health
• What social media gets right—and wrong—about "healing" the vagus nerve
• Realistic ways to support your nervous system without completely overhauling your life
Connect with Dr. Elissa Chambers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drelissachambers/
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Have you ever been told it's just stressed or it's just getting older, but you're exhausted, anxious, not sleeping well, your digestion fills off, and you just can't seem to relax. Today we're exploring one of the most overlooked systems in our bodies and why it may be keeping you stuck in fight or flight mode. Welcome to Wellness After 40: Health, Goals, and Manifestation for Women, the podcast that empowers women in their 40s and beyond to embrace aging with vitality and purpose. I'm your host, Katie, an older millennial navigating wellness, personal growth, and the art of intentional living. Each week, we'll dive into the latest in exercise and nutrition, mental health, goal settings, as well as actionable steps for manifesting the life you want. We'll also explore the science behind women's health at midlife and beyond, along with conversations with experts to keep you thriving in your body, mind, and spirit. Whether you're focusing on achieving health goals, mastering your mental clarity, or transforming your life, this podcast will give you the tools to feel your best at every stage of life. Let's dive into the journey of not just surviving, but thriving after 40. Well, welcome to the podcast, One That's After 40. I am your host, Katie, and today I've brought back a fantastic educational guest. Welcoming back to the podcast, I am welcoming Dr. Elisa Chambers. Dr. Chambers is a doctor of chiropractic and functional medicine practitioner with a focus on women's health. She combines neurological-focused chiropractic care with a root cause approach to support nervous system function and create a stronger foundation for healing and overall wellness. Through functional medicine principles, she also explores the factors that influence hormonal balance, metabolic health, and whole body function to better understand how different systems of the body work together. Her approach recognizes that health is interconnected with the goal of helping patients build a stronger foundation that supports long-term health, resilience, and overall well-being. Welcome back to the podcast of Dr. Chambers.
SPEAKER_00Hi, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01Well, this is a topic that you and I actually talked about previously and thought that because I I was telling you in off recording about how I keep getting these ads for products for this topic we're going to talk about. And I think that they are it was really funny. I told you, I was like, my algorithm is pushing me to the vagus nerve and all of these sprays that I need to help with my vagus nerve. And so today's topic is the vagus nerve, but more importantly, what it does. And so many people are probably starting to hear more about it, but it is the fight or flight trigger in our body. And so today we're gonna talk about that. But before we get into the topic at hand, I know we had already met you in a previous episode. And I, you know, I introduced you with your your fantastic bio, but is there anything else that I didn't mention, especially when it comes to nervous system support that you help your clients with?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a great question. Um I think everybody needs nervous system support and regulation. So I kind of have two faces, right? Like I have my chiropractor and then I have my like functional medicine, where I kind of dabble into both. But the nervous system and you know, vagus nerve regulation as a whole kind of dabbles into all like lifestyle and health and you know, living optimally. Because I mean, I guess I can jump in and just kind of explain like what the vagus nerve is and kind of why it's important. Um, to your point, Katie, like it is trendy, like it's becoming more of a thing where six years ago when I was in school and we were learning about it, it wasn't as formally a topic that you know, people that weren't in that chiropractic or you know, either even other um like functional roles were really talking about. And I remember my first year practicing, one of my patients was like, so I saw the vagus nerve on on Instagram. What is that? I was like, oh my god, it's on Instagram. Whereas now, like you are asking me, oh, what is the vagus nerve? What is what does it do inside of the body? Why is it becoming more prevalent? And I think it's amazing that it's becoming more prevalent because people are able to understand. Um, but the vagus nerve is our tenth cranial nerve. So 10th cranial nerve, longest cranial nerve in the body, starts in your brainstem and extends down to your colon, has so many functions where it connects to a lot of um different areas, what we call like autonomic systems in our body. So things that your body should be doing without you even thinking about it. So breathing, um your blood pressure, your heart rate, um, hormones, digestion, all of these like it's automatic systems, if you will, um, and innervates a lot of those like gut-to-brain type connections. So when we talk about the vagus nerve, we're talking about like the rest and digest systems in our body that we need when our body is calm, if you will.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so that I was just like trying to digest all of it, like pun intended. But I was like, wow, okay, so that's so interesting. So it is responsible. Does it send out a hormone? Is that how it's controlling this fight or flight in our nervous system? Like, how is it controlling it? Or how is it in charge?
SPEAKER_00It's not a hormone, like it works like a nerve, so it's got the pathways from your brain to your body and your body to your brain. So the vagus nerve is kind of unique in the sense of it sends a lot more information from your body to your brain rather than your brain controlling it to your body. Which is a good way to think about that is like when you are like listening to your gut, right? That's a lot of like your vagus nerve sending information about what's happening in your body back to your brain. So we have two different types of pathways that um the nervous system uses. So we have uh afferent, which is like that body sending information to the brain, and then we have efferent, which is the brain sending information to the body. So if you think about like your brain, first you think, okay, I'm gonna move my finger, and then your brain sends things electrically through your nervous system to the muscles to move your finger, where the vagus nerve kind of has that opposite effect of like you're being stimulated by something and you're something's happening inside of your body and it's telling your brain. So it's got a different um percentage, if you will. So more of the body telling the brain what's happening rather than the brain telling the body to do something because you're thinking about the movements that you're gonna make, but you're not thinking about breathing, you're not thinking about your heart beating, you're not thinking about digesting what you had for breakfast, right? So it's this kind of cool connection, but it's also like system on system on system, right? Where you talk about hormones, like a lot of those um automatic systems are what's signaling to your body to release hormones from different systems in your body. So it's not directly a hormone that's releasing it, but it does impact how your body regulates hormones.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that that makes that makes a lot of sense. And thank you so much for explaining that. Because if I chat GBT this, I'm like, I'm out. I have no idea what this really means. But I feel like that's so fascinating. So for so long, you know, people talk about well, your gut instinct, and you know, listen to your gut instinct. And it actually is measured by science. It is your your vagus nerve being stimulated, which is alerting your brain. Hey, we've got to react in some way. I gotta move my finger, I gotta get up, I've got to run from this bear. Um, and so that's so interesting. So whenever people are like, listen to your gut, it really knows. It's like actually, it really does. It is your vagus nerve being stimulated, which from a myriad of different things, like from past experience, and that's how the vagus nerve knows how to react, or lots of different ways to measure it. But that I think is really interesting how for so long people kind of maybe like wished that away. And it's like, no, it's that actually is a real thing. Like it is a real part of the human body. So that's really interesting. Women in their 40s are feeling like stress becomes like almost a physical thing in their in their midlife, and we're experiencing so many negative things from stress, but in it just in general, like how does the vagus nerve really like handle stress in the body in a positive way? And then we could talk about like the negative effects of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so to your point, like we need that emergency system to turn on inside of our bodies. Like if you're running from a bear, or you know, there's you know, even like a workout, right? Like a hard workout stimulates that sympathetic or that fight or flight inside of your nervous system, which you need to be able to release certain hormones and do certain movements in your body, you know, to be able to um get through that, if you will. Now we need to find that balance, which is where it can kind of become detrimental, where our body doesn't learn how to create that balance. And so I think without going back, you can't really address what's going on now, right? Like these are all learned behaviors inside of our system based on happening of events. Like you can go back to somebody's birth, right? Like birth can be really traumatic, right? You get born into this world, you know, you're under the hospital fluorescent light. Like this turns on that fight or flight signal inside of your body after you've been in this nice, cozy, dark womb for nine months, right? And then that's where the snowball effect happens, if you will. Then we go into childhood and then teenage years and then our adulthood. And then now you're saying, okay, women in in their 40s, like, why are they feeling like they're constantly stuck in fight or flight? Well, our body has gone through a lot of changes. We've gone through a lot of traumatic events, if you will, whether it's something that's like truly you can put on the spectrum of traumatic, or it's just like all of these little things correlate over time. And then your body changes a lot when you get to your 40s, which is similar to like what we talked about on our last podcast of like your body is aging and your hormones are changing, and you're trying to learn all of these things, and then add being stuck in fight or flight because you have teenage kids and you're, you know, you have your nine to five job that you're working, and you have all of these things that are keeping your body stuck in fight or flight, and we're not actually learning how to, no pun intended, digest those things that are happening to us or to help regulate that. So then that's where it comes in of like, how do you reteach the body? How do you reteach the nervous system to feel safe?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think I definitely want to hear your pro tips on that. But I think it would be interesting to help listeners start to kind of differentiate. And I know that this isn't medical advice in any way, this is just a conversation, and you would definitely have to go to your doctor to find out what's going on in your body. But for someone just starting, because I think a lot of times we hear about like kind of this dicks dysregulation in our body from like poor sleep, um, muscle tension, digestive changes, there's like a lot of things that happen when we're kind of in this high stress response. And so, how do we differentiate like what is a nervous system issue versus like a hormonal issue? Because I feel like that what we hear as midlife women, oh, you're feeling dysregulated, you're having all of these issues. Well, it's your hormones, and like you're just gonna need to take some X, Y, and Z and you'll feel better. But how do we start to differentiate this dysregulation from maybe it is something going on in our nervous system versus our hormones? Is it like a test we have to take, or is there something else that we could start to notate to bring to our doctor?
SPEAKER_00I think that's a great question, Katie. And I think it's so much more simple. I think that treating, or not even treating your nervous system, but um helping your nervous system is a good first step that everybody can do rather than differentiating, okay, is this because I'm not producing X, Y, and Z, or it's because my nervous system is overstimulated. We all leave our house and we are all overstimulated by something at some point. It's more getting in tune with the things that are gonna help you take that in and not hold that in your system, which is the first precursor to all of these other things. So I don't think it's a truly like a diagnosable, like your nervous system or your vagus nerve is like you can't really diagnose it, but I think it's something that everybody can work on. And some of the really amazing side effects is like you feel better or you function better rather than we have to start with one or we have to start with other. All of my patients across the board, no matter what we're working on, we're talking about nervous system regulation and we're talking about giving the body a deep breath. Um, and I tell this story all the time, but this is gonna help give you a little bit more perspective on kind of what I'm talking about. I know you'll understand, like as a fellow yogi, something that I had to really work on when I first started practicing yoga was turning my brain off before class started and then shivasana, so after class ended, which I think yoga gives you kind of like an easier understanding. Like you have to do both in a yoga class, right? Like you have to be able to calm down and almost meditate, but you also have to be able to turn on your sympathetic nervous system and flow through that middle part of class where it's like strenuous on your body. And this really came to light for me a couple of months ago where I had a uh a new uh member who came in and she was in the room and I like gave her the whole tour and everything. And she came out of the room and was like, I don't really need water, but I'm gonna fill up my water bottle because everybody's just laying down in there. I was like, Yeah, go in there, lay down on your mat, close your eyes. She couldn't do it. Why? Because her body was stuck in fight or flight. She wasn't able to go in there and lay down without wondering, like, who's opening the door, who's putting their mat down next to me. Like, I think it's a practice of being able to, and not everybody wants to go and do yoga, right? So it's like, are you gonna go out in the morning and get 10 minutes of morning sunlight on your face and not talk to anybody? Like, there's so many different avenues that you can do to calm your body or to stimulate that parasympathetic or that rest and digest. And like meditating or yoga is just one option, right? But these are all things that people can be doing, whereas your benefit or your side effect, if you will, is more regulation inside of your body. So that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01It totally does. I totally do. And I want to invite everyone to take a yoga class, just one time. I promise you it helps. Um, but just to maybe help a listener at home being like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do okay, why do I need to know about this? What are some signs of dysregulation? So if someone's like, okay, like, well, I don't have this going on. Like you already kind of mentioned, like, there's, you know, you the inability to relax, like your mind's constantly going, like that rumination, that constant, constant, constant, that could be a sign. What are some other signs of dysregulation that someone can start to notate for themselves? A quick pause before we continue. If you're looking for a little more support on your wellness journey, I've created a subscriber community for wellness after 40 listeners. For $5 a month, you'll get bonus episodes, guided practices, and conversations designed specifically for women navigating midlife health, hormones, stress, and healthy aging. It's a simpler way to go a little deeper and support the show at the same time. You can join through the link in the show notes. Now, back to today's conversation.
SPEAKER_00So something like you feel exhausted, but you're you're not able to relax, which is kind of similar to what you're saying, where like your mind is continually going. Um, falling asleep like hard and fast, but then waking from like 2 to 4 a.m. and just like feeling really stimulated when you wake up in the middle of the night. Um, having digestive type issues that you notice worsen when you have like a stressful situation or like work is really stressful, kids are really stressful, and it it makes it worse. Um, your heart racing, but not having like any sort of like arrhythmia or like all your cardiac tests come back normal, but you're like, oh man, I just like I feel my heartbeat racing really fast. Um, sensitivity to things, you know, like noises, crowds, um those types of things. Uh I tell my patients all the time, like wired and tired. Like you're wired, but you're also like really, really tired. And then that goes back to that piece of like not being able to relax or um having a hard time recovering. So recovering from a workout or recovering from an illness. You're like, wow, my kids get sick and then I get sick, but my kids are better in like three days, and I'm like going on two, three weeks, and like I just feel like I can't, I can't fight this. Um, I mean, it can show up. Those are just examples, right? Like it can show up in a lot of different ways, and every body is different, right? So it can show up differently in your system. But those are things that are pretty common for women, especially, to kind of feel when there's some sort of disease or dysregulation happening inside of their system.
SPEAKER_01And for the listeners at home, they're still like, yeah, I'm still not a believer. What are these things doing in our body that can be negative? Like, I'm thinking like inflammation alone, like you know, your metabolism is all out of whack. Obviously, you mentioned digestion and and immunity issues, but like, is that really one of the reasons why we need to focus on this? Or is are there something else that we're missing that we really should know about that this is why it's really important to dive into this deeper?
SPEAKER_00I think it's like I think it's as simple as like your overall health, right? Like how you're digesting, how you're um absorbing nutrients inside of your system, how your blood sugar, you know, stability in your blood sugar um weight gain, weight loss, um, like the auto your body's susceptibility to illness, sickness, um, the inflammation, like you said, Katie, we can hold on to more inflammation in our systems, slower healing, hormonal dysfunction. Like that's why I'm so like it's not one, it's all of the things. And like your first step is listening to your body, right? Like hearing your body and then giving your body something good, which is why it's not like a diagnosable. I mean, you can wear your oar ring and see what your HRB is and how crappy that is, right? Like how and you can see your sleep. Like, are you not getting any deep sleep? Like, there's it's such a nuanced topic and it goes in so many different directions that it's hard to like pinpoint one certain thing. But I I do think like even like the listeners that may be skeptical, if you can do one thing, which we can go over, like different avenues and different things you can do to give um, you know, your your vagus nerve a little workout, if you will, and you start noticing that these things are better, but it's not a one size fits all approach because everybody is different, and then every system is interconnected somehow, which the nervous system is just like that kind of step one that can help something without even realizing that that's what the problem was, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it does. Well, let's get into that then. Like, what are some realistic ways to support our nervous system regulation?
SPEAKER_00We were talking about this before we got on like. Like the pun words of like vagus nerve versus like vagal tone, and like which one are you supposed to use? So like the nerve itself is called the vagus nerve. But we can work on what's called our vagal tone, which is very similar to like like working a muscle, right? Like if you want to target a specific muscle and create tone in that muscle, right? You have to do certain things that target it. So same with the vagus nerve, like diaphragmatic breathing, yoga, acupuncture, chiropractic care, craniosagral therapy, um, simple things like morning sunlight, ear massage, um things that are like easy for your body to relax. Um cold plunge is not relaxing, but it's a good like shock to your system. Um intentional exercise, you know, walking meditation. Like I think it's so individualized that it's not like I'm gonna give you a prescription for ear massage and that's gonna solve all of your problems, but it's like what integrates well in your body? Um and this is a hill that I will die on. I'm a chiropractor, I give chiropractic adjustments, I do a lot of great things for a lot of people's nervous systems, but I have a lot of clients that do really well with acupuncture, and that's their nervous system regulation. Um, I have clients that are like, wow, I started getting morning sunlight in my eyes for five to 10 minutes a day, and I'm sleeping better at night. Like everybody is so different. It's just a matter of finding or exploring the types of activities, you know, one, all or none of the ones that I listed, and how that's going to integrate inside of your system based on what your body needs.
SPEAKER_01So, what you're saying is basically it is an individual approach, but finding intentional methods of recovery for you is an important pillar in like your overall health. And you know, people always think, oh, well, going and getting that massage or doing X, Y, and Z can feel indulgent, but it sounds like to me that it's an imperative part of like the health process. Because if you're constantly in a state of fight or flight and you can't calm down, then your body can't heal, and all the systems don't really work. And so this is just per a permission slip to any listener, like how you feel recovered or any way that you can recover in your like daily little, let's be realistic, weekly. Like, let's give ourselves like once a week that we have to really recover and like calm down our nervous system because it is imperative, like as you said. I love how you keep things really simple to our overall health. Like everything is gonna function better if you can just intentionally recover. And I'm thankful that you gave us a list of things that we can start so we could see what can work for us. Is there anything that you see on social media? We were kind of joking before we hit record, like I was getting these uh vagus nerve sprays, and they were these pillow sprays, and you're like, I looked up the ingredients, and it's basically just like lavender and some other like essential oils to like promote calming. You know, I feel like social media is kind of where a lot of people get their medical advice, and there are also a lot of their products. And I know that you being a doctor are like, please don't do that. So that's just the PSA, first of all. But is there anything that you've seen on social media lately that you're like absolutely do not, or maybe something that we should look into?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so back to kind of what we were saying, it is becoming more trendy, it is becoming more of a topic, which I think is really great because the more you learn and the more you know about your body, right? The better you can help yourself, or like we said, explore these avenues of what's the best approach to help your body. Um, there are a lot of vegas nerve things out there, right? Like you sent me, I for I forget what brand it was, but you sent me the spray and I looked it up and it was, it was like, I forget now so many weeks ago, but it was like lavender and very like calming type scents. So, I mean, what the point of that was was something that's calming to your system that helps your body feel safe, essentially. So, what we're looking for is just allowing your body to feel safe, which you know helps with sleep and movement and health and all of that kind of stuff. Um but I think that we're overcomplicating it a lot, right? Like we're making sprays. I mean, I've seen like vagus nerve stimulators that are supposed to send like little like electronic signals into your system to help with that vagal tone or working on your vagus nerve. I don't, you don't have to spend money though. Like you don't have to go out and spend $30 on a spray or $50 on a vagus nerve stimulator. I've never tried it, so I'm not gonna recommend it to anybody. But lay on the ground. Lay on the ground, close your eyes and breathe for two minutes, and that is stimulating your vagus nerve, right? Like sleeping through the night stimulates your vagus nerve. Sometimes you have to find out why if you're not sleeping through the night, but it's it's so simple of like allowing your body to feel safe, but also practicing what are those things that make your body feel safe. So sometimes it's a conversation with yourself. What do I need? And I tell all of my clients, listen to your body. What is your body telling you that it needs? And I think we unlearn that behavior. We have a really, really hard time as adults listening to our body. But back to that conversation, we're like we're born with all of these instincts, and our body knows what it's supposed to do. And then we go through life, and I think society has, you know, imprinted on us that you have to go, you have to be like all the time. And so then when I tell people, I'm like, lay on the floor for a minute or go lay on your mat before the yoga class starts, and don't open your eyes. You don't have to sleep, but don't open your eyes. And people don't feel safe doing that. Why don't you feel safe doing that? Because your body is stuck in fight or flight, it feels like it constantly has to protect itself. But why? Because these are learned behaviors, so it's not about like a trendy spray or you know, a trendy electronic that you can get, you know, put a timer on your phone and just lay lay on the ground and put your hands on your chest and feel your breath, right? Like we forget all of these intentional things that our body is doing and then build from there. But I think I don't you don't have to spend money on it. You really don't.
SPEAKER_01I think that's also really a really great sentiment for someone to take away. Like you start, start with simple, start with maybe something that's free and something that is just really easy to do. Like, I mean, well, that that may be a little bit of a loaded statement. Like it may not be easy for someone to lay on the ground. Like I definitely have had those weeks where I'm like, I I can't, I I've got to force myself into like a rest. But um, I think that that's a a really good place for someone to start. And I know you mentioned chiropractic care, and I know that that is your specialty. Could you kind of give us a little bit of an insight on what would an appointment with you look like when it comes to that? Or just maybe a little bit more about your services and how that can be something that we could work into if if we wanted to go into that limb for our our vagus nerve care.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so without unpacking it too much or going down too many rabbit holes, um, a chiropractic adjustment, and there's many different types of techniques, right? Like, like there's different ways to do things that fits each person's body uniquely, um, in the sense of like an adjustment. But I think, you know, it's become prevalent of like, you know, it's for back pain. Like getting adjusted is for back pain, right? Whereas to make it like as simple as possible, when we adjust your spine, it affects your neurology, right? Like your brain and then your um brain stem and then your spine houses your nervous system, right? And when we adjust your spine, it directly impacts the function of your nervous system. So there's different types of adjustments, right? There's the manual adjustments where you get some pops and cracks, but then there's also tonal type adjustments that you don't, that's simply for targeting the nervous system and the vagus nerve, the vagal tone of the nervous system. So it's different for everybody and it's different on what you need. More times than not, people come in for pain, right? And then they realize after they start getting adjusted, wow, I'm sleeping better, wow, I'm digesting better. Why? Those are those are like happy side effects, right? Like those are good things that are happening inside your system because your nervous system is regulating better. Um, so it's it's hard if you've never done it before, you haven't experienced it or whatever. But that's what I try to tell my patients. It's like you're coming in for a specific thing, right? And it's move the joints able to move better. We're able to, you know, kick to connect into those systems, and the pain does go away. But like, what are the other things that your body is doing better? Because now your nervous system is functioning better.
SPEAKER_01I did not know that about chiropractic care because I've always just thought about it as a limb to like I already have an injury or I have an issue that's painful, but it's it directly affects your nervous system. So that's fascinating. Yes. Well, to recap today, it sounds like if you are interested in overall health, starting with managing your stress is one of the most important pillars. And intentional care, intentional recovery is really the way to do it. And that really that interesting nuance of like your gut knows because it really does know it's firing all your systems. So thank you so much for the education. Thank you so much for giving us these like really practical, simple tips. And to wrap up, I'm just I'm kind of curious if if I could ask you a personal question, I think I may know the answer. But what is your favorite Vegas nerve like recovery tool? I like I said, I think I probably know what it is, but what how do you calm down in a stressful week? Give us all your simple pro tips.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I don't think it's just one thing. I think it's a combination of things that I've built into habits, right? Like yoga, which is the one that you're probably thinking is, you know, something where when I first started practicing, I couldn't lay on my mat for the first 10 minutes before class started and not open my eyes. Whereas now I take friends to yoga and I go in there and I lay down and I don't talk to them and they're like, what are you doing? And I'm like, shut up, this is my time. And then, you know, being able to not, you know, wiggle around in shavasana, not be uncomfortable that your body's overheated and that, you know, being able to kind of disconnect in those situations. Um, I also prioritize morning sunlight. So I take all my animals outside with me in the morning for if I don't have a lot of time, at least 10 minutes, right? I'm getting that morning sunlight in my eyes that's regulating my circadian system. I go on evening walks with my dogs after I have dinner. So I'm getting some of that the sun's setting, the sun's going down, which is helping to regulate my um, you know, my hormones as they're shifting with the circadian cycle. Um, I get adjusted. I get adjusted um every other week if I don't need something more, right? That's gonna help regulate my nervous system. Um, I don't really like massages, so I get facials. That's an hour, you know, once a month that I go and, you know, phones turned off, all of that. I think it's it's you know, become more of like what I'm doing habit-wise, um, rather than just one specific thing. Also, something that I do that people think is weird, um, is all of the lights in my house turn to red in the evening. So as the sun's going down, the house becomes red. I've had neighbors ask me, like, what are you doing in there? Why do your lights turn red at night? So it's just like creating these little habits in your everyday life that promotes that easy, safe feeling inside of your body.
SPEAKER_01Well, those are really great. And I think I'm gonna grab a red light, red light bulb. I have like that's so interesting. Wow. Well, Dr. Chambers, as always, you are a breath of fresh air because you explain things that are so highly complicated in a way that I can understand. So thank you so very much for coming back onto the podcast. We appreciate you so much, and thank you again.
SPEAKER_00Yes, thank you. This is my favorite topic. So happy to be here.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's to wrap on this episode of Wellness After 40. Thank you so much for listening, and thank you, Dr. Chambers, for coming in and sharing your expertise with all of us. I know that this conversation is well overdue, and hopefully this conversation will help so many women and other people in their lives feel like they don't have to stay stuck in survival mode any longer. If you'd like to connect with Dr. Chambers, make sure to follow in the show notes to grab her Instagram handle, or you can connect with her there. And again, thank you so much for listening. I truly appreciate you tuning in each week and sharing with friends and family. This information, spreading it out throughout the world, helps the show grow. So if you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you follow along, share, or maybe read leave a review. This will all help the show grow. Until next time, please remember: your health isn't about adding one more thing to your to-do list. Sometimes it's about understanding your body, but in what it's been telling you all along. Again, thank you so much for listening. This is Wellness, After 40.