DR LIBBY WEAVER SHARES THREE SIMPLE HABITS TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S WELLNESS
By Nicole Fuge
When life feels full and fast, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly supports us. Maybe it’s because we’ve come to believe that looking after our health has to be some big, overindulgent thing; another task on an already overflowing and overwhelming to-do list. But nutritional biochemist and bestselling author Dr Libby Weaver says wellbeing doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it’s often the simplest daily rituals that create the biggest shifts.
When I caught up with her recently, I asked, “If a woman could only do three simple things each day to support her health, what would you recommend?”
In this conversation, she shares three accessible ways to support your body and your mind; without overhauling your whole life. From how we breathe to how we think, and what our bodies may be quietly asking for, this is a gentle invitation to pause, reset, and come home to yourself.
1. become breath aware
Notice when you're breathing in a really short, sharp, shallow way; that's adrenaline driving that. And quite likely, you thankfully will actually be very safe, but that adrenaline is saying to all the cells in your body that you're not safe. And so, the way that we can pull ourselves out of that is to extend the length of our exhalation.
You can look at a piece of paper or anything that's a rectangle, a book, a piece of paper, the shape of your phone, your laptop screen, whatever it is, and run your finger across the short side of the rectangle and inhale very slowly for four counts. And then run your finger along the long side of the rectangle for a lovely, long, slow exhale of six. And then go around the rectangle four or five times, numerous times across the day to retrain yourself to notice how you're breathing.
When I'm first encouraging people to do that, I get them to do it every hour on the hour if it's someone who sits at a computer, because you can see the clock. Or it might be that you do that diaphragmatic breathing when you're sitting at red traffic lights. Get rituals in your day to become breath aware. That helps to activate that lovely calm arm of the nervous system.
2. NOTICE YOUR FOREHEAD WORDS
Become aware of what I call your forehead words. Your forehead words are the traits that you need other people to see in you. And this is a way to reduce stress hormone production.
Say to yourself, ‘How do I need other people to see me?’ and then name the traits. Really common words women have said to me over the years are, '‘I need people to see me as kind, thoughtful, selfless’. Or it might be, ‘I need people to see me as efficient, hardworking, a team player, competent’.
It doesn't matter what the traits are, you just need to know what yours are. And then the next time you're stressed, pause and consider, am I perceiving someone is seeing me in the opposite way to my forehead words, to these traits? And most of the time, the answer will be yes.
The reason that's so helpful is because it helps you to see that firstly, there's very real and genuine stress in the world right now, there's very real and genuine stress in people's lives, but there's also a huge amount of stress that comes from how we think. And that's the part we can change.
We're so often unaware that we're often quite unconscious to the fact that we're worried about what someone thinks of us. So, we might be running late for a meeting; not everybody stresses about running late for a meeting; and usually why it stresses us out is because we're worried what the person who's going to be on the receiving end of our running late is going to think of us. It's not the actual running late that's stressful.
So, I try to get people to take their stress beyond that surface, ‘Oh, I'm so stressed,’ and see what's really there. It comes from that the person, the woman, cares what another person thinks of her. And that's normal and that's healthy, but I feel that it's kind of out of control in society at the moment. We care what so many people think of us and some of them probably don't deserve to be on that list.
3. FIX IRON DEFICIENCY
Fix iron first and then see what's left over because so many women live with iron deficiency and it's causing all sorts of symptoms that I think are getting blamed on other things, or they just aren't being resolved.
I like to fix iron first and then see what's left over. Are there still hormonal problems? Is there still anxiety? Are there still sleep problems? And there might be, but there also might not be. All of those symptoms might be 80% better, so the quality of life is just so much better and I find there's less work to do once you fix iron for women with their health.
Disclaimer: The content provided on Muse Paper is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding your health, medical conditions, or treatments. Any reference to nutritional supplements is for general information only and does not constitute endorsement or therapeutic claims. Muse Paper does not advertise or promote therapeutic goods, in accordance with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Code.
MUSE PAPER
ISSUE 06