The Sweaty Pillow

The Sweaty Pillow We're not just about hot flashes and night sweats, we're a community of women navigating menopause.

04/04/2026

Menopause hit her like a ton of bricks. Menopause can impact every aspect of a woman's health, from mood to mobility. As a double board-certified orthopedic surgeon and health innovator, Dr. Vonda Wright is on a mission to empower women with the knowledge they need to proactively navigate this transformative life stage.

In this episode, Dr. Wright author of "Unbreakable: Women's Guide to Aging with Power", discusses the significant yet often overlooked physical changes of menopause. She shares her personal journey from menopause misery to midlife mastery, breaking down the biological reasons for symptoms like frozen shoulder, brain fog, and the loss of muscle and bone mass.
Watch the full episode with and join us in the new menopause movement.

🎧 Available now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
đź”— Link in bio to listen.

-
-
-

Ketones are what your body makes when it switches from burning sugar to burning fat.They’re not a trend. They’re biology...
03/31/2026

Ketones are what your body makes when it switches from burning sugar to burning fat.
They’re not a trend. They’re biology.mindypelz explains that during menopause, when brain fog creeps in, ketones can act like premium fuel for your brain.

Turns out your body is smarter than we were taught.
When you burn fat instead of sugar, you make ketones. And according to Dr. Mindy Pelz, ketones act like premium brain fuel, especially in menopause.

That belly you’ve been frustrated with? It might just be your brain’s backup generator.
So instead of fighting your metabolism, maybe it’s time to understand it.

Listen to Dr. Mindy break it down on The Sweaty Pillow Pod.
Tap the link in bio to learn more.

03/24/2026

Dopamine has one love, and that is novelty. When life no longer fits, when the role you built no longer feels aligned, the body and brain may respond. Yes, depression can be real. But sometimes it shows up when we realize we are living a life we no longer want.

Dr. Mindy shares her own story of walking away at the height of her career, seeing 500 people a week, running a thriving health center, and realizing she did not want to be there anymore.

When the depression shows up, the first step is inquiry. Ask yourself: what part of my life does not fit anymore?

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube… or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio.

Studies suggest that the survival of hunter-gatherer societies may have depended on women stepping into leadership in th...
03/09/2026

Studies suggest that the survival of hunter-gatherer societies may have depended on women stepping into leadership in their mature years. When men left to hunt, grandmothers led the tribe.

Men succeeded in bringing back meat only about 3% of the time, roughly three days out of thirty. The rest of the month, survival depended on the berries and herbs gathered by grandmothers, who nourished pregnant women, babies, and children.
So if you are between 35 and 55 and feel a shift, a stronger voice, a lower tolerance, remember this.

Aging was never meant to make you smaller.
It was meant to make you essential, powerful, and voracious as a leader.

03/07/2026

The Grandmother Hypothesis: Why menopause was meant for power with Dr. Mindy Pelz.

In this episode, we unpack the evolutionary story no one talks about. If it wasn’t for the grandmothers, we wouldn’t have continued past the hunter gatherer days.

While the men hunted and came back with food only 3 percent of the time, it was the grandmothers who foraged every day, gathered tubers and berries, and fed the pregnant women, the babies, and the children.
They were not invisible. They were essential. Menopause was never designed to make midlife women invisible.
It was a transition for women to step into leadership. Feel empowered.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube… or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio.

In this episode, .mindypelz introduces a concept many women have never heard before: menopause is not just a hormonal sh...
03/02/2026

In this episode, .mindypelz introduces a concept many women have never heard before: menopause is not just a hormonal shift, it can be a neurological one.

As estrogen declines, she explains that the brain undergoes a kind of pruning. The neurons tied to people pleasing, over serving, and living through everyone else’s expectations begin to fall away.

What replaces them is not emptiness. It is possibility.

That sudden desire for solitude. The growing importance of friendships. The urge to leave what no longer fits. According to Dr. Mindy, this may not be a personality crisis.
It may be your brain creating a fresh canvas.

Instead of asking “What is wrong with me?” the invitation becomes, “Who do I want to be now?”

Menopause, reframed, is not an ending. It is a rewiring. And for the first time in a long time, you may have more authorship than you think.

Season 2, Episode 2: Inside the Menopause Brain with Dr. Mindy Pelz is now live. In this episode, we unpack the truth ab...
02/27/2026

Season 2, Episode 2: Inside the Menopause Brain with Dr. Mindy Pelz is now live. In this episode, we unpack the truth about the menopause brain and ask the question no one prepared us for: What if this transition is not the end of who you were, but the beginning of who you are meant to become?

For our season premiere stretch of conversations, we welcome one of the most important voices in women’s functional health. .mindypelz joins The Sweaty Pillow to decode what is happening to the female brain during perimenopause and menopause. A functional health expert, bestselling author of Fast Like a Girl, Eat Like a Girl, and Age Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy explains the science behind brain fog, depression, metabolic shifts, and the neurological reset that can unlock a new level of clarity and self-leadership.

This is not losing yourself in menopause.
This is your brain building a new version of you and finally giving you permission to live it.

🎙️ Season 2, Episode 2: Inside the Menopause Brain with Dr. Mindy Pelz is now live.

Streaming now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

02/23/2026

What if menopause isn’t making you difficult…it’s making you free?
All of those neurons that kept you addicted to your worth coming from other people… those are going to go away.
Be nice.
Be selfless.
Be pretty.
Be helpful.

Sound familiar?

Dr. Mindy explains that as estrogen declines, the brain literally rewires. The parts wired for people pleasing and external validation begin to fade. And you get a new brain.

You get to decide how you're going to build it.

This isn’t a breakdown.
It’s a neurological reset.

Full episode drops this Thursday, Feb 27. Stay tuned.

What if menopause is not breaking your brain but rewiring it for power?What if the depression, brain fog, and identity s...
02/19/2026

What if menopause is not breaking your brain but rewiring it for power?

What if the depression, brain fog, and identity shift so many women feel is not failure but a biological reset you were never taught to understand?

For our season premiere stretch of conversations, we welcome one of the most important voices in women’s functional health. .mindypelz joins The Sweaty Pillow to decode what is happening to the female brain during perimenopause and menopause.

Want more details? You will have to tune in next Thursday to get them.

🎙️ Season 2, Episode 2: Inside the Menopause Brain with Dr. Mindy Pelz
Premiering Thursday, February 27th at midnight.
Perfect for the 3 AM wake-up crew.

~ Streaming on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

02/14/2026

Why You Wake Up at 3 AM 👇
Cortisol is the hormone that helps manage your circadian rhythm. Think of cortisol as your body’s built-in alarm system. It is supposed to rise in the morning to help you wake up and fall at night so you can sleep. In midlife, as estrogen starts dropping, that balance becomes easier to disturb. Estrogen normally helps keep cortisol in check. When it declines, cortisol can spike at the wrong times, especially at night. Making us unwilling members of the 3 AM wake-up crew.

Learn more about the Vicious Cycle of Cortisol
during midlife in our latest episode with menopause specialist and CEO of , Cindy Topel.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, YouTube… or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio.

-
-
-

Key learning we are taking home from Cindy Topel's episode: 1. Menopause belly is hormonal, not a calorie problem. Tip: ...
02/12/2026

Key learning we are taking home from Cindy Topel's episode:
1. Menopause belly is hormonal, not a calorie problem. Tip: Stop dieting harder. Start supporting your hormones and gut health through sleep, fiber, movement, and blood sugar balance.
2. High cortisol and poor sleep contribute to menopause belly. Tip: Eat within 90 minutes of waking, and walk for 15 minutes after meals to naturally lower cortisol and insulin.
3. Estrogen loss disrupts your gut health. Tip: Daily non-negotiables: fiber + fermented food. Think berries, chia, flax, yogurt, kimchi, or sauerkraut.

Listen to Cindy Topel on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio if you haven't already! 🍿

02/07/2026

The three main causes of menopause belly.
First is insulin. As insulin sensitivity drops, your body stores more fat around the midsection.
Second is cortisol. Stress keeps it high, and high cortisol tells your body to hold onto belly fat like a safety reserve.
The third piece no one talks about enough is inflammation. When estrogen declines, inflammation rises. That shift changes how your body handles fat, energy, and hunger. It is why your waist can feel different almost overnight and your clothes suddenly fit wrong.

Menopause belly is not about eating less. It is about understanding insulin, cortisol, and inflammation and working with your body, not against it.

Do you want to know exactly how to combat these three causes?
Tap the link in bio and listen to our latest episode with Cindy Topel from

-
-
-

Address

Calgary, AB

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Sweaty Pillow posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category