Making Sense of Your Symptoms
How hormones, stress, and your health all connect — and why it matters.
What if your symptoms aren’t random?
Bloating. Fatigue. Foggy brain. Poor sleep. Unpredictable energy.
Weight that won’t budge— even when you're "doing all the right things."
You’re not imagining it. And you're not broken.
The truth is: your body is wise.
Your symptoms are signals — not failures. And when we listen, we can begin to heal.
Your symptoms are signals — not failures. And when we listen, we can begin to heal.
The models below (like the Stress Bowl and BEES Model) are simple, practical ways to understand what your body is really saying — especially during and after menopause.
So you can finally feel calmer, clearer, and more in control.
The Stress Bowl
Why symptoms appear when your body runs out of capacity
Imagine your body as a bowl.
Everything you experience — physically, emotionally, chemically, hormonally — adds to that bowl:
Hormone shifts (especially in perimenopause or postmenopause)
Emotional pressure
Blood sugar swings
Poor sleep or disrupted rhythms
Digestive stress
Inflammation or food sensitivities
Environmental toxins and chemicals
Constant stimulation (screens, noise, notifications)
Daily demands and responsibilities
Physical tension held in the body
When your bowl has space, your body copes beautifully.
But when the bowl starts to overflow, symptoms appear — often in ways that feel random or disconnected.
Common spillover signs include:
Bloating
Fatigue
Hot flushes
Irritability
Cravings
Sleep disruption
Anxious thoughts
Aches and tension
Wellness isn’t about “emptying your bowl” completely.
It’s about creating enough space so your body can adapt, respond, and recover.
It’s about creating enough space so your body can adapt, respond, and recover.
🐝 The BEES Model
The four realms of stress that quietly drain your system
Most people think of stress as just emotional. But your body processes stress in four key areas — and they all fill your bowl.
Here’s how they quietly build up and affect your symptoms
⭐ Biochemical Stress
Food reactions, blood sugar crashes, inflammation, toxins, medications, nutrient gaps
🡒 Often shows up as: bloating, cravings, energy dips, reactivity
⭐ Emotional Stress
Worry, work pressure, family load, grief, trauma
🡒 Often shows up as: anxiety, poor sleep, mood swings, digestive shifts
🡒 Often shows up as: anxiety, poor sleep, mood swings, digestive shifts
⭐ Electrical Stress
Screens, noise, busy environments, EMFs
🡒 Often shows up as: wired-but-tired, restless sleep, buzzing thoughts
🡒 Often shows up as: wired-but-tired, restless sleep, buzzing thoughts
⭐ Structural Stress
Posture, tight jaw, old injuries, tension, lymph congestion
🡒 Often shows up as: aches, poor circulation, sluggish digestion, inflammation
🡒 Often shows up as: aches, poor circulation, sluggish digestion, inflammation
These stressors combine faster than you realise — and often go unnoticed until your symptoms speak louder
Want to see your own mix of stressors?
⚡The Triangle of Hormonal Health
How blood sugar, stress, and sex hormones work together — or pull each other out of balance
Your body relies on three major systems working in harmony:
Blood Sugar, Stress Hormones, and Sex Hormones.
Blood Sugar, Stress Hormones, and Sex Hormones.
When one shifts, the others compensate — often leading to a cascade of symptoms like brain fog, bloating, cravings, and sleep disruption.
This triangle helps explain how hormone imbalance creates knock-on effects throughout your body. When stress hormones are overworked, your digestive and immune systems can also become compromised.
🍯 Blood Sugar Balance
Affects energy, sleep, cravings, mood, and weight
🡒 Think: hangry crashes, poor sleep, sugar cravings, midsection weight gain
🡒 Think: hangry crashes, poor sleep, sugar cravings, midsection weight gain
⚡ Stress Hormones (like cortisol)
Impact digestion, inflammation, nervous system regulation, and emotional steadiness
🡒 Think: gut issues, wired-but-tired, burnout, anxious overthinking
🡒 Think: gut issues, wired-but-tired, burnout, anxious overthinking
🌸 Sex Hormones (oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone)
Influence brain clarity, temperature changes, skin, mood, and menstrual rhythm
🡒 Think: hot flushes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, night sweats, loss of libido
🡒 Think: hot flushes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, night sweats, loss of libido
During perimenopause and postmenopause, your sex hormones are already fluctuating.
Supporting blood sugar and cortisol balance helps your entire system settle and stabilise.
Supporting blood sugar and cortisol balance helps your entire system settle and stabilise.
Because it’s all connected.
⏱ Stress Stages
Why symptoms build slowly — then feel like they hit all at once
Your body moves through predictable phases when dealing with long-term stress:
⭐ Alarm Stage
Your body reacts quickly to a stressor — fight, flight, or freeze.
⭐ Resistance Stage
You push through, but under the surface, your system is working overtime to keep up.
⭐ Exhaustion Stage
Reserves run low. That’s when the crash hits:
fatigue, bloating, low mood, disrupted sleep, reactivity.
fatigue, bloating, low mood, disrupted sleep, reactivity.
This isn’t failure. It’s feedback.
Your body is asking for space, recovery, and steady support.
Your body is asking for space, recovery, and steady support.
🧩 Bringing It All Together
These models help you:
- Understand what’s filling your Stress Bowl
- Identify which types of stress are draining your system
- See how your hormones respond under pressure
- Spot the deeper roots behind symptoms
- Know what to reduce, remove, or support
When you can see the whole picture, you can stop chasing symptoms —
and start working with your body, not against it.
and start working with your body, not against it.
🌻 Want to Go Deeper?
Get personalised insight into how your hormones are working behind the scenes.
🎥 Prefer to Watch?
Check out The Menopause Map Playlist on YouTube— where I explain each model in short, practical videos.
