Hi friends! I’m SO thrilled have Nicole Jardim on the podcast today. I’ve followed her on IG forever and love the information she shares on IG. This episode is packed with helpful tips and info, especially if you’re curious about improving your cycle and hormonal health.

129: Fix Your Period with Nicole Jardim

Here’s what we talk about in today’s episode:

– What does it mean to have a healthy period? How would you describe a healthy cycle and signs you know something is awry?

– What’s a good starting point to work on improving your period?

– Signs of low progesterone and what to do about it

– Super heavy cycles; what does this mean + tips

– her favorite period products and fertility resources

and so.much.more!

Here’s more about Nicole and her background:

 Nicole Jardim is a Certified Women’s Health Coach, writer, speaker, mentor and author of Fix Your Period: 6 Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance, a life-changing step-by-step natural protocol to ignite lasting hormone balance and improve everything from PMS, period pain, and heavy periods to irregular and missing periods. She has developed education and offerings that empower women and people who menstruate to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and sass.

Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds rather than treating just their symptoms. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormone imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining optimal health and vitality at any age.

Nicole is the founder of the Institute for Menstrual Health, which offers training programs, mentorship and resources for an international community of women’s health practitioners and coaches. Through its signature program the Women’s Hormone Health Certification, Nicole teaches other health practitioners and coaches the fundamentals of hormones, menstrual cycles and fertility.

Finally, Nicole is the host of The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on Apple Podcasts, the co-author of The Happy Balance, a recipe book filled with over 80

Ringing, whistling, humming, buzzing – we often talk about the physical side of the hearing condition tinnitus, but it can take its toll on our wellbeing, too. Here, Emmie Harrison-West reflects on her own story, and explores the management tools that work for her and others

I remember hearing it for the first time, that ringing noise. It came to me in the dark, when I was in my late teens. It sounded like the screeching, erratic tones of dial-up broadband. Or like someone keeping their finger pressed on the doorbell deep inside my head – and there was no way to stop it. It would come and go. Sometimes I’d hear a rush of high-pitched ringing throughout the day, but it was worse at night.

Until my early 20s, I was constantly anxious and on edge before bed. Sometimes, I dreaded going to sleep in case I had a flare-up. When it happened, I’d spend hours staring at the ceiling, wishing for it (whatever it was) to disappear again. I suffered for it during the day. Felt drained, emotional, and tearful.Stress only made it worse; it was a truly vicious cycle.

Turns out that noise, deep in my ears, was tinnitus, and I joined the one in eight adults in the UK who suffer from it.

“Tinnitus is the name for hearing noises in your ears or head that are not caused by an outside source,” Franki Oliver, audiology adviser at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) told me. “It’s often described as ‘ringing in the ears’, but some people describe it as hissing, humming, buzzing, or whooshing.”

“Imagine hearing an unwanted sound all day,” Carly Sygrove, coach and hearing loss blogger told me. “Perhaps it’s the high-pitched whirring of the fridge, or maybe it’s a noisy neighbour playing music throughout the day. Like these scenarios, tinnitus is an intrusive sound, and there’s no way of turning it off.”

Two years ago, aged 27, I was diagnosed with hearing loss and tinnitus, one of a reported 12 million deaf people in the UK. I realised my hearing wasn’t quite right when I couldn’t understand people who wore masks – it was only then that it dawned on me how much I relied on lip-reading.

“Many people wrongly assume that it is their tinnitus, rather than their hearing loss, that is causing hearing difficulties,” Nic Wray, communications manager at British Tinnitus Association told me. They added that the causes of tinnitus are still ‘not fully understood,’ but could be triggered by exposure to loud noise, ear infections, wax build-up,’ and even Covid-19, or long Covid.

At first, thinking it was a wax build-up, I sought help from an audiologist who soon diagnosed me with mild nerve deafness. It was genetic, but likely exacerbated by listening to loud music through ear buds, or going to loud concerts growing up.

According to Duncan Collet-Fenson, audiologist at Aston Hearing: “We can all experience temporary tinnitus when we spend the evening at a l

This lightly sweetened baked oatmeal is filled with bursting blueberries and wholesome oats with a hint of fragrant cinnamon.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

My family likes oatmeal in every way, shape, or form you can serve it. So, finding new ways to make and serve it makes all of us happy.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal is a hearty breakfast that can be stirred together in just minutes. If you haven’t yet tried baked oatmeal, this is a delicious recipe to start with today.

Side note, because you all know that I’m weather obsessed now that we live in Ohio – I am loving the mornings that we’ve had over the past week! When I’m done sitting on the porch with my coffee, baked oatmeal sounds better than ever.

Muesli-style slow cooker oats, nutty granolas, peaches and cream oatmeal with sweet bites of fruit and melting brown sugar, chewy baked oatmeal; we love them all. And I doubt that any of us will ever turn down a warm oatmeal cookie.

You can find a full list of some of our favorite oatmeal recipes right here.

Blueberry Oatmeal Bake

With all of those varieties to choose from, I can still say, beyond any doubt, that our all-time favorite way to make oatmeal for breakfast is baked. And blueberries in oatmeal? That’s a sure fire win.

Pulling a pan of baked oatmeal out of the oven in the morning makes eating oatmeal feel like a special treat. Whether you choose to fill yours with apples or berries, dried fruit, or crunchy nuts, there really isn’t a wrong way to prepare your morning oatmeal.

This blueberry oatmeal bake is loaded with fresh berries, but it can also be made with frozen blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries.

While I do enjoy chopped strawbe

New research uncovers the happiest (and unhappiest) industries to work in based on these key factors

Being happy at work is something many of us strive for. We spend a lot of time at work, so anything that can help us enjoy this time is welcome. Knowing what it takes to feel happy at work can help us on this mission as we figure out what’s working, and what’s not working for us at work.

Recently, SEO company Reboot Online surveyed 2,500 professionals from 29 different industries to find out which industry had the happiest workers. To determine their happiness, Reboot Online took seven factors into consideration, leading to an overall job happiness score for each industry.

The industry that scored the highest happiness score was science and pharmaceuticals (91.93), followed by creative arts and design (83.81), and then environment and agriculture (80.96). On the other end of the spectrum, energy and utilities scored the lowest (9.50), with sales (10.49), and call centre/customer service (11.91) not far behind.

So, what factors were looked into when creating this happiness score, and how can we use these as signposts to our own job satisfaction?

1. Positive impact on others

Considering the impact your work has on others and knowing that impact is positive can go a long way in helping us feel content at work. If this is something you’re unsure of right now, you might want to explore the idea of job crafting, where you can use certain tools to help your job ‘fit’ better with your values. Learn more about what job crafting entails and how it could help you find more meaning in your work.

2. Career prospects

For a lot of us, knowing there is some forward motion in our careers is key. An easy first step here could be to use your imagination.

“Find your imagination and create a vision of your ideal career,” says career coach and author Tessa Armstrong. “By allowing yourself to imagine your ideal career, you will give yourself the best chance of achieving the best career for you.”

Read more of Tessa’s advice on progressing in your career when you’re feeling lost.

3. Employee empowerment

Feeling empowered at work can help us feel in control not only of our days but also of our careers. Ways we might feel empowered include having ownership of certain projects, being trusted with our own schedule/time, and knowing our voices are heard and listened to.

If this feels like something you’re missing in your work, try speaking to your manager to find ways you can take on more ownership in your role, gain some autonomy and feel more empowered.

4. Work relationships

If relationships at work are strained, it can really take its toll on our sense of happiness. We may not always be able to be best buds with everyone we work with, but there are steps we can take to improve these relationships. Not sure where to start? Take a look at executive coach Aaron Jude McCarthy’s thoughts on improving workplace relationships.

Read more

Intergenerational trauma can feel like an unrelenting trap, but it’s time to break free

The generations who raised us invariably have a huge impact on our lives, and the people that we become. As adults, we may find a lot of joy in noticing that we have adopted, for example, our mother’s sense of humour, our grandfather’s agreeableness, or our aunt’s passion. But there’s another side to this coin.

There’s a saying you might have heard of: ‘Hurt people hurt people.’ It’s a very simplistic way of talking about the way that one person’s pain can, often completely unintentionally, affect others. And when it comes to the way this manifests in family relationships, it turns into a well-documented psychological phenomenon.

“Intergenerational trauma is defined as trauma that is transferred from one generation of trauma survivors on to the second, and further generations, through genetics and experiences,” counsellor Melanie Kirk says. “This means that even though the original trauma may not have been experienced first-hand, the feelings, symptoms, and behaviours can live on.”

The trauma can be personal, – for example, the parent might have experienced abuse, been the victim of a serious crime, or have suffered loss or bereavement. Or, the trauma could be shared – Melanie points to the example of Holocaust survivors.

“In 2015, a psychiatry and neuroscience professor called Dr Rachel Yehuda directed a team of researchers, and conducted a study on the descendants of Holocaust survivors,” she explains. “It was discovered that the descendants had low levels of cortisol (the hormone that is released during times of stress, which helps to bring down the high levels of adrenaline released when a ‘fight or flight’ response is triggered).

“It was concluded that if one parent has experienced PTSD then future generations may be more likely to inherit the gene adaptation caused by a traumatic event. This in turn could result in the descendant being more susceptible to conditions such as depression and anxiety. Comparable studies were also carried out on the survivors and descendants of 9/11, which revealed similar results.”

What does intergenerational trauma look like?

In the same way that trauma will present differently from person to person, intergenerational trauma does, too. It’s a complex experience, and one that is best explored with the help of a mental health professional. That said, there are common themes.

Besides the genetic impact that Melanie previously explained, if the parent has experienced the trauma, it may affect the way that they interact with their child – they may find it more difficult to regulate their emotions, or to model appropriate coping behaviours to their children. In practice, this may look like a reduced tolerance to stress – perhaps finding they become overwhelmed or angry quickly – or they may find it more challenging to express love and affection. All this may then affect their children’s behaviour and coping mechanisms, and the way they go on to parent, or treat the