Spring Into Your Best Season Yet

Science-Backed Ways to Shake Off Winter, Boost Your Energy & Get Ready for Summer

Let's be honest... January 1st has nothing on the first warm breeze of spring! Today felt like the first day of a new year to me! While everyone else is still clinging to their New Year's resolutions in the dark of winter, you and I both know that spring is when the real reset begins. The birds are back, the days are getting longer, and something deep inside you starts to stir.

For those of us in perimenopause, this seasonal shift is more than just a mood — it's an opportunity. Spring is nature's green light to shed what's been weighing us down and rebuild our energy from the ground up. And here's the exciting part: if summer is your favorite season (same!), the work you do right now in spring is exactly what gets you there feeling vibrant, confident, and completely yourself.

Here are six evidence-based strategies — three to help lift seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and three to naturally reignite your energy — so you can spring forward feeling like the woman you know you are.

Part 1: Shake Off the Winter Blues

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects up to 20% of women, and the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause may make you even more susceptible to its effects. The good news? Science has some powerful tools to help.

1. Light Therapy: Reset Your Internal Clock

The most clinically validated treatment for SAD is bright light therapy, and it works remarkably fast. Sitting in front of a 10,000-lux light box for just 20–30 minutes each morning can significantly reduce depressive symptoms within days — sometimes as quickly as one week.

Why it works: Morning light exposure suppresses melatonin and triggers a serotonin release, recalibrating your circadian rhythm. During perimenopause, declining estrogen disrupts this rhythm further — making light therapy especially powerful for you.

How to start:

•        Use a 10,000-lux certified light box (not a UV lamp)

•        Place it 16–24 inches from your face, off to one side

•        Use it within the first hour of waking — consistency is key

2. Get Outside for Morning Sunlight (Even When It's Cloudy)

Before you reach for your light box, consider that natural outdoor light — even on an overcast day — delivers 10–50 times more light intensity than typical indoor lighting. Research from Stanford neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman has shown that getting outside within the first 30–60 minutes of waking has a profound effect on mood, cortisol regulation, and sleep quality.

Why it matters for perimenopause: Cortisol naturally peaks in the morning to help you wake up, but hormonal shifts may blunt this response, leaving you groggy and flat. Morning light helps restore this healthy cortisol spike, which actually sets up better mood and lower stress throughout the day.

Your spring action step:

•        Aim for a 10–20 minute morning walk outside — no sunglasses! Let that natural light hit your retinas and watch what happens to your mood over the next two weeks.

3. Vitamin D Optimization

After months of short, grey winter days, vitamin D deficiency is extremely common and it has a direct, documented link to depression, fatigue, and low mood. A large 2022 meta-analysis in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition confirmed that vitamin D supplementation significantly improved depressive symptoms, particularly in those who were deficient.

The perimenopausal connection: Estrogen helps the body activate vitamin D. As estrogen declines, your ability to convert and use vitamin D decreases — meaning you may need more than the standard recommendation. Remember, normal does not always equal Optimal!

What to do:

•        Ask your doctor to test your 25(OH)D levels — optimal is typically 40–80 ng/mL

•        Consider supplementing with vitamin D3 + K2 (K2 helps with proper absorption)

•        As spring arrives, aim to get 15–20 min of direct midday sun on arms and legs when possible

Part 2: Reignite Your Natural Energy

"But I'm just so tired all the time." I hear this from my clients constantly — and I want you to know it's not just in your head, and it's not permanent. Perimenopausal fatigue is real, hormonal, and highly addressable. Here's what science says actually works:

4. Resistance Training: The Hormonal Game-Changer

If there's one thing I would prescribe to every perimenopausal woman for energy, it's lifting weights. A growing body of research shows that resistance training boosts mitochondrial function (your cells' energy factories), improves insulin sensitivity, increases testosterone (yes, women need it too!), and elevates the mood-lifting neurotransmitter, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF.

A 2021 study in Menopause journal found that women in perimenopause who engaged in resistance training reported significantly improved energy levels, better sleep, and reduced fatigue after just 12 weeks. Muscle tissue is also metabolically active — building it quite literally makes you a more efficient energy-burning machine.

Spring starter plan:

•        2–3 sessions per week, 30–45 minutes each

•        Focus on compound movements: squats, deadlifts, rows, presses

•        Progressive overload is key — gradually increase weight or time under tension to keep stimulating muscle growth

5. Protein Timing & Quality: Feed Your Energy at the Source

Chronic fatigue in perimenopause is often worsened by blood sugar instability — that rollercoaster of spikes and crashes that leaves you exhausted by 2pm. The research is clear: adequate protein, especially at breakfast, dramatically stabilizes blood glucose and provides sustained energy throughout the day.

Protein also provides the amino acid building blocks for key neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, all of which take a hit during perimenopause. Research supports a target of 1.2–1.6g of protein per kg (not pound) of body weight for active perimenopausal women to support muscle, metabolism, and mood.

Spring nutrition shifts:

•        Start your day with 30–40g of protein (eggs, Greek yogurt, protein smoothie)

•        Start with protein at every meal to prevent afternoon energy crashes

•        Prioritize quality sources: salmon, eggs, legumes, chicken, cottage cheese

6. Sleep Architecture: Fix the Foundation Everything Else Rests On

It's almost impossible to have great energy if your sleep is broken and if you're in perimenopause, I probably don't need to tell you about waking at 3am in a pool of sweat. Night sweats, insomnia, and disrupted sleep are among the most energy-draining symptoms of perimenopause, and they create a vicious cycle: poor sleep worsens fatigue, and fatigue worsens hormonal dysregulation.

Beyond the basics of sleep hygiene, research has identified several evidence-based interventions particularly effective for perimenopausal sleep. A 2019 study in Menopause found that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is more effective than sleep medication long-term. Additionally, keeping your bedroom cool (60–67°F), using moisture-wicking bedding, and front-loading your exercise to morning or afternoon, not within 3 hours of bedtime, have strong research support.

Your spring sleep reset:

•        Set a consistent bedtime AND wake time — even on weekends (your circadian rhythm loves consistency)

•        Cool your room to 65°F and try a cooling pillow or moisture-wicking pajamas or just sleep naked

•        Avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bed — it fragments sleep architecture even if it feels relaxing

•        Consider magnesium glycinate at bedtime — shown to improve sleep quality in women with hormonal disruption

Your Summer Body Starts This Spring

Here's the truth about looking and feeling your best this summer: it doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't happen in June. It happens now, in these weeks of lengthening light and warming air, when you choose to show up for yourself.

These six strategies aren't about pushing harder or punishing your body. They're about working with your physiology — the one you have right now, in this stage of life — to reclaim the vitality that has always been yours. Spring is your reminder that things do bloom again.

Pick one strategy from each section and commit to it for the next 30 days. You'll be amazed at where you are by the time summer arrives.

With so much love and belief in you,

Your Perimenopause Coach, Stacy 🌿

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before beginning any new supplement, exercise, or wellness program.