9. Menopause, Andropause and Anxiety

Feeling Sound — Episode 9

Menopause, Andropause and Anxiety: The Hormone Shift Nobody Talks About

Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet. All the birds are singing loud. I'm back out and I'm moving today on my loop around Glossop, trying to stay cool and hoping to find a breeze somewhere. Maybe some cars passing us on this episode, maybe rivers, who knows.

Today, welcome to the Feeling Sound Podcast. I am Clare Savory. No one ever knows how to say my surname, so I realised I should probably say it more. Savory, Sav, whatever you want to call me - it's my married name, not my maiden name. Happened to choose this name, but it's all right, it's all right.

A subject today which I often get asked about, and I'll be honest, I knew the basics about hormones and perimenopause and how they relate to the science of meditation and sound baths, but what this episode really did for me was make me go out and find out more. One of the things I really love to do is keep on top of my accreditations and qualifications - they're all pretty recent, within the last three or four years, which is handy, but things change, right? New science is coming out all the time, so I wanted to make sure I was on top of it, and I did a bit of my own research.

One of the things I realised is that when we talk about hormones, it's very often associated with women, but actually, men have hormones too. It's worth reminding ourselves that my sessions are always open to men and women. I really want to debunk the myth that sound baths are just for women - I'm passionate about that. I want to make sure sound baths are accessible for the people who really need them, and that's the other 50% of the population too.

So here's the thing with hormones - I think no one really wants to talk about things like perimenopause and menopause, honestly. I know there's a growing collection of voices changing that, and I'm absolutely on board with it. It's not just a women's issue - in actual fact, when I looked into it, men go through hormonal changes too. They go through testosterone decline, and there's even something called andropause. Google it if you're a guy - it's a bit of a controversial thing in that not all doctors acknowledge it as a thing, but essentially we're still talking about anxiety, poor sleep and mood shifts, and the reality is that these affect everyone, regardless of gender.

I've mentioned in a previous episode, when we were talking about sleep, that I've had my own sleep struggles, and perimenopause has been a real thing for me. I also know that for many of the people who come to my sound baths, perimenopausal anxiety is one of the things they'll quietly mention on their registration forms. It's way more than hot flushes - perimenopause affects sleep, mood, memory, anxiety, energy, even our sense of self and where our body stores fat. It really isn't an aspect of our life that isn't covered here.

The really interesting question for me was: what does the research say about sound and the anxious, hormonally changing nervous system? So that's where I began. When we talk about these hormonal changes, we're also looking at things like heart health, bone density, blood sugar and mental health - and many of these symptoms overlap with fatigue, disrupted sleep, irritability and emotional exhaustion. You're kind of like, is this perimenopause, or is it just life? It's really hard to separate. So, what is the problem here?

What do we do about it, when something like these hormonal changes touches every part of our life? Something that links all of it is the body's stress system. Essentially, what all of this does is make our system find it harder to regulate - and when we say regulate, we mean coming back to a rest-and-digest response rather than fight, flight or freeze.

The research shows that the body's alarm keeps going off even when there's no real threat, so when we're processing this shift into anxiety and noise, that fight, flight, freeze response is just very, very loud. This can become a nervous system issue, and understanding that context is really helpful, because a big part of what I talk about with sound baths and meditation is that they're a tool to help regulate your nervous system. So that's pretty handy - I understand it now.

Anxiety during perimenopause is really common, actually, and it's not often discussed, because a lot of people talk about the physical aspects of what's going on with these hormone changes. For a lot of people, it's not just worry - you can feel it physically, in a racing heart, a sense of dread, maybe just feeling overwhelmed by things that never used to bother you, this accumulation effect. Because the nervous system is in this heightened state, the gear change into rest and digest, when we want to sleep or digest food, takes us longer. That's worth sitting with for a moment, if that's something you've been living and feeling without really understanding what's going on.

This is where sound baths really lean in - and I'm talking about sound baths with an accredited practitioner who understands the nervous system, who understands how to create that journey and the therapeutic effect that sound has. If you're looking into finding a sound bath practitioner, make sure they have that training behind them, because not all sound baths are the same.

Where sound baths can really work is in helping the body's relaxation response - not forcing it calm, but creating the conditions for your brain, your mind, to eventually say, ah, I can switch off now, I can relax. One of the most powerful aspects of sound baths is low frequency sound. I've talked before, in generic terms, about how low frequencies are often associated with relaxing our system, whereas higher frequencies are said to stimulate us. A lot of sound baths really come back to these lower frequency sounds, and this activates the body's natural calming pathway.

When we talk about things like hot flushes, one of the things I was reading about was the calming pathway we have from brain to gut - it's actually less active when we're having hot flushes, especially at night, and that can explain why sleep gets disrupted.

So then let's talk about what some of the research shows, because there hasn't been a lot, but there's definitely more research coming through on meditation, sound baths and perimenopause,

hed a couple of years ago, in: 2024

There's also a 2022 study - 15 minute music sessions over 18 sessions - which revealed a measurable decrease in both depression and anxiety. The interesting thing about these is that they're proper clinical trials, not just people saying they felt better because they went to something a bit woo-woo - these are actual measured outcomes. It shows the power of music.

I've talked about Daniel Levitin, who has a brilliant book called Music as Medicine - it's amazing, and it leans into a lot of this. The research here is still emerging, and I want to be honest about that, but what we have is the start of something genuine that's showing it does help.

One of the things I also wanted to understand was how sound baths can help us in terms of our body, our stress response and our brain. I've talked about this on a general basis before, but I wanted to go a little deeper. Coming back to stress response - that anxiety that can be raging is one of the things I see most often on my registration forms. Relaxing sound after a stressful period has been shown to reduce the main stress hormone, cortisol, and when we have high cortisol levels, that's when we're likely to see links to poor sleep, mood swings and anxiety. So calming that down with the relaxation response of calming sound helps reduce cortisol overall, which then helps with sleep, mood swings and anxiety.

Then there's the brain. One of the chemicals people often talk about is dopamine - that warm, motivated, inspired feeling. People often associate dopamine with things like eating your favourite chocolate bar, these short, quick fix hits. I know for people I work with who talk about having ADHD, dopamine comes up a lot, because they seem to need more hits than the average person. Dopamine is this feel-good brain chemical, and sound baths can increase these calming chemicals in the brain while reducing the overexcited ones. Essentially, the music can emotionally trigger dopamine in us, that warm, fuzzy feeling - which is pretty cool.

What else? It helps the brain adapt and grow. Regular engagement with sound, music and sound baths supports neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to structurally change to reduce our stress and fear response. Some people report less brain fog after consistent sound bath sessions, and the science backs this up. When I talk about meditation and that lack of focus or concentration, that foggy feeling, we know through consistent meditation that we're strengthening the prefrontal cortex, which I've mentioned quite a lot. A few years ago I wouldn't have known any of this, but I'm learning about it because I think it's important - the prefrontal cortex is responsible for rational thought, memory and focus, and people also talk about the hippocampus, which is associated with memory too.

What else? Low frequency vibration and bone health. It's very early research, very early days, but the initial findings suggest that low frequency vibration may slow bone density loss in postmenopausal women. Interesting - because from the age of 35, all of our bone density starts to decrease.

That's true for men and women, by the way - it's just that during menopause or perimenopause it goes down a lot quicker, which is where things like strength training, vitamin D and calcium come in. This is relevant because bone health is obviously a real concern at this stage, so the fact that this very early research is showing that low frequency vibration could slow bone density loss down is really quite fascinating. One to watch.

For me, my own experience of going through this - sleep is a tricky one, especially in the hotter months. Some of the tools I come back to are making sure my own meditation practice is locked in. I wouldn't say I do it every single day, but I've got to the point where intuitively I know what technique I need and when, and I make space to sit with it for however long I need. I also use my own recordings - I've started building up a bank of them, which you can explore on my website, FeelingSound.co, and I listen to some of them myself too.

I have playlists where I'll just sit, close my eyes with headphones on, and listen - like the people in that study, 15 minutes of music every day. Imagine if you just sat and listened to 15 minutes of music with your eyes closed, not on your phone, not pottering around the house. You could even just sit through the first three or four tracks of an album. It's worth knowing, isn't it, now we know it makes a difference.

I'm not here to pretend I have all the answers. I'm working through this myself, and I'm likely to be working through this stage of my life for the next few years, so maybe I'll do a follow-up episode in years to come, and hopefully the research will continue to improve.

So, some practical takeaways. Regular sound baths - not just one session. A lot of people are curious, they come for one session, see it as a treat, and don't really lean into the benefits that repeated sessions can offer. Regular sessions are what support nervous system regulation through whatever hormonal transition you're going through.

Low frequency recordings before bed - I've got a Sleepscape, which is 30 minutes of binaural beats using a Solfeggio frequency, 174 hertz, which is pretty low and could support sleep quality. That's worth checking out. Humming - I've talked about this before, but humming directly activates the body's calming pathway, the connection between brain and gut, and you could be humming while you listen to this right now. It's free, instant and available anywhere. How many of us have social media feeds filled with supplements to reduce menopausal symptoms, when actually we could just sit here and hum? There's even a type of somatic yoga practice - Sally Eccleston, who operates at the same venue as me at Riverside, Whaley Bridge, taps into that approach.

These kinds of practices really help regulate the stress response. I'd never heard the phrase 'regulate your nervous system' before, but now I do, and it's been a light bulb moment for me. I

guess it's really about these daily, gentle practices that happen little and often. They're not necessarily big, grand gestures - if you can make it to a yoga retreat once a year, that's brilliant, but what are you doing a little bit every day, every week? What are those habits, behaviours, routines and sessions you're really leaning into on a regular basis? That's something worth thinking about.

I should be honest and say that sound baths and meditation are not a replacement for medical care or professional support - these are complementary tools that can work alongside whatever else is happening for you, and always go to your GP. The Menopause Charity and Menopause Support UK are really good resources, and for men, your GP, plus there's something called the Andropause Society that I found online for more information. These are good starting points, whatever hormonal changes you're navigating, or if you just feel like your nervous system is running a bit too hot. You're not imagining it - your body does something every day that is incredible. It is enormous, it is a powerhouse, and it deserves your kindness and support.

What's really cool about things like sound baths and gong baths is that they're one of the gentlest, most passive and accessible ways I know to offer that support. So come to a session, try a sleep recording, just hum for two minutes - start here, and see whether this could be one of the tools to help you get through whatever it is you're feeling and going through at the moment.

Whether this has resonated with you, let me know. If you've had your own experiences of sound baths and meditation and how they've supported you through this period in your life, drop me a note - you can email me at hello@feelingsound.co. I'd love to hear from you, and I want to find out more about this too.

So, here's to being curious, to looking for ways we can help ourselves with some of the tools that are already here in our lives - music, humming, maybe a local sound bath practitioner you've been meaning to go back to, or go to, but haven't put the time in your diary for yet. Maybe now could be that chance. Whatever you find, just be curious and be open-minded. I'll see you again soon. Bye bye.