Energized with Dr. Mariza

You’re exhausted by 2 or 3 PM. Your workouts suddenly wipe you out. Your hair is shedding, your brain feels foggy, and even climbing a flight of stairs leaves you more winded than it used to.

Then you finally ask for help and hear: “Your labs are normal.”

In this solo episode, Dr. Mariza breaks down one of the most commonly missed contributors to persistent fatigue in women: iron deficiency, even before anemia develops. She explains newly released American Society of Hematology ferritin thresholds and why women who were previously told their iron was “normal” may deserve a closer look.

But iron is only one part of the conversation.

Dr. Mariza walks through the bigger clinical picture she considers when a woman says, “I don’t feel like myself anymore,” including thyroid function, mitochondrial energy production, blood sugar, sleep, nutrition, stress physiology, and HPA-axis regulation.

Most importantly, she explains why fatigue is a symptom, not a diagnosis and why neither stress, aging, nor perimenopause should automatically become the explanation for everything you’re experiencing.

Listen now to learn what may be hiding behind your exhaustion and how to have a more productive conversation with your healthcare provider.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why iron deficiency can exist before you become anemic

The new ferritin thresholds women should know about

Why a lab’s reference range and a diagnostic threshold are not always the same thing

Why heavy perimenopausal periods can increase your risk of depleted iron stores

The fatigue, brain fog, headaches, hair shedding, and exercise intolerance that can overlap with perimenopause

How iron, thyroid hormones, nutrition, blood sugar, sleep, and recovery influence mitochondrial energy production

Why “adrenal fatigue” oversimplifies what may actually be happening with the HPA axis

How under-fueling, over-training, poor sleep, circadian disruption, illness, and caffeine can add to the body’s total stress load

The questions to ask when you know something has changed but your labs keep coming back “normal”

QUOTES

“You can be iron deficient before you ever become anemic.”

“Two things can be true at once.”

“I don’t want mitochondrial dysfunction to become another vague label we give an exhausted woman.”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Find inspiration, connection, and meaningful reads. Join the Book Club now!

https://drmariza.com/bookclub

Order my newest book: The Perimenopause Revolution

http://drmariza.com/book

Stop surviving and start thriving, join Midlife on Fire Collective now

https://drmariza.com/trial

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664: The Hidden Reason You’re Exhausted: How to Fix Cortisol and Boost Stress Resilience in Perimenopause

661: When “Normal” Isn’t Normal: How to Be Heard (and Taken Seriously) at the Doctor’s Office

755: What If Your Body Isn’t Broken, Just Undernourished? The Missing Link Between Nutrients, Hormones & Energy with Ryan Woodbury

What happens when the woman who has always been able to handle everything suddenly realizes her body won’t let her operate that way anymore?

In this episode, Dr. Mariza sits down with functional diagnostic nutritionist, medical exercise specialist, bestselling author, and women’s health educator Jenn Pike for a deeply personal conversation about the capacity shift that can happen in perimenopause.

Jenn shares the subtle signs she noticed in her late 30s: alcohol suddenly disrupting her sleep, slower workout recovery, increased soreness, less patience, and a shorter emotional fuse. Eventually, she realized she wasn’t simply stressed. Her body needed her to operate differently.

They unpack what happened when Jenn stopped forcing intense workouts, began respecting her changing energy, reduced her workload, asked for help, and started saying no, even when disappointing people felt uncomfortable.

But this conversation goes even deeper into the identity so many high-functioning women carry: “I’ve got this. I don’t need help.”

Listen now to discover why perimenopause may be an invitation to protect your energy, trust your body, and stop treating exhaustion as the price of a full life.

JENN PIKE

Jenn Pike is a functional diagnostic nutritionist, medical exercise specialist, bestselling author, and women’s health educator who has spent years helping women in perimenopause and menopause better understand their hormones and bodies.

She is also the host of The Simplicity Sessions podcast. In this conversation, Jenn shares her own experience of entering perimenopause in her late 30s and how it forced her to rethink exercise, work, motherhood, boundaries, identity, and the belief that she always had to be the one who could handle everything.

IN THIS EPISODE

The subtle perimenopause signs Jenn started noticing before age 40

Why intense workouts stopped feeling good and how she changed her training

What overstimulation and a shorter emotional fuse revealed about her capacity

How overcommitment and constantly being needed contributed to burnout

Why Jenn had to dramatically rethink how much she could put on her calendar

Learning to ask for help, delegate, and disappoint people without falling apart

Why perimenopause can bring your deepest patterns around productivity and self-worth back up for review

How Jenn moved from being “smart” to feeling wiser, calmer, and more trusting of herself

QUOTES

“The nutrient is actually doing less, and figuring out how to do less better.”

“I taught people to expect that of me.”

“I don't have to be that person to be loved.”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Order my newest book: The Perimenopause Revolution:

https://drmariza.com/book

Join my brand new Substack: for the woman everyone depends on who is wondering why everything feels harder in midlife >>

https://drmariza.substack.com/

The Simplicity Sessions Podcast:

https://jennpike.com/podcast/

Jenn Pike Website

https://jennpike.com/

Jenn Pike Instagram

RELATED EPISODES

776: What Changes When Your Body Can’t Keep Pushing Like It Used To? With Dr. Taz Bhatia

775: Wide Awake at 3 A.M.? What’s Really Disrupting Your Sleep in Midlife with Morgan Adams

774: Training for Your Grandma Self: How to Build a Body That Lasts

769: Is It Perimenopause or Something Else? How to Finally Connect the Dots with Dr. Mariza

What if perimenopause isn’t simply changing your hormones, but revealing everything your body has been compensating for for years?

In this episode, Dr. Mariza sits down with integrative medicine physician and women’s health expert Dr. Taz Bhatia for an incredibly personal conversation about what happens when the strategies that helped high-functioning women push through for decades suddenly stop working.

Dr. Taz shares how her own perimenopause began with incredibly heavy periods, fatigue, anemia, hair loss, mood changes, and unexpected weight gain.

But one of her biggest surprises came later: as progesterone and estrogen declined, her blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, A1C, and liver enzymes began creeping upward, revealing just how interconnected hormones and metabolic health really are.

They also explore the emotional transformation of midlife: letting go of people-pleasing, protecting your energy, releasing the need to be the “good girl,” and becoming clearer about who you are and what deserves your attention.

Listen now to rethink perimenopause as an opportunity to understand your body, protect your health, and step powerfully into what comes next.

DR. TAZ BHATIA

Dr. Taz Bhatia is a board-certified integrative medicine physician, women’s health expert, and bestselling author of several books, including The Hormone Shift. Her work explores the connections between hormones, metabolism, stress, nutrition, and whole-body health.

Through her Whole Plus clinics and podcast, Dr. Taz advocates for a more collaborative approach to women’s health that looks beyond symptoms to cognitive, metabolic, cardiovascular, bone, mental, and hormonal health.

IN THIS EPISODE

How extremely heavy periods became Dr. Taz’s first undeniable sign of perimenopause

Why weight gain in midlife isn’t necessarily something women simply have to accept

How estrogen and progesterone shifts can intersect with blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, and visceral fat

Why the “silent” cardiometabolic changes of menopause deserve more attention

Why your body may stop tolerating the stress, sleep debt, and depletion you once pushed through

How perimenopause helped Dr. Taz stop people-pleasing and build stronger boundaries

Why knowing your own patterns and tracking changes can help you advocate for yourself

How midlife can become an opportunity to redefine your identity, purpose, and power

QUOTES

Perimenopause is really where women come into their own.”

“These are not my battles. This is not my fight.”

“We gotta redefine what fine is.”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Find inspiration, connection, and meaningful reads: Join my Soulful Shelf Book Club (no cost) here:

https://drmariza.com/bookclub

Join my brand-new Substack: for the woman everyone depends on who is wondering why everything feels harder in midlife:

https://drmariza.substack.com/

The Hormone Shift by Dr. Taz Bhatia:

https://amzn.to/4xJ5VfK

The Superwoman Rx by Dr. Taz Bhatia:

https://amzn.to/4hHkZpn

Dr. Taz Website:

https://doctortaz.com/

Dr. Taz Instagram

Hol+ Wellness Podcast

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775: Wide Awake at 3 A.M.? What’s Really Disrupting Your Sleep in Midlife with Morgan Adams

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769: Is It Perimenopause or Something Else? How to Finally Connect the Dots with Dr. Mariza

If you keep waking up at 2:00, 3:00, or 4:00 AM and can’t fall back asleep, your hormones may only be one piece of the puzzle.

In this episode, Dr. Mariza sits down with sleep expert Morgan Adams to unpack why sleep can suddenly fall apart in midlife and what you can actually do about it.

Morgan explains three major forces affecting women’s sleep: declining estrogen and progesterone, rising anxiety and depression, and the enormous demands of being part of the “sandwich generation,” often juggling a career, children, and aging parents simultaneously.

They dig into one of the biggest complaints among midlife women: middle-of-the-night wake-ups. From blood sugar dysregulation and overheating to overlooked breathing issues, Morgan reveals why repeatedly waking at the same time deserves a closer look.

You’ll also learn what not to do when you wake up, the cognitive trick that may interrupt 3 AM rumination, why your wearable can’t replace a sleep study, and whether sleeping separately from your partner could actually protect your health and your relationship.

Listen now for practical strategies to finally get the deeper, more restorative sleep your body needs.

MORGAN ADAMS

Morgan Adams is a sleep coach who helps women struggling with insomnia and disrupted sleep improve their sleep using evidence-based behavioral strategies.

Her work includes cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) principles and practical approaches to middle-of-the-night wake-ups, rumination, evening routines, and sleep optimization. In the episode, she also offers listeners a guide specifically for 3 AM wake-ups and an opportunity to connect with her about insomnia support.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why sleep can suddenly fall apart for women in midlife

What “revenge bedtime procrastination” is and why busy women do it

The surprising reasons you may keep waking up around 3 AM

How blood sugar dysregulation may contribute to nighttime wake-ups

Why overheating may be disrupting your sleep even without night sweats

The overlooked breathing problems that can leave healthy women exhausted

What to do when your brain starts spiraling in the middle of the night

Why a “sleep divorce” might actually become a sleep alliance

QUOTES“My big thing is mindfulness snacks.”

“Sleeping separately doesn’t mean the marriage has failed.”

“It’s not a template. It’s really an individualized kind of puzzle that you kinda have to put together for yourself.”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Find inspiration, connection, and meaningful reads. Join the Book Club now!

Awake Again at 3am by Morgan Adams

Morgan Adams Website

Morgan Adams Instagram

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769: Is It Perimenopause or Something Else? How to Finally Connect the Dots with Dr. Mariza

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What if one of the biggest questions of perimenopause isn’t simply “How do I feel better right now?” but “Who do I want to be 20, 30, or 40 years from now?”

In this deeply personal conversation, Dr. Mariza sits down with women’s health expert Dr. Stephanie Estima to talk about the side of midlife that rarely makes it into conversations about hormones.

They explore what happens when the high-functioning woman who has always been able to handle everything begins to notice that her capacity has changed. Stephanie shares how she can no longer work the same 10- or 12-hour days she once could, why movement has become essential for her mental clarity, and how perimenopause has made her more discerning about where she puts her energy.

But this conversation goes much deeper than symptoms.

From female friendship and motherhood to living according to your values, Stephanie and Mariza ask what it actually means to build a life and body capable of carrying you through the second half of your life.

You’ll also hear Stephanie’s non-negotiables for longevity, including strength, mobility, joint health, pelvic floor health, and the small habits that compound over decades.

Listen now and start training for the woman you still want to become.

DR. STEPHANIE ESTIMA

Dr. Stephanie Estima is a women’s health expert, chiropractor, bestselling author of The Betty Body, and host of the Better with Dr. Stephanie podcast.

Her work focuses on helping women understand their bodies, optimize health and performance, and build strength and resilience throughout the different stages of life.

In this conversation, Stephanie gets especially personal about her own experience of midlife, motherhood, changing capacity, friendship, fitness, and becoming increasingly comfortable being fully herself.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why your mental and work capacity can feel different in perimenopause

The emotional reality of motherhood as your children grow up

Why female friendship and connection matter more in midlife

The powerful realization that your mid-40s may represent your halfway point

How to tell if your calendar actually reflects what you say you value

Why strength training is one of Stephanie’s longevity non-negotiables

The overlooked role of mobility and joint health as you age

Why pelvic floor health deserves your attention long before older age

QUOTES“I think I have, like, lactic acid of the soul.”

“I really do need people.”

“Are you living in alignment with the things that you say are important to you?”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Order my newest book: The Perimenopause Revolution

Stop surviving and start thriving, join Midlife on Fire Collective now

The Betty Body by Dr. Stephanie Estima

Better with Dr. Stephanie Podcast

Stephanie Estima Website

Stephanie Estima Facebook

Stephanie Estima Instagram

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771: Beyond Hot Flashes: The 103 Symptoms of Perimenopause No One Talks About with Andrea Donsky

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750: The Underlying Cellular Cause of Midlife Fatigue, Brain Fog & Low Motivation with Andrew Salzman