756. How To Create A Safe Place To Regulate Your Nervous System
The Female Health Solution Podcast
Release Date: 11/03/2025
768. Normal Labs, No Answers: How to Find the Root Cause of Hormone Issues with Dr. Jenny Gerken
The Female Health Solution Podcast
Have you ever been told your labs are “normal,” but you still feel exhausted, foggy, wired, or not like yourself? I'm Dr. Jenny, one of the docs on the team with Dr. Beth Westie. In this episode of The Female Health Solution Podcast, I share my clinical perspective after working with hundreds of women inside Dr. Beth Westie’s practice. We dive into why normal blood work doesn’t always mean your hormones are functioning well and how deeper testing helps us uncover what’s really happening behind the scenes. I also show the difference between blood work and the DUTCH Test, why cortisol...
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767. The Truth About Fatigue, Cortisol, and Adrenal Health
The Female Health Solution Podcast
If you are exhausted all the time and can’t figure out why, this episode is for you. Today I’m breaking down the real truth about adrenal health, cortisol, and fatigue, and why so many women feel stuck, dismissed, or confused when it comes to their energy. Fatigue is not one thing. It is not always just stress, and it is definitely not something you should be told to “just push through.” One of the most frustrating things about fatigue is that so many symptoms overlap. Low energy can come from nutrient deficiencies, blood sugar instability, thyroid dysfunction, estrogen or progesterone...
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766. Wired But Tired: The Cortisol Pattern Most Women Miss
The Female Health Solution Podcast
The wired-but-tired feeling is incredibly common, especially for women, and it’s one of the most frustrating places to be. You want energy during the day. You want sleep at night. But instead, it feels like your body is doing the exact opposite of what it should. In this episode, I’m breaking down what’s actually happening behind the scenes when you feel wired but tired and why pushing harder, drinking more coffee, or just “trying to relax” usually makes things worse. When I see this pattern, it almost always points back to dysfunction in the HPA axis, which controls your adrenal...
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765. The Hidden Hormone Drain: How Estrogen and Progesterone Affect Your Energy
The Female Health Solution Podcast
Have you ever noticed that your energy is not consistent throughout the month? Some weeks you feel sharp, motivated, and on top of everything, and other weeks you feel exhausted, anxious, foggy, or completely wiped out. That is not random. That is hormones. In this episode, I walk you through how estrogen and progesterone impact your energy across your entire cycle and why understanding this changes everything. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. I break down what a typical 28 day cycle looks like and what your hormones are supposed to be doing at each phase. What we cover in this episode:...
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764. Is It Cortisol? How to Tell If Your Adrenals Are Really the Problem
The Female Health Solution Podcast
How do you know if it’s really your cortisol causing symptoms like exhaustion, burnout, low mood, or low libido? How do you know if it’s adrenal insufficiency, adrenal dysfunction, or something else entirely? In this episode, I break down exactly how to tell the difference between low cortisol and high cortisol, why symptoms overlap with thyroid issues and other hormone imbalances, and why guessing or treating blindly can actually make things worse. What I Cover in This Episode • The difference between adrenal function vs cortisol output • Why blood, saliva, and urine cortisol...
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763. Sleep & Hormones: Why Your Brain Won't Shut Off At Night
The Female Health Solution Podcast
In this episode, I break down why you can feel exhausted all day but suddenly wired the moment you try to sleep. We talk about how cortisol, melatonin, blood sugar, and perimenopause all play a role, and what you can actually do to get real rest. What we cover: 1. Cortisol and melatonin basics Your circadian rhythm depends on high cortisol in the morning and low cortisol at night. If cortisol spikes in the evening, you will feel “tired but wired.” Taking melatonin will not help if melatonin is normal and cortisol is the real problem. 2. How DUTCH testing reveals the root cause A...
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762. What Your Regular Hormone Labs Can’t Tell You
The Female Health Solution Podcast
In this episode of the Female Health Solution Podcast, I break down one of the biggest frustrations women face: Your labs come back “normal,” yet you still feel exhausted, inflamed, moody, or nothing like yourself, and no one can explain why. Here’s what we cover: Why basic blood work misses the real problem Regular labs look for disease, not dysfunction. A standard CBC or hormone panel can’t show how your hormones are produced, processed, or eliminated. Blood tests catch crises, not the early warning signs of perimenopause, adrenal burnout, or estrogen dominance. What DUTCH...
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761. How to Protect Your Hormones During the Holidays
The Female Health Solution Podcast
Your hormones are not separate from your life. They’re responding to it. And nothing reveals that more clearly than the holiday season. Every year, women take on more—more planning, more emotional labor, more mental load, more pressure to make everything magical. And we tell ourselves it’s “just busy,” but physiologically, there’s so much more happening beneath the surface. When your schedule gets unpredictable, your meals get irregular, or your sleep gets pushed aside, your cortisol rises. When cortisol rises, progesterone dips. And when progesterone dips, you feel it: heavier...
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760. Is It Really Perimenopause? The Truth About What Your Body Is Really Doing
The Female Health Solution Podcast
Today is a little different...I'm pulling back the curtain on what’s really happening inside your body during this stage of life—and what most women are never told. If you’re in your 40s (or even your late 30s) and you’ve wondered, “Is this perimenopause… or is something actually wrong with me?” this conversation is for you. As I’ve moved into my forties myself, and having worked with hundreds of women in this phase, I’ve become even more aware of how much confusion and noise surrounds this transition. Perimenopause has almost become a buzzword, but very few women understand...
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759. The Top 5 Herbs Every Woman Needs for Hormone Balance
The Female Health Solution Podcast
In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly how specific herbs in our cycle-based tinctures support your hormones in a real, clinical way—not just “woo” or wishful thinking. We talk through five key herbs you’ll find in my Estrogen support and progesterone-support tinctures—red clover, angelica, white peony, Vitex, and red raspberry leaf—and what they actually do in the body: How red clover helps your estrogen receptors work properly (without “adding more estrogen”) so you can calm brain fog, mood swings, and night sweats. Why angelica and white peony are powerful...
info_outlineToday I’m talking about how to create a real safe space so your brain and body can downshift, regulate, and actually recover—especially when the world feels loud and chaotic. Even if you’ve been eating well, taking your supplements, moving your body, and still feel dysregulated, this might be the missing layer: your environment and boundaries.
Why this matters
We’re processing more inputs than our nervous systems evolved for—constant news, social feeds, and everyone else’s emotions at work and at home. That unseen load keeps cortisol revved and makes it hard to feel grounded, sleep deeply, and digest well. If you don’t have a calm place to land, everything feels harder.
What I cover in this episode
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The nervous system cost of “always on” and why your stress response takes longer to reset now.
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How to spot dysregulation at home (it’s often not about the puppy, the purchase, or the dinner choice).
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Creating sanctuary in real life when you share space with others—and they’re dysregulated too.
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Boundaries that lower friction (what we discuss, when we discuss it, and why timing matters).
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The power of temporary unplugging: how 48 hours off social + dim evenings can change your sleep and mood within days.
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Scripts that help in the moment so you can opt-out of hot-button conversations without escalating conflict.
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Why rest isn’t laziness (yes, I want you to schedule the nap—your cortisol curve will thank you).
Practical steps you can start tonight
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Evening calm protocol (90 minutes): soft lighting only, no overheads; music or quiet; screens off at a set time.
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House rules that preserve peace: choose one window per week for budget/“new purchase” talks; table all non-urgent ideas until then.
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Weekend reset: tell your people you’re going phone-off from Friday night to Sunday night; no news, no feeds.
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Conversation boundaries: pleasant/creative topics on weeknights; heavier topics reserved for agreed times.
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Sanctuary cues: a chair, blanket, tea, journal—same place, same time—so your body learns “we’re safe now.”
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Micro-breaks that count: 10-minute outside walks, eyes off screens, slow exhales (4 seconds in, 6–8 seconds out).
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Permission to rest: if afternoon fatigue hits, a 20–30 minute nap is a tool, not a failure.
What changes when you do this
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Sleep comes easier and feels deeper.
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Mood smooths out; reactivity drops.
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Digestion calms (less bloat, better motility).
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Clarity returns—you can actually see what to work on next.
Ready for a guided first week?
If you want a simple, done-for-you plan to Restore Energy, Reset Mood & Renew Digestion—with checklists, timing, and if-this-then-that troubleshooting—join my 7-Day Recharge. It’s the exact structure I use to help you regulate quickly so the rest of your health work finally sticks.
Join the 7-Day Recharge: Restore Energy, Reset Mood & Renew Digestion — join us here!
Share this episode with a friend who needs a calmer place to land. Your home can become the sanctuary that rebuilds your nervous system—starting tonight.