How We Get Thru Podcast: Wellness, Healing & Spiritual Tools for Growth in Real Life · Jen Hershey

S3 Ep 93 Hormonal Health Secrets for Menopause with Johanna Swanson

·1 hr 1 min·4 clips

A BRCA2 surgery sequence left Joanna with depression and anxiety she links to lost hormones.

1. How We Get Through Podcast focuses on hormonal health, menopause, and wellness tools with Joanna Swanson of Navigate Menopause. 2. Jen hosts the conversation as a licensed therapist, and Joanna Swanson speaks from her work with Navigate Menopause and her own BRCA2 experience. 3. The episode asks how light, water, magnetism, and hormone shifts can explain perimenopause symptoms and mental health changes. 4. Joanna says learning she had the BRCA2 gene mutation meant her risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer was very high. 5. She describes having a double mastectomy, seven surgeries in a year and a half, and then an ovary removal at age 38. 6. Joanna says the ovary removal caused a mental health crisis that felt more severe than the physical recovery. 7. She argues that hormone health should be a first-line lens for depression and anxiety instead of going straight to SSRIs. 8. Joanna says many women feel like they have “a lobotomy” or feel “like a shell” of themselves during hormonal transition. 9. She frames grief as an important response to losing abilities like multitasking or mental sharpness. 10. Joanna says accepting that you will not be who you were at 21 can open space to build new strengths. 11. She defines applied quantum biology as the study of how light, water, and magnetism affect mitochondria and ATP. 12. Joanna explains that blue light from screens and LED bulbs signals cortisol, while morning sunlight supports melatonin later in the day. 13. She says the eyes contain melanopsin cells that read light frequencies and send timing signals to the brain. 14. Joanna warns that artificial light at night can keep cortisol high and interfere with sleep and brain repair. 15. She says she uses blue-blocking glasses, turns off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at night, and keeps her phone away from her bed. 16. Joanna explains that clean, mineralized, structured water supports fourth-phase water inside cells and helps energy move across cell membranes. 17. She says grounding, sunrise exposure, and getting sun on skin help the body create vitamin D and estrogen and support mitochondria. 18. The interview style is practical and conversational, with Jen asking follow-up questions about kids, screens, Kindle reading, and day-to-day habits. 19. People dealing with perimenopause, sleep issues, or hormone questions will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a purely clinical menopause overview may skip the quantum biology sections.

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