Create The Best Me
We're an age-positive podcast that celebrates the richness of midlife and beyond. Hosted by Carmen Hecox, a seasoned transformational coach, our platform provides an empowering outlook on these transformative years. With a keen focus on perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause, Carmen brings together thought leaders, authors, artists, and entrepreneurs for candid conversations that inspire and motivate.
Each episode is packed with expert insights and practical advice to help you navigate life's challenges and seize opportunities for growth, wellness, and fulfillment. From career transitions and personal development to health, beauty, and relationships, "Create The Best Me" is your guide to thriving in midlife. Tune in and transform your journey into your most exhilarating adventure yet.
Create The Best Me
Your 3 PM Slump Has Nothing to Do with Age
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Ever wonder why you always seem to crash at 3 PM, eyelids heavy, brain fog taking over, and the only solution your body screams for is sugar or caffeine? You’ve probably been told it’s just getting older or a willpower issue, but that’s not the real story.
In this episode, I break down the real science behind the 3 PM energy crash, especially for women over 50. We’ll talk about how hormone changes, stress, and hidden “energy vampires” drain your tank before lunch and, most importantly, what you can do to fix it. Spoiler: It doesn’t involve another cup of coffee.
If you’re ready to say goodbye to that relentless afternoon slump, this episode is packed with actionable tips to help you keep your energy high and your boundaries firm so you can create the best you, every single day.
What You'll Learn:
- Why your 3 PM crash isn’t about being lazy or getting older (really!)
- The surprising role your cortisol rhythm and estrogen drop play in energy loss
- The 3 “energy vampires” that are draining your tank before noon: over-functioning, anticipatory anxiety, and the “false yes.”
- My 3-step protocol: simple, real-world fixes that actually work (including the protein anchor and 20-minute nothing break)
- How setting boundaries can be the single most powerful energy boost of midlife
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this with a friend who’s always tired by 3 PM and drop a “NO MORE LEAKS” in the comments if you’re ready to reclaim your energy!
✨ Next week: Another amazing episode created just for you, don’t miss it!
📕 Resources:
https://createthebestme.com/ep159
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/18510213
Related episodes:
🎧 Listen to these episodes next:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/18550342
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/17441076
#MenopauseExhaustion #ChronicFatigue #WomenOver50 #EnergyLeaks #CreateTheBestMe #CortisolControl
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📽️ Video Request:
45 PM. You started the day fine. You got your day planned, your emails answered, you put out all the fires, but then it hits you. It's not just tired, it's a physical wall. Your eyelids feel like they weigh 10 pounds. Your brain feels like it's full of cotton. You find yourself staring at your computer screen reading the same sentence 3 times and absorbing absolutely nothing. And the only solution your body is screaming for is sugar or caffeine. Does this sound familiar? If you're a woman over 50, you've probably been told this is just part of aging. Or maybe you've been told you're just lazy or you need more willpower. I want you to stop that negative self-talk right now. What you are experiencing isn't a character flaw. It's a biological signal. You aren't just tired. You are dealing with broken cortisol rhythm. Today we're going to fix your 3 PM crash, not with another cup of coffee, but by fixing the energy leak that is draining you dry by before lunch. Let's talk about what's actually happening in your body at 3 PM. In a perfect world, your energy, driven by a hormone called cortisol, should look like a gentle slide. It's high in the morning, wakes you up, and it slowly, gradually decreases throughout the day until it's low at night so you can sleep. But for many of us in midlife, that slide turned into a cliff. Think of your daily energy as a gas tank. In your 30s, you had a hybrid engine. You could run on fumes, stress, and minimal sleep, and your body would just regenerate. But in your 50s, this engine has changed. The drop in estrogen means your resilience to stress is lower. So when you spend your morning rushing, worrying, and people-pleasing, you are burning fuel at triple the rate. By 2 PM, the tank isn't just low, it's empty. And that crash you feel is your brain pulling that emergency brake. It's your HPA axis, your stress control center, saying we can't continue at this pace. Shut it down. So if biology is the problem, why is mindset the solution? Because we need to look at who is stealing your gas. We often think we're too tired because we do too much physical work. But I found that for women in our community, this exhaustion is rarely physical. It's actually emotional. And here are the 3 energy vampires that are draining your tank before noon. Vampire number 1, the over-functioning morning. This is where you do things for others that they are perfectly capable of doing themselves. Do you make the coffee for everyone? Do you find your husband's lost keys? Do you remind your adult children about their appointments? Every time you save someone else, a tiny bit of effort, you pay for it with your own cortisol. You are spending
your 3:00 PM energy at 8:00 AM. Vampire number 2, the anticipatory anxiety. This is living in the future. You aren't just driving to work, you're rehearsing the argument you might have with your boss. You aren't just drinking tea, You're worried about whether your retirement fund is enough. Your body doesn't know the difference between a real tiger and an imaginary one. So you are flooding your system with stress hormones to fight battles that haven't even happened yet. That is expensive
fuel. Vampire number 3:Yes, that meant no. How many times this week did you say, sure, I can do that, when your entire body wanted to scream, absolutely not. Every false yes creates a negative in your energy bank, and the debt collector shows up at 3 PM. So how do we fix the crash? We don't fix it at 3 PM. We fix it at 10 AM. We fix it by plugging the leaks. Here is the 3-step protocol for this week.
Step 1:Not my job. Pause. Tomorrow morning, catch yourself when you are about to fix a problem that isn't yours. Stop. Ask yourself, is this my emergency or theirs? If it's theirs, let them handle it. Save that fuel for your afternoon. Step number
2:Protein anchor. This is the one biological tip I will give you because it's a non-negotiable. If your breakfast is just toast or just coffee, you're setting yourself for a crash. You need protein in the morning to stabilize that blood sugar. Think of it as putting premium gas in the tank.
Step 3:20-minute nothing break. This is the hardest one for us. Somewhere between 12 and 1, I want you to do nothing. Not scrolling on your phone, not listening to a podcast, just 10 to 20 minutes of sitting, breathing, or walking outside without an agenda. You need to let your nervous system idle. If you keep the pedal to the metal for 8 hours straight, of course the engine overheats. Give it a chance to cool down before the smoking starts coming out of the hood. I want to share a quick story with you. A few years ago, I hit the wall hard. I thought I had thyroid problems. I went to my doctor, got blood work done, and everything was normal. I was furious. I thought, how could I feel so bad and be normal? But then I looked at my calendar. I was giving away pieces of myself from the moment I woke up until I collapsed at night. My 3 PM wall wasn't a medical mystery. It was a boundary problem. I had to learn that my energy is a finite resource. And it's precious, and I assume yours is too. You have big things left to do in the second half of life. You have dreams, you have goals. You can't afford to give your precious energy away to worry, to people-please, or to skip breakfast. If you recognize yourself in any of these energy vampires, do me a quick favor. Go to the comments right now and type "No More Leaks," all uppercase. Let's make a pledge to stop giving away our energy for free. If you're sitting there thinking, Carmen, this sounds great, but my mornings are already a chaotic mess. I don't know how to stop rushing. I have the answer for you. I did a whole episode on my specific anti-stress morning routine that sets my nervous system up for success before I even walk out the door. It's the perfect companion for this video. Click this video right here on the screen, and I'll walk you through exactly how to start your day without the panic so that you don't hit the wall later. If you would like a deeper dive into today's topic, you can find additional information at createthebestme.com/ep159 or click the links below. If this episode helped you, would you do me a quick favor? Like, subscribe, and share it with a friend who's been hitting that 3 PM wall. Come back next week for another amazing episode created just for you. Until then, keep dreaming big, Take care of yourself and remember, you're beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself by making that personal pledge. No more leaks. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.