Episode 14: Hot Flashes at Night? Breath As Medicine
Guest: Angelia Abouhassan — founder of The Breath Lady Project, trauma-informed breathwork facilitator, stroke survivor, and Hatha yoga teacher
Release Date: November 4, 2025
Length: ~40 minutes
Episode Summary
You’ve been told to “just breathe”—but what if that makes things worse? In this powerful conversation, Dr. Stacey sits down with Angelia Abouhassan, a trauma-informed breathwork guide who rebuilt her body and emotional safety after a stroke.
Together, they unpack breathwork that won’t trigger your nervous system, including the double-exhale pattern that can support hot flash recovery and sensory regulation. This episode is especially for women navigating perimenopause, masking fatigue, and neurodivergence, who need somatic healing that’s safe, slow, and mapped to your lived experience.
What You’ll Learn
Chapter Markers
00:00 – From Stroke Survivor to Breath Work Practitioner
06:54 – The Role of Breath in Healing and Safety
08:42 – Reframing Trauma and Healing
10:41 – Understanding Interoception and Proprioception
12:36 – Neuroplasticity and Breath Work
16:29 – Breath Work for Women in Perimenopause
18:46 – Trauma-Informed Breath Work Explained
20:53 – Designing Practices for Overloaded Clients
22:23 – Breath Work for Hot Flashes
24:49 – Breath Work for Neurodivergent Women
26:02 – Nourishing vs. Numbing the Nervous System
27:58 – Adapting Breath Work for Different Needs
30:52 – Choosing a Breath Work Practitioner
33:27 – Nourish or Numb: Everyday Patterns
40:04 – Practical Techniques for Managing Hot Flashes
Resources Mentioned
💌 Connect with Dr. Stacey Denise
Podcast: The Nervous System Eats First
Episode: Eating Feels Impossible? 3 Food-Environment Fixes for Perimenopausal Neurodivergent Women
Guest: Michael Lawrence — Master Chef (World Master Chef Society), Licensed Architect
Episode summary:
Have you noticed the same meal is comforting in one space but exhausting in another? Chef–Architect Michael Lawrence joins Dr. Stacey to reveal how light, sound, temperature, color, and texture shape your appetite, attention, and digestion before the first bite. You’ll learn three food-environment fixes and a 60-second sensory reset you can apply tonight—at home or out—so eating feels calmer and more nourishing, especially in perimenopause.
Key topics & timestamps:
Takeaways:
Resources & links:
Credits & CTA:
Hosted by Dr. Stacey Denise, Lifestyle Medicine Physician & Neuroaesthetic MD. If this helped, share it with a friend who’s eating on survival mode.
Subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast app, and take the free quiz to get your personalized reset rituals.
Episode summary
Temple Grandin and Dr. Stacey Denise outline digital-hygiene rules for autistic adults: what the algorithm rabbit hole does to mental health, the one-hour screen rule, how to curate your feed, and simple swaps for real-world connection that lowers anxiety and improves sleep—vital during perimenopause/menopause.
Key takeaways
Guest: Temple Grandin — bestselling author and autism advocate.
Links
Chapters
Intro • Rabbit hole explained • Time limits • Curate your feed • Real activities • Week-one plan
Credits
Host: Dr. Stacey Denise. Produced by TNSEF—The Nervous System Eats First.
Welcome to The Nervous System Eats First — a podcast where science, story, and sensory wisdom meet to help neurodivergent women in midlife and menopause reclaim energy, intimacy, and emotional clarity.
I’m Dr. Stacey Denise, a physician-artist and Neuroaesthetic MD. After years of bridging medicine, neuroscience, and color psychology, I created the Neuroaesthetic Reset™ to support women who feel “tired but wired,” emotionally flatlined, or disconnected in their most important relationships.
Here, we explore three essential journeys:
1. Resilience & Calm: Nervous System Adaptation for Neurodivergent Women Over 40: Exhausted, But Not Broken
→ Why you’re always tired even when labs are “normal,” and how nervous system rituals, hormone literacy, and color-based resets restore vitality.
2. Energy, Sleep & Hormone Rituals for Neurodivergent Women Over 40: Healing Emotional Numbness & Identity Loss
→ What alexithymia and sensory overwhelm look like in menopause, and how interoception, art, and ritual help you name and feel again.
3. Regulation & Pleasure Rituals: Sensory Self-Intimacy Tools for Menopausal, Autistic & BIPOC Women: No More Numb, No More Shame
→ How hormones, trauma, and touch aversion affect midlife desire — and what neuroaesthetic rituals can do to rebuild intimacy, without pressure or shame.
Expect candid solo episodes, healing memoir interviews, and expert guest conversations blending evidence with lived wisdom. Each episode closes with a Neuroaesthetic Reset Ritual you can try right away — because healing isn’t just knowledge, it’s sensory practice.
If you’re a high-functioning, neurodivergent, or BIPOC woman in menopause who is done with surface-level hacks and ready for embodied, beautiful solutions — this podcast is your sanctuary.
📌 Take the free quiz: What Kind of Menopause Burnout Are You?
You don’t need to perform your peace. You just need space to return to it.
Have you ever said, “I don’t even recognize myself anymore” — but your labs come back “normal”?
That gap between how you feel and what you can explain isn’t weakness. It has a name: interoception — the body’s hidden sense that helps you feel safe, centered, and alive. When menopause, neurodivergence, or trauma mutes that internal signal, your nervous system loses its compass. The result? Alexithymia, shutdown, and emotional disconnection.
In this conversation, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Dr. Kelly Mahler, award-winning occupational therapist and interoception researcher, to unpack the sensory and emotional truth behind why midlife can feel so flat — and what it takes to feel again.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
🎯 This Is For You If:
👩🏾⚕️ Hosted by:
Dr. Stacey Denise, The Neuroaesthetic MD
Founder of The Neuroaesthetic Reset Method™ and SDM Medical PLLC
Website: www.drstaceydenise.com
Instagram: @drstaceydenise
👤 Featured Guest:
Dr. Kelly Mahler, OTD, OTR/L
🌍 www.kelly-mahler.com
📸 @kelly_mahler
📚 Resources:
💡 Take the free quiz: What’s Blocking Your Menopause Energy & Intimacy?
🎧 Listen to more episodes: The Neuroaesthetic MD™ Podcast
🧠 Join the email list: drstaceydenise.com/podcast
