Energy Swells

What It Is

Energy swells are powerful, often unexpected surges of physical vitality, mental clarity, and emotional capacity that many women experience during the perimenopausal transition. Unlike the steady, predictable energy patterns of your reproductive years, these swells arrive like waves—sometimes gentle and sustained, other times sudden and intense. Women describe them as feeling "like myself again, but better," "supercharged," or "finally having the energy I've been missing."

These aren't simply good days in contrast to difficult ones. Energy swells have a distinct quality: heightened focus, increased productivity, enhanced creativity, stronger physical stamina, and a sense of capability that can feel almost euphoric. You might find yourself tackling projects you've postponed for months, engaging in conversations with unusual eloquence, exercising with unexpected strength, or experiencing creative insights that feel revelatory.

The hallmark of energy swells is their contrast with your recent baseline. If you've been navigating weeks of brain fog, fatigue, or emotional heaviness, a swell can feel like suddenly surfacing from underwater—colors brighter, thoughts clearer, body responsive. Some women report feeling decades younger during these windows. The experience can be so striking that it creates both relief ("I'm not permanently diminished") and confusion ("Why can't I feel like this all the time?").

Energy swells are hormonally mediated phenomena, typically associated with temporary rises in estrogen, testosterone, or the interplay between these hormones and neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. They're a normal part of the perimenopausal landscape, representing your body's ongoing hormonal fluctuations rather than a return to pre-perimenopausal stability. Understanding them helps you recognize patterns, capitalize on these windows, and avoid interpreting their eventual ebb as personal failure.

Why It Happens

Energy swells result from the complex, non-linear hormonal fluctuations characteristic of perimenopause and early post-menopause. Unlike the relatively predictable hormonal cycles of your reproductive years, the perimenopausal transition involves dramatic oscillations—estrogen levels can spike higher than ever before, then plummet, then surge again, all within a single month.

When estrogen rises, even temporarily, it influences multiple systems simultaneously. Estrogen enhances mitochondrial function (your cells' energy production), increases insulin sensitivity (improving how your body uses glucose for fuel), supports neurotransmitter synthesis (especially serotonin and dopamine), and improves cerebral blood flow. This creates the physiological foundation for increased energy, improved mood, sharper cognition, and enhanced physical capacity.

Testosterone fluctuations also contribute significantly. When testosterone levels rise relative to other hormones, many women experience increased motivation, assertiveness, physical strength, and libido—all components of what feels like an energy swell. The interplay between estrogen and testosterone creates particularly potent windows of vitality, especially in the Electric Cougar phase where both hormones may surge simultaneously.

Neurotransmitter sensitivity also plays a role. During periods of hormonal stability or increase, receptor sensitivity for dopamine (motivation, reward, focus) and serotonin (mood, emotional regulation) improves. This neurochemical optimization creates the mental clarity and emotional buoyancy characteristic of energy swells.

Adrenal hormones, particularly cortisol and DHEA, interact with reproductive hormones to influence energy patterns. When adrenal function is relatively robust and cortisol follows healthy circadian rhythms, hormonal surges translate more effectively into felt energy rather than anxiety or agitation.

The body's stress response systems also matter. During energy swells, the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for activation and engagement) and parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for rest and restoration) achieve better balance, allowing for sustained energy without depletion.

Thyroid function interacts with reproductive hormones to influence metabolism and energy production. When estrogen levels rise, thyroid hormone availability can improve temporarily, contributing to increased metabolic rate and physical energy.

Sleep architecture often improves during hormonal upswings, particularly when estrogen supports thermoregulation and progesterone (when present) supports deeper sleep phases. Better sleep quality directly enhances daytime energy, creating a reinforcing cycle.

It's important to understand that energy swells aren't random—they follow hormonal patterns, even when those patterns are irregular. Tracking them over several months often reveals rhythms: swells may occur at certain times in relation to bleeding (or where bleeding would have occurred), in response to stress reduction, following periods of intensive rest, or in seasonal patterns influenced by light exposure and circadian biology.

What It Looks Like

Energy swells manifest across physical, cognitive, and emotional domains, and women experience them with remarkable individual variation.

Physical manifestations include waking before your alarm feeling genuinely rested, moving through your day without the usual afternoon collapse, exercising with strength and endurance you haven't felt in months, completing physical tasks (cleaning, gardening, organizing) with ease and even enjoyment, experiencing heightened physical sensations and sensory acuity, and feeling a general sense of bodily wellbeing and comfort in your own skin.

Some women describe their body feeling "cooperative" again—muscles responsive, joints less achy, coordination smooth. Your physical presence may feel more solid, grounded, and capable. Libido often increases during energy swells, not just as sexual desire but as a general sense of vitality and aliveness in your body.

Cognitive manifestations include exceptional mental clarity—thoughts flow logically and articulately, you remember names and details without effort, you solve problems with ease, you engage in complex conversations without losing thread, you read and comprehend without re-reading passages, and you make decisions with unusual confidence and speed.

Creativity often flourishes during swells. You might find yourself generating ideas, making connections between concepts, approaching challenges from novel angles, or engaging in creative projects with focused flow states you haven't experienced recently. The mental fog that may have characterized recent weeks or months lifts completely.

Emotional manifestations include optimism and positive outlook, resilience in the face of stress, patience with yourself and others, enjoyment of activities that recently felt burdensome, social engagement feeling energizing rather than depleting, sense of capability and competence, and emotional stability even when circumstances are challenging.

You might notice yourself laughing more readily, feeling more present in conversations, experiencing genuine interest in your work or hobbies, and feeling emotionally resourced enough to support others without resentment or depletion.

Behavioral patterns during energy swells often include increased productivity (you accomplish in hours what recently took days), social initiative (reaching out to friends, making plans, enjoying gatherings), tackling postponed projects, engaging in physical activity spontaneously, speaking up in situations where you might have stayed quiet, setting boundaries clearly, and making progress on goals that felt stalled.

Many women report a quality of effortlessness—activities flow rather than require constant willpower. You might find yourself cooking elaborate meals, reorganizing closets, initiating difficult conversations, or starting new projects, all without the usual internal resistance.

Temporal characteristics: Energy swells vary in duration from a few hours to several days or even weeks. Some women experience them as sudden onset—you wake up one morning feeling transformed. Others notice a gradual building over days. Similarly, they may end abruptly or taper gradually. The pattern and duration are highly individual and often change throughout the perimenopausal journey.

Intensity variation: Some swells feel like gentle uplift—a good day or two. Others feel almost manic in their intensity, with energy that seems limitless. Most women learn to recognize their own swell signatures over time.

Context sensitivity: Energy swells can be amplified or muted by external factors. Adequate sleep, good nutrition, stress reduction, meaningful connection, and physical movement often enhance swells when hormonal conditions are favorable. Conversely, high stress, poor sleep, or nutritional deficiencies can dampen even hormonally supported energy windows.

How to Navigate

Recognition and tracking: The first navigation strategy is learning to recognize your swells as they arrive. Many women live in their heads during perimenopause, anxious about symptoms, and miss the positive windows entirely or dismiss them as "just a good day." Actively noticing and naming energy swells—even keeping a simple log—helps you understand your patterns.

Track swells alongside other cycle markers: bleeding (if still present), moon phases (many women notice lunar patterns), sleep quality, stress levels, and nutrition. Over months, patterns often emerge. Some women find swells arrive approximately every 28 days, others every 40-45 days, others in more irregular patterns. Recognizing your rhythm, even if irregular, provides valuable information.

Strategic capitalization: When a swell arrives, consider consciously choosing how to use this energy window. Rather than reflexively tackling your most burdensome obligations, ask: What matters most right now? What have I been wanting to create, address, or initiate?

Some women use swells for physical projects (deep cleaning, reorganizing, intensive exercise), others for cognitive work (strategic planning, creative projects, difficult writing), others for emotional labor (having important conversations, addressing relationship issues, processing grief or anger), and others for pure pleasure (adventure, social connection, creative play, sexual intimacy).

The key is intentionality. Energy swells are precious resources during a time when energy often feels scarce. Using them by default for whatever appears on your to-do list can feel like a missed opportunity.

Avoiding overextension: The shadow side of energy swells is overcommitting. When you feel capable and energized, it's tempting to say yes to everything, pack your schedule, or push yourself to exhaustion. Remember that swells are temporary. Commitments made during swells may feel overwhelming when energy ebbs.

Practice moderate engagement even during high-energy windows. Honor the energy without depleting yourself. Many women learn that using 70-80% of swell energy and preserving 20-30% for rest creates better overall sustainability.

Emotional regulation: Energy swells can create complex emotions. Relief and joy are common, but many women also experience grief ("Why can't I feel like this all the time?"), anxiety ("When will this end?"), or self-criticism ("I should have accomplished more during normal times").

Practice gratitude for the window without attachment to its permanence. Energy swells are gifts, not entitlements. They demonstrate your body's continued capacity for vitality while teaching you that energy fluctuation is normal, not pathological.

Information gathering: Energy swells provide valuable data about what supports your wellbeing. Pay attention to what you were doing in the days before a swell: How was your sleep? What were you eating? What was your stress level? Were you moving your body? What was your emotional state?

While you can't force swells through behavior alone (they're fundamentally hormonally driven), you can identify conditions that support or suppress them. Many women discover that certain nutritional patterns, sleep practices, stress management techniques, or movement practices correlate with more frequent or intense swells.

Communication: Consider sharing your energy patterns with intimate partners, close friends, or colleagues who need to understand your capacity fluctuations. "I'm navigating significant energy changes during this transition—I'm learning to work with my body's rhythms rather than against them" can help others understand without requiring detailed disclosure.

Creative expression: Some women find that documenting energy swells through journaling, art, or voice memos creates a valuable record of their capabilities during this transition. When you're in an energy sink, reviewing evidence of your swell experiences can provide hope and perspective.

Rest integration: Paradoxically, honoring rest during energy swells—even when you feel you don't need it—can extend their duration. Building in restorative practices (meditation, gentle movement, nature time, creative play) alongside productive activity creates a more sustainable energy pattern.

Reframing productivity: Consider expanding your definition of valuable energy use beyond conventional productivity. Using swell energy for pleasure, connection, creativity, or rest is just as valid as using it for achievement or obligation.

Phase Impact

Baseline (Regular Cycle): During stable reproductive years, women typically don't experience energy swells as distinct phenomena. Energy levels are more predictable, following menstrual cycle patterns—often higher in the follicular phase (after bleeding, as estrogen rises) and lower in the late luteal phase (before bleeding, when both estrogen and progesterone drop). The contrast isn't usually as dramatic as perimenopausal swells, and energy fluctuation feels more manageable and predictable.

Electric Cougar (Early Perimenopause): Energy swells often become noticeable and intense during this phase. As estrogen and testosterone begin fluctuating more dramatically while still reaching high peaks, swells can feel extraordinary—women report feeling more energized, sexual, creative, and capable than they have in years or even decades. These swells may last days or weeks and can feel almost euphoric. The contrast with emerging energy sinks begins during this phase, creating the characteristic "rollercoaster" experience. Many women in Electric Cougar experience their most powerful and memorable energy swells, sometimes not recognizing them as perimenopausal phenomena but simply as "finally feeling good again."

Wild Tide (Mid Perimenopause): Energy swells become more unpredictable and often shorter in duration during Wild Tide. The hormonal chaos characteristic of this phase means swells may arrive unexpectedly, last hours to a few days, and end abruptly. The contrast with depleted states becomes more pronounced, making swells feel particularly precious and sometimes disorienting. Some women experience swells as more agitated or restless during this phase—energy present but less smooth than in Electric Cougar. The challenge becomes discerning between genuine energy swells and anxiety-driven activation. Tracking patterns becomes more difficult but potentially more valuable.

Henapause (Late Perimenopause): As overall hormone levels begin their final decline, energy swells often become less frequent and less intense. However, they can still occur and may feel particularly meaningful during a phase characterized by significant depletion. Swells during Henapause tend to be gentler—less euphoric than Electric Cougar swells, but offering welcome relief from the fatigue and brain fog common in this phase. Some women experience their last major energy swell during Henapause before transitioning fully into menopause, describing it as a "final surge" before a more stable (though different) post-menopausal energy pattern emerges.

The Pause (Menopause, 12+ months): Energy swells typically decrease in frequency and intensity as hormonal fluctuations stabilize at lower levels. However, some women continue experiencing periodic swells during the first years of menopause, particularly if they're experiencing continued hormonal fluctuations or if they're responding to external factors (improved sleep, stress reduction, nutritional changes) that support energy production. The concept of "swells" often transforms into a more general sense of "better energy days" versus "difficult energy days," with less dramatic contrast than during active perimenopause.

Phoenix (Early Post-Menopause, 2-10 years): Most women find that distinct energy swells become rare during Phoenix, replaced by a different energy paradigm. Rather than dramatic surges and crashes, energy often stabilizes at a new baseline that may be lower than reproductive years but more consistent. Some women report renewed energy during Phoenix as they adapt to post-menopausal physiology, discover what supports their new hormonal reality, and complete the physical adjustment to lower hormone levels. These aren't typically swells in the perimenopausal sense but rather an overall improvement in consistent energy capacity.

Golden Sovereignty (Established Post-Menopause, 7+ years): Energy swells as hormonally-driven phenomena are generally absent in this phase. However, many women in Golden Sovereignty report that their relationship with energy transforms—they become skilled at recognizing and honoring their body's rhythms, managing their energy intentionally, and creating conditions that support sustained vitality. The wisdom gained from navigating perimenopausal energy fluctuations often translates into a more mature, intentional relationship with physical and emotional capacity.

When to Be Concerned

Energy swells are typically benign and represent normal hormonal fluctuations. However, certain presentations warrant attention:

Manic or hypomanic quality: If energy swells include significantly decreased need for sleep (sleeping 2-3 hours and feeling fine), racing thoughts you can't control, impulsive or risky behavior (major financial decisions, sexual risk-taking, dangerous activities), grandiose thinking, or inability to focus despite feeling energized, this may indicate bipolar disorder or another psychiatric condition rather than hormonal energy swells. True mania/hypomania is distinct from feeling energized and capable.

Extreme agitation or anxiety: If swells feel more like anxiety or panic than vitality—heart racing, sense of dread, inability to be still, intrusive thoughts, overwhelming urgency—this suggests an anxiety disorder or possibly thyroid dysfunction rather than a genuine energy swell.

Physical symptoms of concern: Energy swells accompanied by chest pain, significant palpitations, shortness of breath, tremors, unexplained weight loss, heat intolerance, or other physical symptoms could indicate cardiac issues, hyperthyroidism, or other medical conditions requiring evaluation.

Dramatic personality changes: While energy swells often bring out more confident, social, or assertive aspects of yourself, dramatic personality changes—becoming completely different people, not recognizing yourself in decisions or behaviors, acting in ways fundamentally inconsistent with your values—warrant clinical attention.

Substance use escalation: If you find yourself using caffeine, alcohol, or other substances excessively during energy swells, either to enhance the experience or to modulate the intensity, this pattern deserves attention.

Severe crashes: If energy swells are consistently followed by crashes so severe you can't function—can't get out of bed, can't work, experience suicidal ideation—this pattern suggests a mood disorder requiring clinical support rather than typical perimenopausal fluctuation.

Complete unpredictability with dysfunction: While perimenopausal energy patterns are irregular, they typically show some pattern over months. If energy feels completely chaotic with no discernible pattern and is significantly impairing your ability to work, maintain relationships, or care for yourself, clinical evaluation is important.

When to Review with Clinician

Schedule a clinical consultation if you experience:

• Energy swells accompanied by significantly reduced need for sleep (less than 4 hours nightly) without daytime fatigue for more than a few days
• Impulsive behaviors during swells that create significant consequences (major financial decisions, relationship betrayals, dangerous activities)
• Inability to control racing thoughts, rapid speech, or scattered attention during swells
• Physical symptoms suggesting thyroid dysfunction: tremors, heat intolerance, unexplained weight loss, persistent rapid heartbeat, excessive sweating
• Chest pain, significant palpitations, or shortness of breath during energy surges
• Severe anxiety or panic attacks that accompany what initially seems like increased energy
• Personal or family history of bipolar disorder, especially if energy swells include any manic features
• Energy pattern so chaotic and unpredictable that you cannot maintain employment, relationships, or basic self-care
• Suicidal thoughts during the crashes that follow energy swells
• Substance use (alcohol, caffeine, other drugs) escalating in response to energy fluctuations
• Concern from people who know you well that your behavior during swells is concerning or out of character
• Energy swells accompanied by hallucinations, delusions, or significant paranoia
• Any energy pattern causing significant distress or life impairment

Bring specific documentation to appointments: tracking data showing patterns, descriptions of what swells feel like, duration and frequency, accompanying symptoms, impact on functioning, and what helps or worsens the experience. This information helps clinicians distinguish hormonal energy fluctuations from psychiatric or other medical conditions.

Related Terms

See also: energy-sinks, electric-cougar, brain-fog, clarity-windows, confidence-surges, estrogen, testosterone, wild-tide, inner-weather-pattern, fatigue-profound, libido-fluctuations