‘You can't change the world on an empty tank.
Every decision, every hard conversation, every long horizon you're responsible for is paid for in energy — which makes it the truest currency you hold.
And like any currency, it compounds or it depletes. The only question is whether anyone's managing the account.’
Nina Midtgaard, MSc.
Hi, I’m Nina.
Here's what I find genuinely thrilling: the human body is not a mystery. It's a system — knowable, responsive, and far more forgiving than most people fear.
Energy lives on a continuum. At one end, energy wealth: high performance, clear thinking, capacity to spare. At the other, energy bankruptcy: depletion, fog, burnout. Nobody is fixed at one end — you are always somewhere on the line, moving in one direction or the other.
And once you understand how the body actually works along that continuum, everything changes. You can catch the slide before it becomes burnout. You can reverse it when it already has. You can scale your capacity higher than you thought the line even went.
30-years ago I ran out of energy…
I was a catering director in Vancouver — going full speed at work and at home with young kids.
I was so engulfed in my work I often didn't know what the weather was doing outside. I felt exhausted, but I kept going.
Then one day my body simply stopped cooperating. I couldn't sleep. My hair was falling out. My brain felt wrapped in cotton wool. In the supermarket, my legs felt like they'd give out under me.
I had slowly burned out — and I had no idea what was happening to me. It was terrifying.
From Burnout to my Life’s Work.
I made a vow: if I got through this, I would spend my life helping others avoid the same fate. I've kept it every day since.
I was completely unfit, so I rebuilt myself from the ground up — studying the body from every angle I could find: personal training, holistic nutrition, yoga at an ashram in India, and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology.
It's a passion — honestly more of an obsession — that I grow more excited about every year, and intend to pursue past 100.
Many of the women leaders I know push aside caring for their health because they are so busy they literally can’t fit it into their calendar.
As a Performance Physiologist, I don't fit my clients into someone else's framework. I build theirs from scratch. Every body is different. Every life is different. The work adapts to the woman — her schedule, her travel, her pressure, her body's response. Private. Precise. Built around her real life. You deserve to be cared for - and I make sure we don’t disrupt your schedule and day.
Energy for your whole life.
Today, I help women leaders who are navigating the most significant physiological transition of their adult life — and whose performance, health, and quality of life are being affected in ways they've never experienced before.
Many have tried everything — the diets, the programmes, the doctor's advice. Nothing has worked because nothing addressed the root cause: a metabolic system that needs recalibrating, not managing.
I am fascinated with blending the ancient with the modern, and the eastern with the western.
I believe it comes from growing up the eldest child of an Indian mother and Norwegian father who met at university in Scotland in the 50’s and has traveled and lived around the world. There is just so much wisdom to be found across time and culture when it comes to our body.
I've lived across Sweden, India, Norway, the United States, Canada, Finland, Malaysia, Italy, and Denmark. That has given me a unique, multifaceted lens through which I view our body— and I believe that is my greatest advantage as a practitioner.
Publications and Presentations
All publications and presentations appear under my former name, Nina Leavins.
Corporate Programme Design
Self Care for Excellence — Nobia AS Executive Programme. 2014
Commissioned to design and deliver a bespoke self care programme for the entire Nobia AS executive team across Europe. Executives flew in for an evening and full-day immersive programme. Each participant received a personalised self care manual designed around their individual profile.
Peer Reviewed Research
Prefrontal cortex oxygenation during incremental exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging. (2008) Neary, P., Roberts, A.D.W., Leavins, N., Harrison, M.F., Croll, J.C., Sexsmith, J.R.
Haemodynamics of the trapezii muscles of patients with whiplash associated disorder during isometric exercise. SCPE/CSEP: Ideas to Action — Healthy Living in Canada. (2005) Leavins, N.H., Neary, J.P., Albert, W.J., Smith, D.D., Croll, J., Bernhardt, T.A., Roberts, A.D.
Assessment of muscle oxygen saturation in patients with whiplash associated disorder during isometric exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 37:5 (Supplement) S365. (2005) Leavins, N.H., Neary, J.P., Albert, W.J., Smith, D.D., LaChapelle, D., Croll, J., Bernhardt, T.A., Roberts, A.W.
The utility of near infrared spectroscopy to assess whiplash associated disorders. Atlantic Provinces Exercise Physiologists Conference. Fredericton. (2005) Leavins, N.H., Neary, J.P., Albert, W.J., Smith, D.D., LaChapelle, D., Croll, J., Bernhardt, T.A., Roberts, A.W.
Muscle oxygen resaturation following occlusion in chronic fatigue syndrome patients. SCPE/CSEP: Ideas to Action — Healthy Living in Canada. (2005) Neary, J.P., Roberts, A., Leavins, N.H., Harrison, M.F., Croll, J.C., Sexsmith, J.R.
The role of personality characteristics in predicting success in hockey. Skating into the Future: Hockey in the New Millennium Conference. Fredericton. (2003) MacDougall, M., Leavins, N., Scott, D.
You say what to yourself. The role of negative statements in performance enhancement. Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology Conference. Vancouver. (2001) Balch, M., Leavins, N., Boucher, J., Rowatt, J.A.
Articles & Commentary
The Next Crisis: Crisis of Physiology. Tid og Tendenser, March 2015. Pp. 48–57 Nina Leavins
Television & Media
X-Weighted — Featured expert, Slice TV documentary series on weight loss. Season 3, June 2008
Exercise as a Stress Reliever — Interview. ATV Evening News, Fredericton, New Brunswick. January 2005
Work Out at Home: Upper Body — Feature presentation. CBC Local Evening News, Fredericton, New Brunswick. August 2004
The Healthy Life: Trailblazers — Mentioned. The Vancouver Sun, May 8, 2000. Pp. B5–B6
Invited Presentations
Managing Diabetes Through Exercise — Invited speaker. Annual General Meeting, Canadian Diabetes Association. Fredericton, June 2005
Exercise and Diabetes — Invited speaker. St. Mary's Diabetic Group Meeting. Fredericton, May 2004
Swiss Ball Exercise Applications — Invited presenter. Occupational Therapists Association. Vancouver, October 2002
Self Care For Excellence — Invited presenter. Executive Team, Nobia AS. 2014.
Always learning.
Our living body has an intelligence and capacity beyond anything we can imagine. It is extremely exciting.
Every year I learn from the best minds in my field.
As our world becomes more digital, I believe it becomes more important to ground in ancient wisdom. The intelligence our body already carries is one of our greatest assets. I never want to lose sight of that.
Here with Patrick McKeown — world-leading breathing expert. And with Bruce Lipton, PhD — pioneering cell biologist whose work on epigenetics deeply influences my practice.
Make your second fifty your best fifty.
Your age and the condition of your body are two separate things - age is a number on a calendar. The condition of your body is the result of how you have cared for it. You can change one. But not the other.
Nina Midtgaard.
At 65, I am still living this work every day. I intend to live and work to 100+. I am not teaching perfection — I am teaching recalibration, balance, and the belief that the second 50 can be more powerful than the first. My hope is not simply to help women leaders get through menopause. It is to help them come out the other side performing better than they ever have — with the energy, resilience, and clarity to lead for the decades ahead.
If this resonates, let's speak.
Book a confidential, no-commitment call.
We will talk about where you are, what you are experiencing, and whether this work is the right fit. Nothing is assumed. Nothing is pushed. It is simply a conversation between two people who take performance seriously.
