What thoughts do the word menopause conjure up for you?
You might imagine a middle aged, plump, short grey-haired woman with a sweaty pink face fanning herself, or maybe you picture a strong, physically fit, healthy, contented woman with long thick hair and radiant skin. Chances are, it’s the former. The latter, unless you are living that reality, is not a typical image that is associated with a menopausal woman. You just need to Google it and you’ll see lots of fans, confused looking females, and sad faces. The bias is real.
For some the menopause is a private experience not to be shared, being able to now reach out for guidance on how to enjoy a happy, healthy, and spirited mid-life is worth celebrating. It’s important for people to know that they are not alone, and that with the right support, treatments and lifestyle changes women can improve their wellbeing and future health.
Although the average age of menopause is 51, an estimated 1 in 20 women will go through it between the ages of 40 and 45. 1 in 100 before age 40. We are constantly told that ‘the change’ is a natural process and therefore feel like we must accept our fate and ride the storm, often in silence, due to the stigma still attached to the word ‘menopausal’.
Menopause is a process. Yes, it is natural, but that does not mean that we must be stoical about it, grit our teeth and hope for the best. Every experience is different. Some will cruise through asymptomatic, and others will not even realise that their symptoms, like anxiety, agitation, brain fog, joint pains, and difficulty sleeping, are being caused by the menopause, and some will present the more commonly known symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings. Being tuned into our bodies and understanding what’s happening to us and why, is important for us to be able to best manage this transitional time in our lives.
Stages of menopause
Pre-menopause – before any symptoms present
Perimenopause – hormone levels are changing but still having periods that are changing in nature and frequency
Menopause – do not have a period for 12 consecutive months
Post-menopause – after no period for 12 months
We are worthy, powerful, and alive and should feel encouraged to celebrate our bodies, experiencing joie de vivre, whatever age or stage of life.
Oestrogen
Menopausal women are hormone deficient. Given that oestrogen has so many protective qualities, playing a role in everything from immunity function to mood and memory, to heart and muscle health, we can start to understand why we don’t quite feel like ourselves as oestrogen levels start to deplete.
Fortunately, thanks to inspirational people like Dr Louise Newson and Deborah Garlick of Henpicked, there is now a lot more awareness and invaluable information available around the topic, helping women of all ages to take control of their health and wellbeing through preparing for and managing the stages of menopause. This insight is also greatly beneficial to everyone else, as menopause affects the people around somebody experiencing menopausal symptoms, and it will be useful for them to also have a depth of understanding of a person’s situation, helping them be more empathetic about it. Society is being encouraged to become comfortable talking about menopause without it being filed away under ‘women’s problems’.
Educating ourselves and being tuned in to our bodies at any age will help us to care better for ourselves, and that includes our mind and soul, which are very much a part of our body, not separate entities.
Can our health status really impact our state of mind, and what lifestyle choices could be made to lead us to a happier and healthier life as we move through the decades?
So, what is available to us?
A lot of it, you’ll be pleased to hear, is within our own gift if we get curious and take ownership of our health. Being proactive is about understanding what’s happening to our bodies and figuring out what to do about it. A regime that suits one individual, doesn’t necessarily mean it will suit another. Every experience is unique. There’s really no need to resign ourselves to our fate, life is far from over, this start of a new chapter is to be acknowledged and embraced.
Changing body shape and managing weight gain
It’s common to put on weight during perimenopause and menopause. A combination of hormonal changes, emotional eating, and fatigue are all contributing factors. The change in the way our bodies store fat means fat re-distributes and becomes more concentrated around the middle as our bodies realise the declining ovarian oestrogen levels and look elsewhere for the hormone, which is weakly produced by fat cells, and it gathers them up forming that so-called ‘spare tyre.’
These are all good reasons to make the right and different choices of food at this time in life.
Good mood food
The types of food we eat can influence the way we are feeling. It has been identified that the gut and brain are strongly connected, with the gut becoming known as our second brain. Get some good bacteria for your gut from prebiotic foods, such as onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes, and bananas as it can help boost immunity, energy, and mood.
Our bodies rely on a wide variety of nutrients for all our systems, including for our brain and nervous system. It is beneficial to make sure that we’re giving our bodies the tools it needs to keep us on an even keel by consuming nutrient-dense, unprocessed, real foods with the right balance of complex carbohydrates like vegetables, lean proteins like meat and fish, and healthy fats like nuts and seeds.
During menopause it is advised to focus on B vitamins. B12 deficiency is associated with low mood and anxiety. Magnesium, the so-called nature’s calmer, is also beneficial and can be taken in through two or three handfuls of leafy greens each day such as spinach, broccoli, and kale. Epsom bath salts also contains the mineral, so including a regular salt bath as part of your health regime could help with anxiety and energy levels.
Ultra-processed foods such as ready meals, cakes, biscuits, and pastries have little nutritional value and should be mainly avoided if you want to eat more healthily.
Keep moving
Regular exercise whatever age you are, boosts our feel-good hormone serotonin levels and the aerobic kind expands our hippocampus, the part of our brain associated with memory.
Good bone health is important at this stage of life, as once oestrogen starts to deplete, so can the density in our bones which can lead to osteoporosis. Staying active will help. Resistance exercises like weight training and strength exercise like yoga and Pilates, strengthen our bones and our muscles. Dancing and brisk walking are also beneficial activities.
Mindfulness and breathwork can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety and helps us deal with unhelpful thoughts, giving us a different perspective. Apps are widely available as a guide.
Where can you turn for help?
Your first port of call could be your GP practice. Although there is a lot of good quality information in the public domain freely available to carry out your own initial research and decide on your next steps.
Recommended resources:
Dr Louise Newson balance-menopause.com
Deborah Garlick henpicked.com
Davina McCall’s book Menopausing is widely available.
Sources: Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause. Dr Louise Newson. Henpicked.com
CareHomeLifestyle offer health and wellbeing insights for interest only, it is not a replacement for professional medical advice. Always seek professional guidance.
