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Common Challenges and what helps
Let’s talk about some of the expressions of menopause. I am not a fan of the word “symptoms” because that would imply that there is something wrong with us, which is not the case. We are going through a new phase, which is normal and natural. Our body expresses itself in many different ways, and some of these expressions are a bit unusual and unexpected. That doesn’t mean that you “have to have” any of these. You may not experience physical symptoms but feel emotional and struggle to cope with the changes that come with this season in your life. I do believe that our bodies talk to us and that every “symptom” has a message for us. It’s up to us to figure out what this is. In my mind, we are spiritual beings, living a human experience. How we perceive what our body is trying to tell us and ‘decode’ that message is something that we are all called to do. I have seen symptoms disappear instantly many times as soon as the client has figured out the “why”! I could see the energy shift like it was a magical “click” that just happened!
Anyhow, let's go back to our symptoms. Common expressions “symptoms” of menopause could be:
Your period stops
Obvious, I know! Your periods will begin to become irregular and will eventually stop. When you haven’t had a period for 12 months in a row, it means you have likely reached menopause.
Hot flashes. These can feel like someone has just dipped you into a cauldron of boiling water and come from out of nowhere and often at very inconvenient times. For example, when presenting something in front of people and all of a sudden your face drips with sweat and you are read as a tomato. You guessed it, that was me! Most hot flashes last as little as 30 seconds or as much as 10 minutes before you feel better. About 2/3 of all women will experience hot flashes as a part of their menopausal symptoms. Eating the right foods and taking the right supplements help but mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy have also been found to be very effective. See also my online course on how to stop Hot Flashes naturally on my website.
Hot flashes are perhaps the greatest symptom experienced in menopause, statistically by 3.4 of all menopausal women, and they are usually the most uncomfortable symptom. As mentioned, they can go on for several years before stopping. Hot flashes can be treated in a couple of ways.
Lifestyle changes or natural remedies for the management of hot flashes:
Stay away from warm areas and do not sleep with warm blankets or warm pyjamas. Make sure your bedding and nightwear are made out of natural fibres like cotton, bamboo or silk.
Avoid hot foods and drinks that can heat up the body and can trigger hot flashes
Decrease alcohol intake as this can increase the amount of facial flushing you get with hot flashes.
Decrease the amount of stress you are under.
Quit smoking or do not start smoking during this time of your life.
Wear several layers of clothing that can be peeled off when you begin to get hot.
Buy a portable fan so you can fan yourself when you get hot.
Exercise regularly every day for at least thirty minutes. Try not to exercise right before you sleep as this can affect your ability to get to sleep.
Decrease stress through the use of biofeedback, meditation, yoga, nia, qi gong, or Tai chi. These are natural ways of reducing the amount of perceived stress.
Try this breathing technique when you get a hot flash: take in deep abdominal breaths, in through your nose and out through the mouth. Breathe slowly, only 5-7 times per minute.
Use a bedside fan to remain cool at night.
Drink cool water if you wake up with a hot flash or night sweats during your sleep.
Use a cooling pillow or turn your pillow often so that you don’t have to sleep on the hot side of the pillow all night. Keep a cool pack under the pillow so you can flip to a cool pillow during the night.
Try to lose weight if you are overweight. Women who are obese have more problems with hot flashes than women of normal weight do. You can lose weight through healthy eating and maintaining an exercise program that will help you decrease your hot flashes.
Acupuncture. A trained acupuncturist can help you reduce the blocked flow of qi energy so as to decrease the number and intensity of hot flashes.
Try eating foods high in phytoestrogens
We will go more into detail about which supplements and herbs can help in chapter 7.
One study showed that exercise decreased the incidence and intensity of hot flashes. The study was done on 21 women who were having menopausal symptoms. Fourteen of the women took part in an exercise program for four months, while the rest did not change their exercise activities. After the study, the women completed a questionnaire that asked them about how many hot flashes they had and how intense the hot flashes were. They also caused hot flashes by placing the participants in a hot water suit and recorded their body responses.
The exercising participants took part in a gym-based exercise program, in which they used a stationary bicycle, a treadmill, a cross-trainer, and/or a rowing machine. They were asked to exercise initially for thirty minutes, later increasing to 45-minute exercise sessions a day for at least five days a week.
After the 16-week study, the researchers measured the incidence and severity of the hot flashes each woman experienced. They found that, in the women who exercised, the amount of sweating during a hot flash was markedly reduced. There was a decrease in blood flow to the forearms by 7 percent and a decrease in blood flow to the chest by 9 percent. There was also a decrease in blood flow to the brain in those women who exercised.
Women who did not exercise had no difference in the incidence and severity of hot flashes. While the study was small, it did indicate the possibility that exercise could help women with hot flashes.
Here are my other suggestions:
Stop Hot Flashes Naturally during Menopause with Phytoestrogens
For many decades in the past, doctors looked at oestrogen as the treatment of choice for women entering their menopausal years for the management of hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, and the other symptoms of menopause. As a natural menopause coach, it is important for me to teach women how to stop hot flashes naturally during menopause with phytoestrogens so that they don’t have to go down the HRT road unless absolutely necessary because of its dangers and side effects.
Therefore researchers began to look at the effectiveness of phytoestrogens in the treatment of the symptoms of menopause.
Phytoestrogens are plant-derived compounds that mimic oestrogen in the body. There are several types of plants that have phytoestrogens in them, including all soy-related plants and the foods that come from them. There are also herbal products that contain phytoestrogens.
Research Reports on Phytoestrogens
Research studies have been looked at to see if women given phytoestrogens could have a resolution of their symptoms when given these products instead of traditional hormone therapy.
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