While conversations around menopause, perimenopause, post menopause health moved on, so many of us still think it as just an arbitrary moment that our bodies throw at us when your period stops.
On the contrary, it is a journey with different stages. It is long, can bring out symptoms that can affect our personal and professional lives, there are menopause treatments as well as natural menopause remedies and all women experience it differently. But it is not something to worry about or afraid off. We simply need to know some facts.
Let’s breath it down and check out the start of this journey:
What is Perimenopause?
This is the body’s natural transition phase leading up to menopause (when period stops). It is hard to put an estimate of how many years it can last because it can start in your late 30s or 40s. In Perimenopause female hormones, primarily oestrogen and progesterone start to fluctuate, and changes start.
Common early signs of perimenopause are widely known such as
- Irregular periods
- Trouble sleeping
- Forgetfulness (aka brain fog)
- Weight gain, especially around the belly
There are also less common perimenopause symptoms that may leave you puzzled if they appear suddenly. So, to prepare you, I am including just a handful of them.
- Dizziness (aka vertigo)
- Itchy skin
- Ringing in the ears
- Pain in points and muscles
- Heart palpitations
- Increased sensitivities to things that you previously tolerated
- Anxiety or sense of dread
You may not establish a direct relationship with perimenopause, so please write your experiences and discuss it with your clinician.
What is Menopause?
In short, you are officially diagnosed with Menopause when you have not had a period for 12 consecutive months.
It happens in early 50s but can happen earlier if there is a family history or medical treatments involved.
When you are in menopause, the hormones that I previously mentioned, especially oestrogen, drop significantly. This has results for the entire body from your bone health to sleep to your libido.
I hope by now perimenopause vs menopause is clear.
There are early menopause signs. I will include a bunch of them here that some you may be aware of and some you might not expect.
- First one if your period starts acting in a strange way. This may mean your cycles getting heavier or lighter, shorter or longer. Sometimes it can disappear for a period and comes back.
- Mood swings or irritability that feels out of nature. This is one of the fun (being sarcastic here) of hormonal changes. Your mood can be low or change suddenly. You may find yourself snapping at your boss or crying with no reason.
- This is often called brain fog and another fun sign. You may find yourself not remembering where you left the keys, it difficult to find the right words when you speak.
- Lower libido is another early menopause sign. While it can happen due to hormonal changes, especially oestrogen levels, often it is mistaken as emotional distance to a partner or a relationship issue. Good communication with your partner will alleviate that stress on your relationship
- Vaginal discomfort or dryness. This menopause symptom is rarely talked about, as may be still considered a taboo. But it is real. Oestrogen hormones keep tissues in that area well lubricated. When it dops, inevitably, you may feel dryness and sensitivity.
Medical menopause treatments are often talk about and known well, which is call Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). However, what bothers me is to approach menopause purely in hormonal terms and ignore the fact that it has holistic effect on our body, mind and soul. Therefore, I am in favour of a more holistic approach to managing menopause symptoms including natural menopause remedies for menopausal health and an easier transition.
Natural Menopause remedies
Each of us has unique bodies and our menopause journey is completely personal. While I never subscribed to one size fits all approaches, there are some natural menopause remedies that can make real difference. Here are two in my area of expertise with 16 years of training and with clients like yourselves.
- Mindfulness and especially Self-Compassion. Being mindful is all about experiencing each symptom as it is and accepting that it is temporary. Mood swings will come but go away too. You may experience a hot flush during sleep but after a change of clothes but calming you mind by tuning into rhythm of your breathing, you can continue to sleep. I especially underlined self-compassion. Because menopause happens at a time in our lives that we have multiple expectations and responsibilities on us from work, from home, partner, children, from elderly parents. We try to fit everything into a day while dealing with symptoms and be just too hard on ourselves. Please reassess what really matters, write in which way you are being had on yourself and how this affects you. Mindfulness and self-compassion can be deeply grounding and allow you to ride through the symptoms more easily by being aware and in the moment.
- Breathwork and Nervous System Regulation. The latter is the least talked about subject when it comes to how to manage menopause symptoms. Your nervous system, while being more reactive during this journey, offers you a powerful ally to re-balance itself. Your breathing. Simple techniques like diaphragmatic breathing or coherent breathing, with research behind then, can calm fight or slight (or stress) response, help manage mood swings and anxiety and even can help with reducing the severity and frequency of hot flushes. The best thing is once you learned these practices you can easily use them on your own.
Let me share my favourite breathing exercise, Coherent breathing with you. This is one of the easiest natural menopause remedies there is.
Coherent Breathing
This is simply a slow and rhythmic breathing technique where we slow down our breath to typically 6 breaths a minute, as compared to 12-18. It is shown to support mood and emotional stability, support cardiovascular health and balancing the nervous system.
Let’s do a short exercise:
- Find a comfortable seated position, feet on the ground and give your body some time to settle and relax
- Start to lighten your breathing – breathing in little lighter and slower and breathing out little lighter and slower. Make small adjustments to ease your lungs, without straining.
- Once you adapt to breathing light, exhale out emptying your lungs and
Inhale for a count of 5 (each count approximately a second)
Exhale out for a count of 5 (each count approximately a second)
- Continue here for 12 breaths, which is 2 minutes, or as needed.
- Then allow your breathing to come back to its natural pace and open your eyes.
