I was recently interviewed by Natalia Kotowska – Presenter on UK Health Radio on her program FitLife – healthy mind & body.
We discussed menopause, how it’s a natural stage women go through yet it causes many physical and emotional symptoms and what to do to reduce and manage these.
If you are going through peri menopause or menopause please do listen to this and hope you get inspired to make some changes after listening to it
Peri menopause and menopause are natural biological stages. However, many experience symptoms like sudden weight gain, mood swings, hair loss, night sweats, hot flushes, etc. Everybody is different and it can come at a different age for everyone and severity of symptoms varies.
As your hormones change, you need to change your eating habits and lifestyle. This is because what worked for you in your 20s and 30s may not work for you in your 40s and 50s. Like with everything in life, it’s best to learn, have more knowledge and awareness. And if you plan and prepare, you can begin now to make changes to reduce symptoms.
Make changes to your diet. Try and reduce the processed foods and instead eat clean, including vegetables, protein and whole grains. We should pay attention to what we put in our body as this affects energy levels, moods and sleep.
During menopause, progesterone levels decrease and this has an affect on our moods. So to prepare for this you can introduce other relaxation techniques like mindfulness and meditation, which make us feel calmer and happier. This can be done anywhere and can also be adjusted to your daily busy life. Also, do begin to reduce your stress levels as this does affect our hormones.
Sleep also affects our hormones. Many people are either not sleeping enough or having poor quality sleep. If not sleeping well, do start to create healthy evening routines that improve your sleep. Some suggestions are putting your gadgets away a few hours before your bed time. You can also use a diffuser with calming essential oils, or a lavender pillow spray. And if you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night try some breathing exercise that will help your mind relax and fall asleep.
Menopause seems like a scary thing and we tend to look way ahead of ourselves and worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet. We have to remember not everything we hear or read about menopause will be what we experience.
Do take charge of you health and focus on your self care. When you work on improving one area like your diet, it spills over and improves other areas of your well being. Start simple with a few things so you can make the changes and it’s practical and doable for you. And if you have severe symptoms do consult your doctor.