Menopause

How I Perceive What Menopause Is

Menopause has been part of our history for many years. However, never has menopause had more attention than it does in this present day.

I believe menopause should be looked at and approached positively, yes it is a reminder to women that they are getting older, however, it is another new chapter in life and personally, I believe that should be celebrated.

This stage of life should not be causing the symptoms and issues that I not only hear about but see far too often. When you look back in history, women very rarely complained of symptoms like night sweats, hot flushes or heat palpitations. So, what happened?

A positive thing I believe is that we are able to speak about these issues more openly and freely than was able or even allowed years ago. Women have more freedom and power over their beautiful bodies and have more control around what they will and will not allow.

We also have the opportunity to educate ourselves about our unique body and help loved ones around us understand what is going on too.

The Western World Impact on Menopause

Along with this, our lifestyles have become faster and faster, processed food and the food industry have become all about packaged food being instant and with that comes lots more chemicals, toxins and sugar which preserve the food that you are going to eat. However, these also feed inflammation and breed disease. The clean, wholesome food that is available to us is not anywhere near as nutrient rich as it used to be as our soils are so over processed now.

Add into this that technology now defaults to be available 24/7 and is getting faster and more accessible every year, our brains cannot keep up. The environments we find ourselves in can be very stressful and affect our emotional health more than we realise, which could have been going on for a very long time, having a huge impact on our hormone health and affects our quality of sleep too, all in a negative way.

As much as we are lead to believe that our bodies are sometimes fighting us, I personally do not believe this at all. I hear women speak of fear when they think of the menopause because with it, they believe come health symptoms and challenges alongside ageing.

Menopause actually slows down the ageing process which is at its highest level from puberty through to menopause. At this phase in life, we quite often put more synthetic hormones in to our bodies by using methods of birth control as an example.

In those reproductive years, the immune system puts more focus on reproductive organs and less focus on other areas of the body.

Whilst there are exceptions, modern lifestyles are typically led of partying hard, being on gadgets constantly, sleeping with them on and constantly by your side, of working long hours or shift work, running a home and raising a family, eating on the go and never really switching off. All of this contributes to the symptoms and challenges that people are dealing with more and more.

So, is this really caused by the menopause? Because there are now women in their late 20’s and 30’s are sharing that they too are struggling with these symptoms that quite often mirror those of the menopause.

When we take a look at many of the lifestyle illnesses that are becoming more prevalent, many symptoms like vaginal dryness, fatigue, brain fog, anxiety and other symptoms are related to adrenal fatigue, digestive issues like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s to name a few.

When a woman is classed as peri-menopausal she can be given HRT which may help relieve the symptoms or if being honest, mask them. I have worked with clients that have been offered anti-depressants too.

I believe we are all unique and, whether we believe it, or not are an expert of our own beautiful body; only we know what is truly best for us.

So I think it is important to be aware and as fully informed as possible of the options available to you.

Whilst HRT may help with symptoms in the moment, it will in fact prolong the process and slow down the menopause phase.

This is because like other products, the contraceptive pill or coil for example, you are putting synthetic hormones into your body to try and mimic higher levels of oestrogen in the case of HRT. As a lady going in to the menopause phase oestrogen should naturally be lowering as should progesterone. Not so that it is non-existent but to bring the reproductive phase to an end and actually protect our bodies from issues and illnesses like cancers and osteoporosis.

This is not to say you should not try HRT if you feel it would help you and women certainly should not feel shame for doing so.

As I have said already, we are all very unique. Being well informed is the key here, so you can make the best decision for you.