The advent of Menopause: Deal it with Dignity and Ease

A woman is the ultimate symbol of power and energy. A woman undergoes a lot of changes and faces innumerable pressure during a lifespan. Women’s body too has to face multitudinous changes as moving from one stage to another. Our emotions too change like our body. Women who are in their late forties or early fifties experience a phase called menopause. During this stage, we need to assemble our strength and remain cool as ever. We need to always remember that we have outlived and adjusted with vibes of puberty, adolescence, and pregnancy so we will survive this phase too and live to tell the tale. As Lal Ded a 14th-century Hindu mystic had said about women that, “The soul, like the moon, is new, and always new again.”

What is Menopause?

Menopause is a natural biological process so it not a problem that needs to be solved. The Institute for Quality and Efficient in Health care has explained about this stage as “Menopause is not an illness. It is normal for hormone levels to fall in middle age. These hormones do not need to be replaced.” It is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility; usually, it occurs 12 months after the last menstrual period. At first, it is not easy to realize when we enter the menopause years. If you are in your mid-forties or in your fifties and you start feeling very hot or warm around you, you are frustrated because of lack of sleep, mood swings, a feeling of stress and uneasiness then your body is showing you some minute symptoms of Menopause Cycle.

Some of the common symptoms of menopause are:

• Irregularity in periods

• Mood swings, anxiety, depression

• Hot flashes, night sweat

• Weight gain

• Dry skin and thinning of hair

• Changes in uterus, cervix, and ovaries

• Changes in breasts size

• Vaginal dryness

• Insomnia

Causes of menopause

Menopause is a process, where significant changes take place in a woman’s body. It is caused by hormonal changes, including altered levels of reproductive hormones that include; gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estrogen (three types including estrone, estridiol, and estriol), progesterone and testosterone. There is an increasing loss of ovarian follicles that leads to a decreased amount of estrogen produced. The level of estrogen starts to drop six to twelve months before menopause and continue throughout the menopause process.

Learning to cope with the symptoms of Menopause

Menopause is the perfect time in women’s life to start paying closer and major attention to health. If menopause could be seen and accepted as the natural transition to the next level of life, it could be definitely handled with dignity and care. Once women have reached this phase of life, women need to keep a track on their health

1. Meditation, yoga and other relaxation techniques relieve stress which helps us to deal with menopausal mood swings

2. Drinking at least eight glasses of water daily to help replace fluid lost from hot flashes and also to decrease bloating

3. Avoid or reduce the intake of items like processed foods, refined sugar, alcohol, carbonated drinks which can cause sharp rises and dips in blood sugar that would further make you feel tired and irritable

4. Regular exercise and walk would help in keeping body weight in control

5. Eating of food rich in Vitamin D, Calcium helps to reduce the risk of osteoporosis which could be caused by the hormonal changes during menopause

6. Have food rich in Phytoestrogens that would help in balancing hormones.

7. It is advisable to eat regular meals since skipping meals worsens menopause symptoms

8. Keeping bedrooms cool, wearing loose dresses, taking bath will help you feel comfortable that can help you to get an undisturbed sleep

Menopause is a time of rapid hormonal shifts and many changes. The symptoms vary from one woman to another. Before taking any kind of hormones it is advisable to take it under the supervision of the doctor. Women should always remember that after this phase, our body would enter the next so we need to be cheerful and relaxed. Make a plan for passing the worst of the symptoms. Read and understand the changes happening to your body. Be relaxed, don’t ever leave your sense of humour, take this phase as a challenge and be a winner.