Learn About Our All-Natural Approaches to Managing Menopause Symptoms

Menopause can be greatly disruptive to your everyday life. Once you reach menopause, the point when you haven’t had a period in 12 months, you may continue to experience symptoms for several years.

Thankfully, with the right approach, you can keep your symptoms under control and continue living life . Ovation Women’s Wellness offers treatments such as hormone therapy to combat the symptoms that come with menopause. However, there are also natural approaches that you can do from home that can help you manage your symptoms. 

Symptoms of menopause

Menopause affects most women in their forties and fifties, but you may start to experience pre-menopause symptoms in your thirties as well. As your ovaries stop releasing eggs and producing most of their estrogen, you may experience changes to your menstrual cycle before it stops entirely. The hormonal changes that accompany menopause can cause a range of uncomfortable symptoms, which vary from person to person. 

The most common symptoms of menopause include:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Vaginal dryness
• Trouble sleeping
• Decreased sex drive
• Mood swings
• Difficulty concentrating
• Joint pain/osteoporosis 
• Hair loss
• Weight gain

Natural treatments

There are a number of things you can do on your own to help you manage your systems in order to take back control in your life. This is especially helpful for patients who prefer to take a natural approach that addresses the underlying causes of menopause symptoms. However, it doesn’t have to be an either/or choice:If you choose to undergo hormone replacement therapy, natural health practices can also improve upon those results.

Get your calcium and Vitamin D

As your estrogen levels decrease, you’re at risk of losing bone density and developing osteoporosis. The best way to prevent any further risk to your bone health is to increase the calcium and vitamin D in your diet. 

You can find plenty of calcium in dairy, green leafy vegetables, tofu, beans, and sardines. You can also find some calcium in certain cereals, fruit juice, or milk alternatives. 

Your main source of vitamin D is exposure to sunlight, but you can take supplements or consume oily fish, eggs, and cod liver oil.

Avoid trigger foods

Specific foods are known to trigger hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings among women during menopause. This can include caffeine, alcohol, and foods that are extremely sweet or spicy. Other foods can also trigger these symptoms, and it can vary among women. It’s best to keep a symptom diary to recognize what foods may be triggering your symptoms, and reduce or remove them from your diet. 

Exercise regularly

Committing to regular daily exercise can improve your overall health, and it can help you manage your mental health during menopause. Exercise increases energy and improves metabolism, bone health, sleep, and reduces stress. One study showed that menopausal women experienced significantly improved mental and physical health after exercising for three hours a week for a year. 

Don’t skip meals

Maintaining a steady, regular routine is best for women experiencing menopause. Irregular eating habits can make symptoms worse, and it can increase your overall stress levels. Make sure to maintain a stable eating routine; skipping meals won’t help you stay focused and energized. 

Take supplements

Supplements rich in black cohosh, a medicinal herb, have proven effective towards reducing menopausal symptoms in women. This herb can help regulate sleep patterns and manage mood swings. This means not only can it help you go to sleep, but it can help you stay asleep. We recommend you consult your doctor about taking this supplement because it can interfere with other medication. 

Practice controlled breathing

According to a study by Dr. Besty Greenleaf, an osteopathic medicine doctor at Hackensack Meridian Health System in New Jersey, controlled breathing exercises can help you manage hot flashes. This exercise requires you to slow your breath at precise intervals daily. You can experience a significant reduction of hot flashes and fatigue. 

To get more information, we recommend you schedule a consultation with one of our doctors at Ovation Women’s Wellness. You can make an appointment by calling our office.