7 things you need to know about menopause

Menopause is a crucial change in a woman’s life. It usually occurs around the age of 50 and is considered to have started when the woman has not had her period for a year (1).

1. Did you know that there is something before menopause: perimenopause?

All women know that this is a mysterious ’menopause comes one day. But deep down, to a greater or lesser extent, we live in happy ignorance of how and when it happens. Nobody has bothered to explain to us that, on average, four years before their rules are finished, we enter a period – perimenopause – in which bad moods, moments of sadness or tears and even murderous instincts appear. No one warned us that this is due to decreased hormones.

2. Open Pandora’s box

Entering perimenopause can be like opening Pandora’s box: you don’t know what is going to happen, but problems, for sure. Did you know that today no less than 34 symptoms associated with perimenopause are accepted? Well, look, from a frozen shoulder (the 50’s shoulder, they call it in Japan and China) to a tingling sensation under the skin or the appearance of tinnitus (or tinnitus), those extremely annoying ringing in the ears that no one can make disappear. Many different symptoms. Well, up to 34.

3. You can have (urine) losses when laughing … and laugh when you have losses

The decrease in estrogens weakens the pelvic floor and can mean that laughter, coughing, sneezing … can be accompanied by urine leakage. It is what is called stress incontinence. One in four women experiences this weakness at some point in their life. Therefore, Kegel exercises should be performed to strengthen the pelvic floor.

4. You can have moments of anxiety, mood swings, occasional crying …

This is the prognosis for menopause and perimenopause: a delicacy. You may feel diminished to make decisions for fear of making mistakes and be assaulted by moments even of rage.

Anxiety is one of the least understood symptoms of menopause. Knowing that the cause is in the fluctuation of hormones can undoubtedly help: it is a physical problem, not a mental one!

[Also Read: 7 plants that help to reduce stress and anxiety]

5. Can directly affect the line

You will also notice an inexplicable weight gain. Those pants that fit you so well no longer close … There is no other choice but to modify your lifestyle, introducing exercise if you have not already done so and eliminated from your diet everything that smells like processed food, refined carbohydrates, trans fats or of dubious origin … Focus on exercising and eating fruit and vegetables, slow absorbing carbohydrates, limiting meats (and giving preference to poultry) and using – wisely – olive oil extra virgin.

6. You have several options

Menopause can turn your whole body inside out, but the good news is that there are several things within our reach to regain control and mitigate symptoms until they almost disappear. In addition to the lifestyle change, you may be able to follow a hormone replacement treatment (HRT), although your gynecologist will evaluate your case and eventually install it. There are also supplements of various kinds that, again, he will recommend.

7. It has its good side!

Well, no; actually not good, but splendid. Everyone thinks that menopause means little less than a fatality. There is no doubt that it is the first inexorable symptom that you are no longer 25 years old, but, admitting that we are all years old, it can end there. Talk to your doctor and make sure you do everything in your power to overcome the symptoms and … enjoy that you no longer have that monthly nuisance, that you have more energy, that what you knew was coming, at last, he did it (and it wasn’t that bad) and that you’ve got rid of him. And look at what you have left to love, to live …