Climacteric, midlife crisis, mental pause, or the “big change”– whatever you call it, the term itself frightens women who are slowly approaching the menopausal stage. With different stories of hot flashes, mood swings, low sex drive, night sweats, and weight gain, more and more women are somehow getting terrified to reach this stage in life. Fortunately, there are a few ways you can reduce menopausal symptoms with fitness, diet, yoga, and a few other health strategies.
What is Menopause Like?
Menopause is the period when women between ages 40 to 50 have finally reached the end of their monthly struggle with menstruation. It may sound like a total relief, but this stage also comes with different symptoms like irregular periods, vaginal dryness, chills, sleep problems, mood changes, weight gain, and more.
Instead of being anxious at the end of an era, women should get through their menopausal stage with grace. It does not always have to be horrific, with the following natural menopause solution, they will surely embrace the changes ahead of them.
Here’s How to Reduce Menopausal Symptoms
Yoga
Yoga is a combination of physical exercise and meditation. Aside from finding your inner zen, it can improve a menopausal woman’s physical and mental health. A 2011 study published in Menopause International shows that yoga is an effective way to alleviate menopausal symptoms like fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and low quality of sleep.
Apart from easing some of the symptoms, regular yoga exercises can also protect women against weight gain and health conditions like cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.
Diet Change
For the past decades, women are trying to stay away from menopausal symptoms using long-term hormone replacement therapy in the forms of pills, patches, or cream without realizing that treatments are available in the kitchens and grocery stores.
On the other hand, eating food rich in Calcium and Vitamin D can also help reduce weak bones caused by hormonal changes.
Another natural menopause solution you can do is adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet can help produce phytoestrogen, which mimics the effects of estrogen in the body. Other foods rich in phytoestrogen include beans, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, tofu, soybeans, and other so products. One study also shows that a soy-rich diet can help reduce hot flashes and night sweats during the early stage of menopause.
Avoid Trigger Foods
Having a healthy diet is not enough to relieve symptoms of menopause. Avoiding foods that trigger mood swings, night sweats, and hot flashes is also essential. These trigger foods include caffeine, alcohol, sugary, and spicy foods. On top of that remember to always
Stay Hydrated
Vaginal and skin dryness is one of the struggles that a menopausal woman has to endure. A decrease in estrogen levels causes unwanted dryness. Fight dryness by drinking eight to 12 glasses of water per day to stay hydrated.
Aside from relieving the dry feeling, increasing water intake can also help prevent weight gain and bloating caused by hormonal changes. We’ve discussed how much water we should drink in a day before, there is a lot of great information here.
Breathing Exercises
If you’re a busy, independent woman who cannot find time to do some yoga, simple breathing exercises can also help you stay away from the fiery hot flashes during the menopausal stage.
Practice slowing down your breathing to six breaths per minute. Do this by counting to five when breathing in and another five to breathe out. Do it for 15 minutes, at least twice a day. A study shows that women who practiced the said breathing technique twice a day had a 52% reduction in hot flashes.
The Symptoms of Menopause Won’t Last Forever
Experiencing symptoms of menopause can be an ultimate nightmare, but you should remember that this stage is not a disease. It is a natural period in every woman’s life that you can survive through the help of the natural strategies to reduce menopausal symptoms mentioned above.
