Many times, I am asked by women feeling the impending menopause experience, “what can I do now to help myself” for those years? It’s a great question and there is much you can do.
First, let’s talk terms. Menopause is the time when you have been 12 months without a menstrual period. The 10-ish years before that are what is now referred to as perimenopause. As the typical age for menopause is 52, it is likely you have entered perimenopause by the time you are in your early 40s. For some women, it’s at 35. Let the math be fluid on this, as every woman is different.
How do you know you are in perimenopause? The early signs are the change in quality and length of sleep and a change in moods. You may not be easily able to elevate your mood to match the environment. Anxiety can show up or worsen. Same with depression. Perimenopause is a neuroendocrine transition which means the brain is signalling the hormones to create a new normal. This transition can be long, so its helpful to know you can expect change.
For many women in their late thirties and early forties, you may be in your child-birthing years and brush these early symptoms off as a lack of sleep, or the baby-blues or stress. These things may in fact be caused by the hormonal shifts of perimenopause. Your levels of testosterone and progesterone do a slow decline towards menopause. Estrogen levels can be quite high or low and can swing wildly. You can feel moody, sleepy, less strong, less sharp mentally and your cycle can get shorter, meaning you can bleed every 25 or 26 days instead of 28-30 days.
In the forties, women can experience the more classic signs of menopause like hot flashes, dryness, lack of libido, deepening insomnia, feelings of low self worth, low confidence, anxiety and/depression. This is a delicate time for a woman as she can easily be misdiagnosed with a mental health disorder instead of being treated for perimenopause. You may not have even had a hot flash or a skipped period at this point.
On a list of the top ten most common symptoms of perimenopause, hot flashes are number 10. Many women never have a hot flash, so please don’t wait to assume you are in perimenopause only when your periods change or you experience a hot flash!
Reducing stress, recognizing your symptoms are a result of changing hormone levels, getting enough rest, nutritious food, outside light and daily enjoyable movement are important for preparing yourself for a gentle perimenopause. Eating enough daily protein and strength training for maintaining muscle health is important too.
In short, if you are a woman between 35-55 years of age and something recently has changed with your health, it’s likely related to perimenopause! It begins long before you miss a period. Look for great practitioners who can coach you through this transition. Perimenopause can be a chaotic time where the help is thin on the ground. Have you considered speaking with a Menopause Doula? We can help guide the way forward to better sleep, a peaceful mind and a calm and cool physical self.
