Danny Davis
Menopause can be a difficult time in a woman’s life. There are many symptoms that may come all at the same time, overwhelming a woman in this time of her life.
Here are 66 things you can do or consider to improve the menopause process:
1| Take Hormone Replacement Therapy.
This is somewhat controversial medical remedy with some studies indicating that it can increase the risk of heart disease in older women who are overweight. In those with severe hot flashes and no risk for heart disease, however, it can greatly reduce the hot flashes and night sweats seen in menopause.
2| Get some exercise.
Exercise not only decreases your weight but it has been known to decrease the number of hot flashes you get. You should aim for 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week for the best results in fighting menopausal symptoms.
3| Learn relaxation techniques.
Menopause can be a time of stress and relaxation techniques can help reduce this stress. The main relaxation techniques include meditation, guided imagery, and yoga which help decrease stress.
4| Take Black cohosh.
This is an herbal remedy that has been known to decrease the frequency and intensity of hot flashes. You shouldn’t take black cohosh and hormone replacement therapy at the same time unless your doctor approves of it.
5| Eat soy products.
Soy contains phytonutrients that mimic estrogen in the body. You can drink soy-milk, eat tofu, or eat tempeh to get soy into your system naturally.
6| Eat a balanced diet.
If you eat a balanced diet containing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you can manage your weight better and can consume antioxidants and phytonutrients that fight the aging process and that can lessen the experience of hot flashes.
7| Take Macafem.
This contains no estrogen but instead is an herbal supplement that supports the woman’s own abilities to make female hormones in the pituitary gland as well as in the adrenal glands, therefore decreasing menopausal symptoms.
8| Drink Chamomile Tea.
Many women in menopause suffer from anxiety and sleeplessness. A nightly cup of chamomile tea can help you relax so that you are less anxious and can get a better night’s sleep.
9| Take Passionflower.
This is an herbal remedy that has properties that relieve menopausal symptoms. Passionflower can be taken as a supplement or drunk as a tea.
10| Try wild yam supplements.
Wild yams contain substances that mimic the estrogen your body is lacking in. Wild yams can be eaten whole or you can purchase wild yam supplements to control hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.
11| Take Ashwagandha.
This is another herbal remedy that contains substances that fight off hot flashes by mimicking estrogen your ovaries are no longer making. This is usually taken as a supplement under the guidance of a skilled herbalist.
12| Take chaste berry supplements.
Chaste berry is an herbal supplement that has been known to fight menopausal and perimenopausal symptoms. You can drink chaste berry tea or take a chaste berry supplement as recommended by your doctor or herbalist.
13| Anaerobic Exercise.
This can be done along with aerobic exercise, about two days per week. It involves lifting weights or using weight machines to tone the muscles and increase muscle mass. As muscle mass is increased, it burns more calories so that you can lose weight without faster and more efficiently.
14| Take an antidepressant.
If natural remedies don’t control the depressive symptoms seen in menopause, your doctor may recommend that you take an antidepressant in order to relieve menopause-related depression. Depression does not affect every woman, but those that have it, antidepressants can be lifesaving.
15| Practice Tai chi.
Tai chi is an ancient form of traditional Martial Arts that in its modern form of meditation movement can improve your flexibility and can be a stress-relieving technique during the difficult time of menopause.
16| Practice yoga.
Yoga is good for improving balance and flexibility and may make it less likely that you will fall and fracture your hip, spine, or wrists.
17| Keep a journal.
When you keep a journal, you can reflect on your symptoms and can identify things that trigger menopausal symptoms. A journal can also decrease stress in your life that can trigger you to be uncomfortable in menopause. You can keep this journal to yourself or you can share it with your partner or with a therapist.
18| Practice Qi Gong.
This is another form of ancient Chinese martial arts, and is a mind-body exercise performed in a slow meditative manner that can increase the strength and flexibility of your muscles. It is a milder form of tai chi that can be performed by people of all fitness levels.
19| See a therapist.
Sometimes menopausal symptoms can be so overwhelming that you develop anxiety or depressive symptoms that can be helped by seeking the advice of a qualified psychotherapist. You may find that it takes just a few sessions to help you learn how to help yourself during the menopausal years.
20| Take up a hobby.
Hobbies can help you focus on other things besides your menopausal symptoms. You can take up a hobby you do by yourself or a hobby you share with others. The hobby does not have to be something involving physical activity but can be a sedentary hobby.
21| Join a support group.
Some HMOs and hospitals have support groups for the express purpose of having women get together in order to share their experiences of menopause and pass along tips that help improve the process.
22| Join a social group.
These can be groups that do physical exercise or those that just share the same hobby or activities. The more socially active you are, the less will your menopausal symptoms become a problem for you.
23| Practice good sleep habits.
Instead of taking sleeping pills, you can get around the problem of menopause and insomnia by practicing good sleep habits. This involves sleeping in a cool, dark, and quiet room, using a noise machine if needed, exercising several hours before retiring for bed, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and by avoiding big meals just prior to sleeping. Your bed should be reserved for sex and sleeping only.
24| Take testosterone supplements.
They make special testosterone supplements for women that are of a low dose but can improve the libido of women who are suffering from a low sex drive due to hormonal changes in menopause. They can be available in pill or cream form that is rubbed into the skin.
25| Quit smoking.
As the risk for heart disease increases after menopause, this is the time to quit one of the more problems that can cause you to have strokes or heart attacks after you go through menopause.
26| Eat high protein snacks.
These can improve your muscle mass and can prevent blood sugar spikes that can lead to the fatigue you may experience during menopause.
27| Take frequent naps.
Because you will be tired much of the time during the perimenopausal and menopausal years, there is nothing wrong with taking a nap at some point during the day. It can recharge your batteries and can make your symptoms less frequent.
28| Practice Kegel exercises.
Because this is a time when you have incontinence problems, doing regular Kegel exercises can strengthen the pelvic floor muscles so you will have more control over when you urinate. Kegel exercises can be done on the toilet by starting and stopping your urinary stream. Once you get the hang of it, you can do these exercises just about anywhere in order to strengthen the perineal muscles.
29| Urinate often.
Menopause is a time for an increased risk of bladder infections. If you void more frequently, you can prevent not only stress incontinence but can decrease the risk of getting bladder infections in menopause.
30| Buy a cool pack.
If you are having lots of hot flashes or night sweats, you can use a cool pack on the back of your neck to block these symptoms.
31| Buy a portable fan.
They make fans that operate on batteries that can be placed in your purse to be taken out to cool your face and extremities when you have hot flashes during the day.
32| Keep water at your bedside.
When you have hot flashes or night sweats while sleeping, keeping a cool glass of water at your bedside will cool you down fast without having to get out of bed in the middle of the night.
33| Place a towel on your pillow.
For night sweats, you won’t want to wake up with a drenched pillow. You can put a towel between your sweaty head and your pillow so that you can keep your pillows from becoming too wet after a night sweat.
34| Wear loose, cotton clothing.
Wear clothes that breathe so that you will experience less misery during your hot flashes.
35| Take an anxiolytic medication.
Anti-anxiety medication may be prescribed for you if you don’t have success with non-medical ways of relieving anxiety. Anxiolytic medication can be addictive if you are prescribed benzodiazepines. Sometimes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be prescribed for anxiety and these are not addictive.
36| Take cool showers or baths.
Taking a hot shower or a hot bath can trigger hot flashes and can make it difficult for you to function during the day, so use cooler water to get relief.
37| Practice deep breathing exercises.
These are exercises that can reduce the stress and mood swings so commonly seen in menopause.
38| Avoid caffeine.
Caffeine is a stimulant that can interfere with your ability to get rest and can contribute to sleeplessness at night.
39| Avoid alcohol.
Alcohol is a depressant but it can interfere with getting a good night’s sleep. Some women also experience flushing and hot flashes when drinking alcohol around the time of menopause.
40| Attain or maintain a normal weight.
Menopause is a time when many women gain a few pounds. Through a sensible diet and exercise, you can avoid this weight gain and can maintain or achieve a normal weight. Weight loss helps reduce hot flashes too.
41| Avoid spicy foods.
Spicy foods have the ability to trigger hot flashes in some susceptible women in menopause.
42| Use vaginal moisturizers.
These are creams that make the inner lining of the vagina moister so that you can have decreased pain on intercourse and less vaginal dryness.
43| Use vaginal lubricants.
If vaginal moisturizers are unsuccessful in moisturizing the vagina during sex, you can always use water-based vaginal lubricants in order to make sex less painful. Some water-based vaginal lubricants include KY Jelly and Astroglide. Do not use petroleum jelly as this can contribute to the breaking of condoms during the sex act.
44| Take Bisphosphonates.
These are medications some women need to take during and after menopause. This type of medication will reduce bone loss and will help prevent osteoporosis in susceptible women going through menopause.
45| Get a mammogram.
As the risk of breast cancer increases with age, you should definitely get a mammogram around the time of menopause and every 1-2 years after that. About 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives.
46| Dress in layers.
When you have hot flashes, it is a good idea to have clothing in layers that can be peeled off when the hot flashes become more severe. You can always put back on the layers when you become chilly again.
47| Take birth control pills.
If you are still getting periods but have menopausal symptoms, you can take birth control pills that do dual duty of preventing a pregnancy and helping stabilize the hormones so that hot flashes can be controlled. You can stop birth control pills after menopause is complete and hopefully, you will not have periods again.
48| Decrease stressful life events.
If there are things in your life that are contributing to stress, such as a bad job, financial stressors, or relationship issues, you can try to de-stress your life so that menopausal symptoms can be better managed.
49| Practice mental exercises.
Exercises like Sudoku, word finding games, and crossword puzzles can prevent menopause-related mental changes. They will keep your mind sharp.
50| Use estrogen creams or estrogen-containing vaginal rings.
These can decrease your chances of having pain on intercourse by strengthening the vaginal wall and by improving the amount of vaginal mucus. These treatments usually don’t affect hot flashes or other symptoms of menopause.
51| Try bioidentical hormones.
If you are not interested in traditional hormone therapy, you can always try bio-identical hormones. They come as a cream from a compounding pharmacy that makes a special formulation of bio-identical hormones based on a saliva test.
52| Try hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis has been found to decrease the amount of hot flashes you experience. You will need to see a hypnotherapist who has experience in stopping the hot flashes of menopause.
53| Get acupuncture.
This is an alternative medical technique that involves inserting slim, sterile needles into acupuncture points that, for some women, will decrease the frequency and intensity of hot flashes.
54| Have acupressure therapy.
This is another alternative medicine technique that is similar to acupuncture but does not involve needles. In some women, it decreases the intensity and frequency of hot flashes.
55| Try Vitamin E.
Some women and some research have indicated that taking vitamin E will decrease the frequency of hot flashes. Because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, it is not wise to take mega-doses of this vitamin.
56| Take higher doses of calcium.
Calcium can prevent the bone loss associated with menopause. In menopause, you need to take about 1500 mg of calcium per day.
57| Take St. John’s Wort.
This is a common remedy for the mood swings associated with menopause. It is taken as a supplement for the relief of many things, including the mood swings and depression in menopause.
58| Take Ginseng.
Ginseng has been used for more than 5000 years in Asian cultures for the management of menopausal symptoms. It is generally taken as a supplement. It is especially good for stress, fatigue, and irritability associated with menopause.
59| Take vitamin D.
This helps improve bone mineral density in menopausal women. It is usually taken along with calcium so that together they can prevent bone loss and osteoporosis.
60| Eat ground flaxseed.
Flaxseeds contain lignins that help modulate the metabolism of menopause-related hormones. You basically grind up whole flaxseeds in a coffee grinder, eating about 1-2 tbsp. per day.
61| Try Dong Quai.
It is known in Chinese circles that dong quai helps to regulate female hormones among menopausal women. It is taken as a supplement but shouldn’t be taken in women who suffer from heavy vaginal bleeding.
62| Vitamin B complex.
This is a type of water-soluble vitamin complex that may help reduce the stress associated with menopause.
63| Take Evening primrose oil.
You can also use black current oil. Both of these are great sources of GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), which is an essential fatty acid that encourages prostaglandin synthesis, therefore helping reduce menopausal symptoms.
64| Take red clover.
While its use is controversial, some women claim that extracts of red clover leaves will reduce symptoms of hot flashes. There are no serious side effects from taking this supplement.
65| Kava.
Kava may cause a decrease in anxiety symptoms that are so typical of women in menopause. It is taken as a supplement. Too much kava has the potential to cause liver damage.
66| Take Valerian root.
Valerian root is a natural herbal remedy that can help ease stress and can help you sleep better. It can be taken as a supplement or in a tea for menopausal symptoms.
