The Care and Management of Menopause: From Hormonal Cacophony to Harmony Found by Dr. Laurie Steelsmith FEATURING A GIVEAWAY
Adapted from Growing Younger Every Day: The Three Essentials Steps for Creating Youthful Hormone Balance At Any Age
For years, we mourn the existence of our periods, bemoaning its arrival each month and dreading the bloating, mood swings, and cravings that tend to precede it.
But midlife can bring a different lament altogether: The onset of menopause, which, for most, conjures up thoughts of hot flashes, weight gain, and moods that don’t just swing but careen completely out of control.
In short: Nonsense. True, menopause may be accompanied by discomforting symptoms, but this time can be managed smartly and embraced rather than rejected. Indeed, your midlife transition can be seen as a time of wonderful growth—a personal renaissance for your body, mind, and soul.
But, to get there, it’s essential to understand what’s going on with your body.
During menopause, your ovaries cease to release the same amounts of several of your key hormones: estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, and testosterone. Meanwhile, acute stress, whatever the reason, may cause another hormone, cortisol, to spike; chronic stress, on the other hand, may lead to a decrease of cortisol (more on this below). Menopause can be disconcerting because a woman may feel fabulous one day and fatigued, unbearably hot, and testy the next. Every woman is unique in this sense: some have challenging transitions with physical and emotional symptoms that require tons of TLC; others glide so smoothly through menopause they call it “mini-pause” instead.
Whatever your biological tendency may be, you certainly don’t have to accept the view that menopause is exclusively a time of grueling hormonal shifts. Tapping into your body’s natural potential to create a more youthful hormone balance can be especially beneficial during this time, in that it may minimize symptoms and, thus, transform midlife into a time of regeneration and empowerment.
One of the most important steps you can take in terms of managing menopausal symptoms is to nurture your adrenal health. Central to your overall well-being, your trusty adrenal glands provide you with the get-up-and-go energy you need for practically everything you do. They amplify your ability to handle stress—particularly during trying times—and promote youthful hormone balance.
The best way to begin supporting their function is with a healthy diet and stress-reducing lifestyle choices. Pushing yourself nonstop ultimately reduces your efficiency by generating excessive amounts of that aforementioned cortisol, which can lead to adrenal fatigue (a condition in which your adrenals become burned out). It can also lead to exhaustion and insomnia, which often compound menopausal symptoms.
What’s more, when your cortisol is in constant demand, your adrenal glands can’t keep pace with your body’s other hormonal requirements: At midlife, your ovaries have a natural “career change”; as mentioned, they stop producing hormones, and your adrenal glands take over the job. But if extreme stress has undermined your adrenal glands, resulting in either high or low cortisol, they have a difficult time assuming this role, and the result can be highly exacerbated menopausal symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats, sleeplessness, and mood swings. To further support your adrenal health, consider adding Vitamin C, Pantothenic Acid, Siberian Ginseng, and Phosphatidylserine to your diet, as all can contribute to more robust adrenal health and fewer—or more controllable—menopausal symptoms.
And speaking of supplements: You can address midlife symptoms without relying on pharmaceutical drugs that may have frightening side effects or synthetic hormones that can compromise your health. With completely natural approaches, you can correct imbalanced hormones, keep your sexual tissues well-nourished, and preserve your electrified libido. To this end, consider Asensia. Through its unique ability to promote youthful hormone balance, this formula is especially useful for women as their bodies go through midlife hormonal transitions. Vitamin E, Black cohosh, and maca can be valuable during menopause as well, given the relief they can offer in terms of mitigating symptoms while also supporting your whole hormonal system.
Finally, you can manage menopause wisely by addressing the sexual challenges that can arise at this time. Often caused by decreases in the hormones that support the tissues of your sex organs and pelvis, you may experience dryness, while your connective tissues and muscles may become less firm—potentially leading to a diminished libido, despite still loving your partner. By recharging your sexual energy through a solid foundation of optimal rest, healthful eating, regular exercise, and reduced stress—as well as minimizing alcohol, fatty foods, sugar, and caffeine (all of which can diminish your long-term sexual health)—you can experience not just mere lust again but also a renewed lust for life. Midlife, after all, isn’t the end of life—it’s the start of an exhilarating new chapter.
GIVEAWAY:
Win a three month supply of the supplement Dr. Steelsmith personally takes, and a copy of her book. To enter, email [email protected], and indicate why you’d like to win. Put Steelsmith in the Subject Line.
Laurie Steelsmith, ND, Lac, is a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, and passionate spokesperson for educating and empowering women to transform their lives with better health through natural medicines and practices that work with, rather than against, the body’s own healing processes. She is the Naturopathic Medical Advisor to Daily Wellness Company, and the coauthor of three books: the bestselling Natural Choices for Women’s Health, the critically-acclaimed Great Sex, Naturally, and her latest, Growing Younger Every Day. A leading advocate for natural medicine, Dr. Steelsmith is the medical director of Steelsmith Natural Health Center in Honolulu, where she has a busy private practice, and is an associate clinical professor at Bastyr University, America’s leading center for the study of natural medicine. www.DrSteelsmith.com.
