Its a little mind blowing to realize that currently half of the women in the US are menopausal 😳
Depending on your outlook – this can be exciting or discouraging.
“Although women have been taught to dread menopause, this life stage ushers in the springtime of the second half of life and is often accompanied by surges in creativity, vitality, newfound ambition, and the need to be of meaningful service to the community in a larger way. During perimenopause and beyond, our goals and behavior become more motivated by the demands of our souls,💜 not just those of society.
~Christiane Northrup, MD
We often associate so much negativity with these years because of the symptoms that are associated with it.
But if you take a moment and think about it…. these symptoms can make a lot of sense.
At this point in their lives, so many women have spent 20+ years raising a family, going after a career, serving in their communities and so much more – on limited sleep, lots of caffeine and dare I say – pretty crappy diets. 🥯🍔🍟🍕🍫🍿🍬🍪🍶🍷
Its actually pretty amazing that we make it that long😳 before we start to exhibit symptoms that are eerily similar to a car that hasn’t had regular maintenance 🚗 (or as my grandfather used to say – a horse that’s been run hard and put away wet 🐴🤯😩)
Lucky for us – we live in a pretty amazing day and age – where we have instant access to information and can learn simple tools to take better care of ourselves so we can celebrate this wonderful transition as the gift🎁 that it is.
So first things first:
To address Perimenopause we need to define Menopause
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Generally, menopause falls into one of three categories:
Natural menopause refers to the lack of a period for 1 full year. the average age of this in all cultures across the world right now is 52
🌏
Surgical/Medical Menopause is the result of hysterectomy , chemotherapy or other medical procedures which puts an immediate & permanent end to a menstrual cycle.
😷
Premature Menopause is when the period ends before age 40- this is often the result of auto-immune disease, high stress or long term dietary deficiencies. This can be sudden and happen as early as the 20’s.
😮
➡️SO then what is Perimenopause?
Perimenopause is the time period prior to menopause and is typically where we see those bothersome symptoms like: hot flashes, changes in cycles, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, etc. 😤🥵😭😝
So what’s behind all this? ⁉️
To keep it simple- as fertility declines, hormone levels in our bodies begin to shift & less ovarian follicles are available =we see bleeding times shorten and the time between cycles begin to lengthen. ⏰
With lower amounts of circulating hormones in the body it takes more time for sufficient levels to build up to complete a menstrual cycle so the cycles get longer until levels drop to the point where a cycle can no longer be sustained and the period stops completely.
our season of fertility is complete 🌈and the springtime 🌷of our wisdom years begin🦋
Except when it doesn’t go that smoothly… 🥴
Stress, 🌪disease,🔥 environment,💥 diet🍟 and genetics all influence our hormones – which can lead to rapid declines📉 in progesterone and/or big increases 📈 in estrogen – or a crazy roller coaster of highs and lows of both 🎢
This lack of balance can wreak havoc on our endocrine system, cognitive function and overall well-being 😭. For some women, these highs and lows can start surprisingly early 😳and we see symptoms much earlier than you’d expect.
So What’s a girl to do? 🤷🏼♀️
Take heart -These issues have been around as long as women have. 🌘💫🌎🦋
And because of that, we have thousands of years of resources that have been handed down from just about every culture in the world. 🌱🌺🍄
🌿🐚EVERY culture in the world has herbs treasured for women’s health 💜
From foods to nutrients to herbs – thee are lots of resources to help. Hot flashes giving you grief? Check out this article.
Mood swings an issue – check out this article.