If you’re coming up on menopause, you’re probably noticing that it’s getting a bit harder to fit into your jeans. If you’ve always eaten a healthy diet and exercised on a regular basis, you may notice that the numbers on the scale are creeping up in spite of your best efforts. This is completely normal, and there are three potential responses, only one of which is healthy. The first response is to let your body have its way, to give into all your cravings, and to gain fifteen or twenty pounds easily. The second response is to drop your calorie intake severely and to ramp up your exercise regimen until you’re spending hours in the gym. There is also a third response we will explore. Women in the third response category will go through menopause, gain weight in moderation, and age gracefully.

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Symptoms of perimenopause should start appearing by the time a woman reaches her forties, but it’s very common for women to get their first hot flashes or night sweats in their thirties. The culprit? Xenoestrogens, a group of manmade chemicals that behave like estrogen in our bodies. Xenoestrogens are everywhere – in our cosmetics, in our cleaning products, and in our food. Too much of this synthetic hormone upsets the delicate balance of estrogen and progesterone and accelerates the onset of perimenopause. Natural and organically grown produce can help you avoid xenoestrogens, which will reduce their overall impact on your body.

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For years, women believed that the uncomfortable symptoms they experience during menopause are caused by their depleted hormones. While hormonal imbalance does play a part in menopause symptoms, factors like your diet and stress levels can aggravate your discomfort. For instance, chronic stress will exhaust your adrenal glands, the glands responsible for controlling the hormone production in your body. Overworked adrenal glands will produce more of the stress hormone cortisol rather than the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, which reduce hot flashes and other menopause symptoms.   So when you go shopping for menopause herbal remedies, consider buying one of the three best natural stress-busters known to science today.

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Aside from adrenal fatigue and estrogen dominance, one of the hidden causes that exacerbates menopause symptoms is an imbalanced growth of bacteria in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Believe it or not, your GI tract is home to an entire ecosystem of bacteria that aids in digestion and nutrient absorption. A healthy GI tract normally has more good bacteria than bad, but poor eating habits and stress can cause bad bacteria to flourish. A menopause natural remedy like probiotics can restore any imbalances in the gut and effectively get rid of night sweats, irritability, yeast infections, and severe menopause symptoms.

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One of the most enduring myths about menopause is that its symptoms are caused by an estrogen deficiency.  While it’s true that your body no longer produces as much estrogen as it used to, your progesterone levels decline faster than estrogen, causing a condition called estrogen dominance.  Estrogen dominance is the real culprit behind most menopause symptoms, from hot flashes to mood swings.   It doesn’t matter if your body has lower amounts of estrogen now; as long as you have too little progesterone relative to your estrogen levels, these symptoms will persist.  Certain vitamins for menopause can help your body rid itself of excess estrogen, bringing your system into balance and reducing the uncomfortable symptoms you experience.

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It used to be that women would lump seven to ten years of symptoms into a single phase and call it
“menopause,” but now the terminology has changed. Basically, women go through perimenopause first, which is a phase where their hormone levels are starting to change and the body is beginning to decrease its fertility potential. Technically, menopause doesn’t start until a woman hasn’t had a period for a full twelve months, at which point it’s pretty safe to assume that she’ll never menstruate again. During perimenopause, women can experience rapidly changing hormone balances, which can cause many different symptoms, including perimenopause cramps.

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It’s natural for women to make a gradual ease into menopause and display the tell-tale accompanying symptoms as we get closer to our fifties.  However, a number of women from North America start entering perimenopause as early as their mid-thirties.  Although one of the most popular forms of perimenopause help is the birth control pill, you might want to consider using natural progesterone and other alternative means of coping with your symptoms.   For many women – especially those with a family history of reproductive problems – the birth control pill can often create estrogen dominance, a condition where estrogen’s cell growth abilities go unchecked by its antagonist, progesterone.  If estrogen is left unopposed, it can cause a number of health problems that require surgery and other serious medical interventions.  Below are just some of the severe consequences of estrogen dominance.

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Is your partner dissatisfied about your sex life? Are you worried about the drop in your libido? Take a deep breath and calm down, because you’re not the only one out there with those issues. According to a survey by Cosmopolitan magazine, as many as 46% of women experience problems with their libido; one minute they’re raging like tigers, the next they behave like nuns. Unfortunately, these symptoms can become especially severe as women enter perimenopause and menopause. Unlike men, women’s libidos are easily influenced by environmental, physiological, and psychological changes; the drop in your libido may be caused by something in your lifestyle or environment, in addition to your changing hormones.  But more often than not, increasing female libido can be helped immensely by eliminating stress.

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Many women experiencing the discomfort of menopause symptoms seek relief from doctors who prescribe varying levels of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  While synthetic hormones may provide instantaneous results, it may not be wise to subject your body to a treatment that can increase the risk of breast cancer and exacerbate your symptoms over the long term.  With a few lifestyle changes and the right herbal menopause remedy, many women find they can take charge of their health and enjoy this period of natural life transition.  Using herbal supplements and other non-medical treatments can give you a chance to address your uncomfortable sensations without further aggravating the hormonal changes your body is going through. There are literally hundreds of herbal menopause remedies out there, but I’ve narrowed down the list to the top ten that many women have found to be very effective and that are my personal favorites.  As always, seek the advice of your physician before trying any herbal treatments for menopause. So, without further ado, let’s count down the top 10…

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In general, many women who are in perimenopause and menopause experience mood swings. Typically, if you had bad mood swings during PMS when you were younger, you’ll be more prone to mood swings during menopause, though these new mood swings can happen to anyone. Some women only have small, short incidences of mood swings, but other women end up being prescribed medication for clinical depression. If you only have mild mood swings or if you want to avoid heavy medications that are often prescribed for depression patients, there is a natural remedy available for menopause mood swings: St. John’s Wort.

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Which came first: the thyroid problem or the menopause? This is one catch-twenty-two that medical practitioners and researchers are currently dealing with. The more science delves into the relationship between these two things, the more they find links between them. If you have been having symptoms of early onset menopause, which is generally considered menopause that happens before the age of forty-five, you may actually have hypothyroidism. Knowing about the differences and similarities between these two conditions is important so that you can help your doctor find the correct diagnosis.

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Western doctors might give you a knee jerk reaction – if you’re suffering from perimenopause, you need to get hormone replacement therapy (HRT). While HRT might give some women temporary relief from their symptoms, it’s not the right perimenopause treatment for long term health, especially for those with a family history of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine cancer. When done under the guidance of a well-trained practitioner, qigong and acupuncture can relieve a lot of the discomfort you will face in the years before menopause.

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Just as puberty is starting earlier and earlier for many girls these days, many women are experiencing menopause earlier than ever. It is becoming less atypical for women to start experiencing pre menopause symptoms as early as their late thirties and early forties. There are many different reasons for these changes, among them the facts that many women are in a constant state of stress and that our environment has a lot of estrogenic compounds in it, which can seriously throw a woman’s hormones out of balance.

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Menopause dryness is natural, but it can also be really frustrating. One thing that you should realize is that sex is probably not going to be quite the same during or after menopause, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t still be great. Many women, in fact, think that their sexual experience when they get to menopause makes it more rather than less enjoyable. You just have to make some changes to make it work correctly. These three tips will help you maintain a wonderful sex life during and after menopause.

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It’s difficult to think of menopause without remembering the discomfort of a hot flash spreading throughout your body.  Not all menopausal women experience hot flashes, but those who do have a hard time getting through the day or night without being bothered by its sensation.  Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may provide fast relief to most menopause symptoms, but did you know that a natural hot flash remedy is safer and for many women just as effective?  There are many ways to ease hot flashes naturally, without the use of synthetic hormones. Let’s count down a top ten list of many women’s favorites…

During menopause, many women start losing their girlish figures. While on some level you should accept that it’s natural – you’ll never look like you’re sixteen again! – you should also strive to stay healthy and comfortable with your body. While it’s important to eat right and get enough exercise, one of the main things that you can do to lose weight and keep it off is de-stress. Weight gain and menopause can be frustrating, but letting go of stress can help you maintain a healthy weight level.

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