Menopause is a big topical topic at the moment and rightly so.

Menopause comes at a time when you believe things will be “getting easier” - only to find along wit the symptom our day to day demands also seem to increase.

THE MENOPAUSE HERE AND NOW

Menopause a natural part of a women’s life and for some symptoms can be difficult to deal with, eating the right diet and exercising regularly may help to alleviate and reduce them.

Looking after our heart health and cognitive health.

Improving our Nutrition

Reducing Sugar - sugar inflames us, this also includes artificial sweeteners

Alcohol - can make menopausal symptoms worse and may also exacerbate anxiety and low mood
Processed Foods - including refined carbs can increase insulin resistance and hot flashes
Saturated Fats - Not a low fat diet but reduce takeaways, fast foods, processed meats, pastries and red meat.
Spicy Foods - can worsen symptoms with hot flashes and irritability (I love spicy foods but even with HRT this sets off my symptoms and also effects my sleep)
Not nutrition as such but if you smoke look at ‘giving up’

We should be looking at introducing more fresh food into our diet - this isn’t diet food. We just need to plan and get creative and enjoy cooking. Introducing flavour here is key.

Green vegetables
Eat the Rainbow
More protein - eggs, oily fish, chicken, turkey, quinoa, tofu, pulses and chia seeds
Include more whole grains - oats, brown rice, pop corn (not the sugar or toffee coated variety)
More Seaweed, walnuts, almonds and linseed
Stay hydrated - this helps with the afternoon slumps and snack attacks

We need to re educate ourselves to eat for Health First - not for stress, comfort or reward.

There is no such thing as a “menopause diet” each one of us is different and have different needs and symptoms.

Menopause and mental health. Many women experience emotional highs and lows - it’s normal!

We need to support our brain health with good nutrition

Rest/Calm
Stimulus/Challenge and variety.
Movement/exercise
Love/Community/Connection/Faith/Purpose

1 in 4 women will consider leaving their careers due to menopausal symptoms

Not feeling yourself - it affects you physically, emotionally and it can feel as if you’re losing yourself.

Getting more sleep

Loss of sleep that comes along with the change in hormones has a massive impact on our day to day cognitive function. Not only does work become a slog but so does our day to day living

No tech to bed
Brain dump before bed
No sugar/alcohol before bed
Create a light block
Coffee (one early in the day to allow the canine time to wear off)

Movement

Exercise for brain health the major driver for participating and it’s never too late to start.

Brain health is closely linked to cognitive function and exercise has a significant effect on brain health into older age.

Walking is better than nothing but its not best. Walk with furry friend and enjoy nature more, walk with a friend or join a walking group.

Bone density and muscle quality are directly linked - lose one we lose the other.

We see better results both physically and mentally when we exercise regularly. At the gym or at home introduce some weight training. Resistance training - maintaining muscle mass and strength to prevent osteosarcopenia and cognitive frailty.

Be Realistic Be Consistent

And finally…

More Silence

Managing day to day stress - build in space for

Mediation
Rest
Less Rumination - more staying in the present and less chewing over the past or the future

This blog only offers a small insight on what is a huge topic.