If you’re starting to experience menopause symptoms, you’re likely looking for some immediate relief. The good news is that while menopause is an experience all women go through at some point, it doesn’t have to be filled with pain and discomfort. From hot flashes and dry skin to sleepless nights and achy joints there are remedies for virtually all the symptoms. Even better news: many of these remedies can offer instantaneous relief.
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Get the Help You Need Now
While many of the side effects of menopause require lifestyle changes to maintain a feeling of wellness, balance, and normalcy, others call for immediate help. Issues like vaginal dryness can cause all-day discomfort and even lead to frequent urinary tract infections. These issues can then lead to painful sex and even secondary infections. Of all the complaints of menopausal complications, this one is at the top of the list.
Fortunately, you can get help in the form of a UTI supplement, topical estrogen creams, and even hormone replacement therapy that can provide near-immediate relief. In the longer term, you can look into adding estrogen-producing foods into your diet, like soy, flaxseeds, garlic, fruits like peaches, and dairy like eggs and milk. A healthy diet rich in whole foods can help support your estrogen levels during and after menopause.
Avoid Triggers
In addition to eating the right foods, you also want to avoid the triggers that set off menopause symptoms. Think about it: long before you entered menopause, alcohol made you feel groggy, fatigued, and cranky the day after you consumed it, and probably for several days after. Junk food has the same effect. Smoking wrecks your nervous system any time, regardless of your age. So, how do you imagine these toxins will treat your body during menopause?
Drinking, smoking, and eating processed food can magnify the symptoms of menopause. For this reason, it’s important to cut them out of your life. Quit smoking as soon as possible, cut way back on alcohol if you can’t avoid it altogether. And let processed food be a rare treat you enjoy infrequently. Your symptoms may improve almost overnight once you’re free of triggers.
Fix Your Sleep Pattern
For far too long and for far too many women sleep has become the stuff of dreams. Many women shorten their sleep by hours each night despite an increasing number of studies showing that women’s bodies can be affected by a lack of sleep. Indeed, poor sleep can affect your health later in life.
So, while you might think you’ll be so much more productive if you go to bed later and wake up earlier, the reality is that you’ll likely be less productive and feel worse. For women going through menopause, aim for at least eight hours of sleep. Lower the temperature in your bedroom to help with hot flashes, turn off your electronic devices, read a good book, and meditate your way to a long night of great sleep. You’ll likely feel so much better in the morning.
Stay Cool
Yes, those hot flashes can persist for years due to the changes in hormone levels, and they can feel impossible to control. One minute you’re fine, and the next you’re fanning yourself desperately to stave off a volcanic attack. While diet and exercise can certainly help regulate your hormone levels and lessen the hot flashes, you also want to get help now. It seems ridiculous to simply accept that you’ll suffer like this for years.
You don’t have to. You just have to be prepared. You’re already avoiding those triggers discussed earlier. Now, be sure you wear layers, so you can remove them when you start to feel warm. Often, if you can catch a hot flash early, it won’t increase to the point of discomfort. Carry a fan and ice water everywhere you go, so you can instantly cool down when you need to. Try meditating to calm down as you heat up, which can help regulate your internal temperature.
How Staying Active Can Transform Menopause
One of the conundrums of menopause is that you start to feel too fatigued to exercise, and the only way to get rid of the fatigue is to exercise. As you age, your metabolism slows down, your hormones change, and you may even be on medications that make you tired. Then, you slowly start to accept that you’re simply “getting older.” Of course, these symptoms only increase the older you get until you’re barely active at all.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The reality is that the more you exercise — doing cardiovascular exercises, yoga, and lifting weights — the more your metabolism can increase and your hormones can balance. You can even do pelvic floor exercises to help strengthen the muscles there that weaken due to lower estrogen levels. One of the best lifestyle changes a menopausal woman can make is to make exercise a daily priority. It helps on virtually every level.
In the end, women in menopause do not have to “go gently into the good night.” There are many habits you can discard and others you can adopt that can revolutionize the way you look and feel during this transition period and beyond. It may (likely will) be challenging at first, but be persistent with your health, and you’ll reap the rewards for years to come. You can even recruit your female friends of the same age to take this journey with you.