Let's Talk Menopause

Impacting all women, Menopause is a topic that needs exploration in order to be fully understood. Through this talk, Natalie will take you through the evolution of Menopause, what it is and why women experience this pivotal life phase. There is an opportunity for women to embrace this phase of life with their full power and understanding it better is the greatest first step.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Natalie.

Along with being a teacher here on Insight Timer,

I'm a women's health and mindset coach,

Yoga,

Meditation teacher and facilitator.

A core part of my work focuses on bringing greater awareness to women's life phases and how you can reconnect with your body and support your greatest health.

One pivotal life phase that has a huge gap in education and awareness is menopause.

Yet we are seeing more and more the impact that this phase of life can and is having on women across the world due to the lack of knowledge,

The varying number of symptoms and the limited support available.

I am here to start the conversation to bridge that gap and give you the what and why of menopause so that you can find comfort that what you may be or are experiencing is very normal.

Through the lack of knowledge and silence over the years,

Women have unconsciously given their power away.

Although this phase of life can bring with it much change and discomfort,

There is an opportunity to come into your power and choose how you want to feel,

Transition and experience menopause.

So let's get into talking about menopause.

An important first step is acknowledging your feelings about menopause,

Whether you are there or not.

For this,

I'd like to give you a mindful moment to connect with your feelings.

So I invite you to take a comfortable position,

Sitting down,

Legs crossed,

Hands resting in your lap,

And let's take a beautiful in-breath.

And then as you exhale,

Releasing and letting go.

I want you to start to observe what comes to mind when you hear the word menopause.

What words show up for you?

What thoughts surface?

What feelings arise?

There is no right or wrong here.

I'm simply giving you space to connect with your feelings and thoughts about menopause.

Because it's these thoughts and these feelings that play out in the experience that we have as we navigate this pivotal life phase.

So mindfully noting these thoughts and these feelings,

Consciously bringing them to the surface in preparation for the rest of this talk.

And when you're ready,

You can take a beautiful in-breath,

Exhale,

Releasing,

Letting go of those thoughts and feelings,

And coming back to the room that you're in.

It's really important that I take you back to the start and women's life stages are based on their reproductive cycle,

Beginning with menstruation and ending with menopause.

To understand women's life stages,

It's important to come back to our physiology.

A woman's reproductive cycle starts once puberty hits.

And it's here that an egg is released from the ovary where it has the chance of being fertilized.

If not fertilized,

It passes through the uterus,

Unfertilized and menstruation occurs.

And this happens as a regular cyclical monthly occurrence for several decades across a woman's life.

The hormones,

Estrogen and progesterone heavily influence this monthly cycle.

This reproductive cycle continues into perimenopause,

Which signals a time of change to a woman's body.

Here a woman's ovary egg production starts to slow down as a result of the hormone production of estrogen and progesterone starts to increase.

Menopause concludes the reproductive cycle and from there women are post-menopausal.

And this is in a nutshell,

A woman's life cycle.

I will add that there is so much more to what I've explained that is truly amazing about a woman's body and her life cycles and phases.

But for the purpose of this introduction to menopause,

This context leads in beautifully to our talk today.

So let's dig a little bit deeper into menopause,

Perimenopause and our wonderful hormones.

What is menopause?

Defined as the last or final menstrual period a woman experiences.

It is the conclusion of your reproductive years where the ovaries stop producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Menopause occurs when you haven't had a period for 12 months,

But it's determined retrospectively as you won't know that 12 months has occurred really until the day after these 12 months has actually passed.

So essentially menopause is just one day in a woman's life.

After that,

A woman is post-menopausal.

The average age of this one day of menopause is usually around that 50 to 52 age bracket,

But it can be earlier and it can be later.

And it's also important to note that women can go into medically induced menopause as a result of cancer treatment or just go into menopause naturally at an earlier age.

So what is perimenopause?

Well,

Menopause doesn't just happen.

Perimenopause is the lead up to that one day of menopause.

We've typically seen menopause to be an umbrella term for all the phases of menopause,

But as I've explained,

Menopause is simply just one day.

Perimenopause on average can start in the mid to late forties,

Though for many it can start to whisper in their mid to late thirties.

So it's really good to be aware of the whispers and acknowledge the changes that may be happening in your body.

The changes can be very subtle and many women tend to dismiss them so that sometimes the symptoms all of a sudden yell very loudly at them.

And it is only then that women will start to think that something is going on.

Many women also do not make the connection.

And unfortunately,

That is a result of the lack of knowledge and education that we have had over our lifetime.

Many women describe perimenopause as unpredictable and that it is.

Perimenopause and menopause is unique to every single woman.

No two bodies are the same and no two experiences will be the same.

Perimenopause signals its arrival and length with a sequence of hormonal events and changes that resemble a second puberty,

Often encompassed by a range of varying symptoms.

What are the symptoms?

Well,

We know that perimenopause and menopause and postmenopause impacts a woman's life.

Research suggests that symptoms can last an average of four to eight years,

Starting in perimenopause,

Though for some they can go on for longer and women can still experience symptoms post that one day of menopause.

There are a wide ranging list of symptoms,

35 plus in fact,

And such symptoms include hot flushes,

Temperature changes,

Night sweats,

Breast tenderness,

Irritability,

Sleep difficulties,

Anxiety,

Changes in weight.

One of the big first symptoms that is noticeable for many women is period irregularity,

Mood swings,

Hot flushes,

Anxiety and depression.

Symptoms can be few or wide ranging,

Short-lived or long lasting.

They can affect a woman psychologically,

Physically,

Emotionally and mentally,

As well as impacting other body symptoms too.

For example,

The decrease in estrogen can make women more susceptible to conditions like cardiovascular disease,

Alzheimer's or dementia and osteoporosis,

Especially in the postmenopausal stage.

Again,

It's really important to recognise that all women are unique and although women may experience similar symptoms,

The severity of the symptoms may differ and the experience of the symptoms will be completely unique to that woman.

We know that hormonal changes bring on the symptoms of menopause,

But genetics,

Diet and stress also play a big role here too.

It's important to acknowledge that the symptoms are both physical and psychological.

For all that is seen,

There is a lot that is not seen and how you support yourself or someone you love is really important.

Based on the 35 plus symptoms,

They will all have a different impact on that woman and so we may at times see ourself or someone that we care for suffering through certain symptoms on a physical basis,

But it's those psychological symptoms that we may not recognise,

Such as brain fog,

Loss of confidence,

Loss of self,

Anxiety and it's equally important that we offer support for ourself or to others by leading with empathy and having compassion and being around ourself and around other people to support ourself and others through this transition.

I want to acknowledge that menopause is inevitable for every single woman.

It is a natural transition that every woman will go through.

It is not a medical condition,

But the transition to menopause does bring with it some increased risk factors for long-term health outcomes and this is where being supportive of our own health and our well-being or giving care and love towards someone else's health and well-being is vitally important and women have been going through menopause forever,

But we have not been equipped with the education or the knowledge or the support learning to be able to really see this phase of life as one of power,

Of opportunity,

Of growth or potential.

There is an evolution to menopause.

When you understand it more,

It promotes a self-awareness to how women live their life,

Both now and into the future.

I've highlighted that there's hormonal,

Physical,

Mental and emotional changes and recognising these are the first step to understanding and managing a woman's changing body.

We hear day in and day out that women need to look after their health and guess what?

It's true and the self-awareness a woman has around her health right now paves the way to how her health plays out in years to come.

So all of those messages around self-care,

Movement,

Nutrition,

Sleep,

Rest,

Mindset are so vitally important even before we get to perimenopause,

But absolutely very important during and post-menopause.

One of the ways that we support women through this phase of life is to adopt a whole health lifestyle approach.

And that's shining a light on the five areas that make us human.

Starting with the self,

Which is our physiology and our biology,

And then looking at the physical,

The mental,

The emotional and the spiritual health.

And when you can bring your attention to each of these pillars and support yourself based on what each individual pillar needs,

You start to see a ripple effect flow across your entire life and your entire being.

So let's break down these five pillars a little bit further.

Let's start with the self.

So it's really important to build your self-awareness,

To be informed about perimenopause and menopause.

You want to find ways to learn about this phase of life.

And this talk,

Of course,

Is a really great starting point,

But also there's opportunities to have conversations with other women around how they are feeling and what they are experiencing.

There's a real opportunity here to come together as a collective and learn from each other.

It goes a long way to acknowledging that we are not alone and we do not have to transition through this phase of life in isolation.

Moving to the physical health,

There's a great correlation between your physical health and this life stage.

Good nutrition,

Sleep and movement are ultimately key here,

And not just through perimenopause,

But across our life.

But when it comes to our physical health,

It's important to acknowledge that what you do today in your 40s and your 50s or your 60s is going to look very different to what you did in your 20s and your 30s.

You are in a pivotal phase of life here that needs great support from nutrient-dense food,

Optimal sleep and really supportive exercise and movement.

Moving on to mental health,

Nurturing your mental health is key.

Hormonal changes and preparing for the variety and intensity of symptoms and the life juggle can play a big part here in your mental health.

So being informed about your body,

Learning about the way that your body is moving through its cycles,

The experiences that you are having,

And then also learning and really nurturing the brain to have that awareness about what your body needs.

Emotional health,

This is all about the connection to yourself and to others around you.

So whether that's family,

Friends or work colleagues,

Or whether that's other women who are having similar experiences.

When we can nurture our emotional health by building safe relationships,

We can see higher levels of self-esteem,

Greater self-satisfaction,

Lower levels of stress,

And also increase the opportunity to have mindful,

Thoughtful,

Connected relationships and know that we are supported as we transition through this phase of life.

And then finally,

Looking at our spiritual health,

This is about aligning with your true self and how you want to live and work whilst transitioning into and post-menopause.

So this is where you get to choose what does your perimenopause,

Menopause experience look like?

What are the things that are important to you?

What are your values?

What is the experience that you want to have?

What is important to you during this phase of life to ensure that you come out the other side flourishing and thriving and having a great outlook on positive health for a very long,

Long life?

This is our five pillar support strategy to support yourself through perimenopause and menopause.

It affords you the opportunity to look at yourself as a whole being made up of these five pillars,

Being the self,

The physical,

The mental,

The emotional,

And the spiritual self.

And in starting out,

I encourage you to just pick one pillar and look at that one pillar and explore what might be possible for you within that one pillar.

What can you do to make an impact on that one pillar,

But also recognizing that what you do in one flows into the others.

And what you're starting to do is then support yourself on a whole being level.

And then finally,

I want you to recognize as well that menopause is more than just a woman's issue.

Yes,

It is the individual woman herself who is going through the experience of perimenopause and menopause,

But the impact of such a pivotal phase plays out in their relationships with men,

Within families,

Within communities,

Businesses,

Workplace cultures.

And we often find that that woman's family or peers or friends really struggle to know how to support this woman.

And I hope through my talk here that we can start to close that gap in education and awareness,

Giving women the opportunity to recognize what it is that what they're going through and why they're going through it,

And then have the confidence to start the conversation and be open and safe to recognize and talk about what support they need.

So let's recap what I've shared for you.

Menopause is one day.

It is perimenopause that is the lead up to that one day.

It's important to recognize and understand the evolution to menopause.

We don't just get there.

We get there from our very first monthly menstrual cycle.

And it's those declining hormones that gets the ball rolling.

Once again,

Menopause is inevitable and natural.

It is not a medical condition.

There are over 35 symptoms and menopause impacts every one.

And the way forward is to be educated and aware of it.

And then finally,

A self-care five pillars approach provides a great basis to support you to thrive in menopause,

But also give you the tools to choose and decide how it is that you want to feel and experience this pivotal life phase.

Thank you for listening.

I hope this talk has given you some great insights into menopause and the fact that you can decide and choose what this phase of life looks and feels like to you.

It starts with these very basic information,

But critical information.

Thank you again.

Reviews

Thank you. I found that talk to be very informative. There really should be more education available for girls and women. There are so few GPs around with a good understanding of the menopause.

Great talk. Love the insight that menopause is just one day.