Understanding Hormones in Menopause: What You Need to Know (Part 1)

Menopause & Hormones – A 3-part mini-program for your health.

When the word “hormones” is used, most people think of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. While those are very important hormones, the truth is that we have many hormones that regulate the functions in our bodies and interact with each other, making them more complicated than the average person would assume. 

Healthy hormones don’t just regulate your reproductive system – they also keep your adrenal, thyroid, liver, digestive and intestinal systems functioning. And they all have to function properly for optimal health. 

This 3-part blog series will outline a mini-program you can implement that will help you unravel the complexity of hormones, suggest lifestyle improvements to balance hormones naturally, and give you a food plan that helps support each type of hormone. The benefit is that it doesn’t matter if you’re seeing a naturopath, a medical doctor, or a nutrition professional; this program works in conjunction with any protocol you may be following. 

Menopause is a normal process, but the symptoms most associated with it aren’t. There isn’t a good, natural reason that any woman should experience unpleasant symptoms during this transitional period. 

Understanding how the body works and what is happening during this phase in your life can help you negotiate your way through the symptoms, and possibly even avoid them altogether.

Menopause is a time of transition. For many women, it can be an examination of the life they are leaving behind and a time of freedom as family responsibilities start to decrease. Ideally, it can also be a time for a woman to focus on herself and what she wants to do and achieve in the years to come.

Many women have mixed emotions when it comes to this stage of their life. They may feel a sense of loss or question whether they’re still attractive. Many women feel this change challenges their sense of femaleness. Nothing can be further from the truth. Fertility doesn’t define a woman. It’s merely a natural stage. When it ends, a new chapter begins.

It’s normal to feel this loss or less like the strong, attractive, powerful woman that you are. However, take this time to really think about you and who you are as a person. Challenge the notion that your femininity is tied to your fertility. It’s not. You are the beautiful, smart, vital person you have always been. Yes, your body has gone through some changes; life does that, but that doesn’t change your value to the world.

If anything, this may be the time that you accomplish the most because of the new freedoms you have. You have experience and a depth of knowledge that is superior to what you had when you were younger, and this can translate into amazing things. Many women choose to take on new challenges while others choose to focus on working on themselves. It doesn’t matter what you decide to do, as long as you treat this as a time of joy and adventure, embracing it as the wonderful time of life that it is.

The only thing that can stand in the way of your enjoyment of this time is the potential for unpleasant symptoms. After all, it’s hard to feel positive and amazing if you’re experiencing anxiety, mood swings, hot flashes, and fatigue every day. So, the key is to balance your hormones to support the systems that need to function well, and avoid those annoying symptoms. 

Let’s start by discussing what it looks like to have balanced hormones:

• Your periods may fluctuate or have ceased, but you feel normal.
• You have energy and feel calm and motivated.
• Your sex drive and libido are what you want them to be.
• You’re happy and content, and you look forward to the freedom this time of your life will provide.
• You feel a sense of excitement for new adventures.
• Most importantly, you feel like yourself physically, mentally and emotionally.

The Three Stages of Menopause:

Perimenopause: This is the time when women begin to notice changes in their monthly cycle and menstruation. It can start years before they actually go through the menopause phase. If they are estrogen dominant and/or experience high levels of stress, symptoms of menopause can start during this time. Stress can make symptoms worse.

Menopause: The start of menopause is marked by a drop in progesterone, followed by a drop in estrogen. Once menstruation has permanently stopped, menopause is over. If a woman is estrogen dominant, this initial stage is more pronounced, and symptoms can be more severe. The stress factor also makes symptoms worse. 

Post menopause: Once menstruation has stopped and the ovaries are no longer producing estrogen and progesterone, the adrenal glands must pick up the slack, producing a small amount of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone to cover a women’s needs for the rest of her life. Stress can interfere with this process, which is the biggest reason why women experience symptoms during this time.

What Happens When a Woman Has a Hysterectomy or Oophorectomy?

A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure that involves the removal of the uterus. In an oophorectomy, the ovaries are removed. Both scenarios cause menstruation to stop. This may seem like an easy way to avoid the symptoms of menopause but unfortunately, that isn’t how it works at all. Because these organs produce hormones, removing them alters the hormonal balance abruptly. And there are long-term consequences of having a hysterectomy including pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, bowel dysfunction, and issues with sexual function.

Most of these procedures are performed because of benign issues that are causing discomfort. However, the issues that lead a woman to have a hysterectomy are related to the hormones, usually estrogen dominance, which can possibly be corrected to avoid the surgery, with the right work and some time. 

After having one of these surgeries, many women still have excess estrogen in their system because it can be stored in fat cells, and many experience menopause symptoms. In addition, the adrenal glands may not be ready to fulfill their duty of protecting a woman with small levels of hormones, as they would have if she had gone through a normal menopause cycle. As always, stress can make this worse. So hysterectomy or oophorectomy are not reliable methods to avoid menopause.

Lifestyle changes to help balance hormones:

• Get enough sleep; 7 to 8 hours is ideal. Develop the habit of going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning. 10pm is a recommended time to turn in for the night. 
• Have a relaxing herbal tea such as chamomile, valerian, hops, passionflower, or a combination of these before bed. My favorite nighttime drink is hot water with freshly squeezed lemon. If you’re anxious or have an overactive mind, this can prevent you from going to sleep and sleeping well, so a relaxing tea may be helpful. 
• Drink plenty of non-chlorinated water. It helps flush out toxins and keeps the body hydrated. Just don’t drink with meals as this will dilute stomach acid and interfere with digestion. Spring water or carbon-filtered water is best. Water needs to have minerals, so avoid reverse osmosis or distilled water.
• Practise deep breathing. It helps lower cortisol and relaxes the nervous system. Deep breathing is a technique that can be used throughout the day to combat feelings of stress and anxiety. 
• Learn to do traditional meditation or mindful meditation – both work to lower cortisol and activate repair mechanisms in the body. This will be helpful for hormone health. 
• Exercise. Even if you simply go for a short walk every day. Movement – any movement – is the goal. If playing golf or going dancing is fun for you, then that’s what you should do to stay active. Exercise can help lower cortisol, improve moods, and reduce sleep issues (as long as you don’t exercise just before bedtime). Fresh air makes exercise even more beneficial. 
• Smile! Just the act of smiling increases serotonin, the natural anti-depression neurotransmitter in the brain. This works wonders – even if you force yourself to smile. 😉

My goal is to help you through menopause or any other health challenges. As a Registered Nutrition Therapist, I am dedicated to helping clients with their health journey. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at info@nancyleehall.com