Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, menopause will happen, and it’s not for sissies. Your best option is to know how your body and your life may change. Then find out how other women deal successfully with this stage in life. Here are four tips for navigating menopause that might make your journey smooth sailing.
1. Fend Off Infections
The vagina has a delicate pH balance inhabited by good bacteria called “flora.” Estrogen helps maintain the growth of healthy flora, but production of this hormone wanes during menopause. As a result, the vagina becomes more acidic, killing good bacteria and opening the door to bad ones.
Urinary tract and yeast infections, as well as bacterial vaginosis, are common conditions linked to menopause. That’s because the vagina relies on a healthy pH balance to keep them away. You will need to take steps to maintain that balance despite the changes in hormone production that affect it.
Adding a UTI Supplement to your daily regimen can help you manage chronic UTIs. It contains a highly concentrated form of cranberries that inhibits bacteria’s ability to attach to the urinary tract wall. This can help you avoid the need to take antibiotics, which wipe out both good and bad bacteria indiscriminately.
The frequency of uncomfortable yeast infections may increase if you choose hormone replacement therapy during menopause. To help keep vaginal flora healthy, wear breathable underwear and avoid douches or any products with perfumes used in that area. And for good measure, work a lactobacilli probiotic into your routine to replace healthy bacteria.
2. Keep Your Cool
Hot flashes are a notorious symptom of menopause. Although there’s ongoing research into what causes them, conventional wisdom links the lack of estrogen to the performance of the hypothalamus. That’s the part of the brain that controls body temperature.
How intense they are, their length, and their frequency vary from woman to woman. But in any case, hot flashes and night sweats are uncomfortable, inconvenient, and even embarrassing. You may not be able to stop them, but you may find ways to mitigate them.
One way is to stop being embarrassed by these natural phenomena. That hot rush of humiliation will only raise your body temp higher. Pour a glass of cool water and try to sit it out instead. Sleep with a fan blowing across you in bed to rest more comfortably. And get more exercise, because the better shape you’re in, the less intense they tend to be.
Eschew synthetic fabrics for natural ones by choosing cottons, linens, and silks for underwear, clothing, and bed sheets. These breathable fabrics will help you keep your cool. And when you’re dressed in them, layer up. That way, you can start removing layers when things get hot.
3. Balance the Scales
Although your metabolism doesn’t come to a complete halt during menopause, you may feel like it has. Weight gain and fat storage are common occurrences. And once it goes on, it’s really tough to lose it.
It’s a fact that you aren’t burning fat as fast as you used to. The extra pounds you gain can pack a mean punch to your health. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more. Menopause should be a stage in your life, not the end of it.
Heading into menopause while losing or maintaining weight is ideal, since it will be harder to take it off later. Even if you’re as active at 50 as you were at 30, you need to consume fewer calories. That’s because you aren’t metabolizing them as effectively.
There are studies that have shown a link between calories consumed and aging well. This holds true for men as well as women. But the hormonal changes women experience in menopause simply make it a steeper hill to climb, but not an impossible one.
4. Build Mass
There is a relationship between low muscle mass and high blood sugar. It doesn’t matter whether you’re heavy or thin, toned or fat. That muscle is what helps keep your glucose at a healthy level.
Menopausal estrogen decline increases the mass of visceral fat you accumulate around your midsection. But it decreases muscle mass, bone density, and strength. To build those back, you’ll need to tackle some strength training.
Lunges, squats, pushups, weightlifting, and resistance bands are all great ways to compensate for what you’re losing. Plan on working this type of weight-bearing training into your schedule at least two or three days a week. That’s in addition to regular aerobic exercise that’s keeping your aging cardiovascular system in good form.
There’s another reason to work on strength as you enter menopause. Women tend to lack upper body strength, so if you fall, you might not have the power to get back on your feet. Plus, better strength helps your balance and agility. Lose fat, build muscle and bone density, and you’ll be in good shape.
Travel Smoothly
Menopause can be a bumpy ride for many women. Preparation, resolve, and a sharp focus on what’s happening to your body will help make the path smoother and healthier. Menopause may be unavoidable. But how you navigate your way through it is up to you.