What are holistic approaches to managing your menopause symptoms?
Let’s talk about it.
As an intuitive integrative nurse practitioner, I am all about practicing holistic health care. Holistic health care means we’re taking care of your physical, mental, spiritual, health, and often means integrating therapies. So you’re not just using pharmaceuticals. You’re using nutraceuticals and making healthy lifestyle changes to help keep your body in balance.
Menopause is the ultimate hypothalamic dysfunction.
The symptoms of menopause – hot flashes, brain fog, nights sweats, irritability, lack of libido – all are caused by hypothalamic dysfunction. And the hypothalamus gets unbalanced and dysfunctional when your hormones start to deplete.
So how can you help your hypothalamus work better?
Most women will be able to support themselves hormonally through the change of life with their adrenal hormones. Except if you’ve had a high-stress life and your adrenals are pretty pooped out, they can’t support you – so you have really aggravating menopausal symptoms.
If you’re supporting your hypothalamus nutraceutically with Genesis Gold®, you’re also supporting optimal adrenal function which helps to provide your body with missing sex steroids. Adrenal hormones like DHEA can be converted into testosterone and estrogen. And the adrenals make up about 5% of your progesterone.
Nutraceutical support for your hypothalamus with Genesis Gold® is one of the key approaches to holistically managing your menopause symptoms.
Another is feeding your body nourishing foods.
The standard American diet with lots of trans fat and sugar causes hypothalamic inflammation which worsens menopausal symptoms. It’s super important that you feed your body a plant-based diet.
I love the Mediterranean diet because it’s easy to follow, plant-based, provides the menopausal body with enough protein to maintain lean body mass and includes healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids in the form of olive oil, nuts and seeds plus lots of phytonutrients with a colorful variety of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains.
The third holistic approach is activity.
Being sedentary will actually aggravate your menopausal symptoms. Exercise including aerobic and weight resistance is important to manage your menopausal symptoms. Exercise helps to reduce hypothalamic inflammation, which helps to mitigate menopausal symptoms.
Remember your hypothalamus is controlling your temperature, your sex drive, your stress response, your sleep and cognition so get your body moving.
Then consider how much sleep you’re getting.
I know sleep can be disrupted in menopause – you get up in the middle of night, you have to urinate, you’re hot and sweaty. Yet another reason to support your hypothalamus nutraceutically to deepen and lengthen your sleep cycles. Be sure you’re turning off the lights and sleeping in the complete dark. Do not expose yourself to blue light from digital screens after dusk. Be sure the temperature of your bedroom is between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then if you’ve done all the first four steps – exercising, nourishing your body, sleeping, taking Genesis Gold®, maybe some extra Sacred Seven® amino acids if your symptoms are severe, and you’re still having aggravating menopausal symptoms then it’s time to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Naturally derived and chemically just like native estrogen and progesterone, BHRT can be a life saver in menopause. I prefer transdermal application to bypass the liver and not increase your clotting risk.
That’s why I developed Gen-Pro™ – a true transdermal liposomal bioidentical micronized progesterone. The same prescription-grade progesterone I used with my patients for 30 years is now available, over the counter. Gen-Pro™ has helped mitigate the symptoms of thousands of my menopausal patients.
If you have any questions about holistic approaches to menopausal symptoms please join us in our Hormone Reboot Training.
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