Are menopause symptoms hereditary? Are you going to suffer through menopause the same way your mother, grandmother, or female relatives did? Let’s talk about this topic so that you can know exactly what to expect and predict your menopause age.
Menopause symptoms do have a hereditary aspect to them.
Most likely you will got through menopause within a few years of your mother. And it is very likely that you will experience symptoms similar to those that your female relatives had. The hereditary aspect of how we experience menopause has to do with the fact that we usually have the same kind of estrogen and progesterone receptors as our female relatives.
For example, if your female relatives tend towards estrogen dominance, you may tend towards estrogen dominance. If your female relatives tend towards low progesterone levels, you may experience the same thing. This means that when you go through the change, starting in perimenopause and progressing through menopause, you may have similar symptoms as your mother or older sisters. So, if they really suffered badly from hot flashes and insomnia, you may as well.
However, it’s not that simple. This is because your lifestyle plays a factor in how you will experience menopause. Your lifestyle includes the way you handle stress, your diet, and your activity levels. As well as whether or not you decide to smoke or drink alcohol or expose yourself to lots of toxins.
When I ask my patients about their family history around menopause, they don’t always know. This means they won’t be able to predict their menopause age.
Oftentimes, their mothers and grandmothers didn’t talk about it. Women haven’t always been very open about the subject. A lot of my patients don’t really have any kind of barometer in terms of their female relatives going through the change. They can only make an educated guess about what might happen to them as they progress through menopause.
For me, my mother sought my advice through the change, so I had the advantage of knowing what to expect. The only questionable factor was that I didn’t live the same kind of lifestyle as my mom. I had a healthier diet all my adult life, while she was an emotional eater. I kept active and fit, and my mom didn’t. Because of this, I knew the change would be easier for me. Plus, I supported my hypothalamus with Genesis Gold® for ten years before I started going through the change.
If you come from a generation of women who chose to smoke and drink frequently, you may have totally different estrogen and progesterone receptors than they did. Especially if you’ve had a healthier lifestyle. While your DNA plays a part in how you will respond to your hormonal transitions like puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, it isn’t the only factor in the game.
I want you to think about your DNA like a deck of cards. Let’s say you’re dealt a bad hand – challenging DNA – but you also have a stack of cards that you can trade. These represent genes that may not be expressed when you’re born but can express themselves later in life, according to the lifestyle choices you make. It’s not necessarily what cards you’ve been dealt, but it’s how you play your hand. How you live your life can greatly influence your health and the ways you experience the change.
Oftentimes, we mimic our mother and grandmother because we were raised by them.
We eat the same way and have the same activity level, then, as a result, have the same expectations of how we’re going to go through menopause, and manifest it. We’re left wondering, is it hereditary or is it mind over matter? I think it’s a little bit of both. If your mom really suffered through menopause with her symptoms, then it’s really important that you focus on cleaning up your lifestyle — eating a nutritious plant-based diet, avoiding toxins, no smoking, and limiting your alcohol intake.
Make sure you’re consuming fatty fish or taking fish oil supplements so that you can improve your metabolism of estrogen. And most importantly, make sure you’re supporting your hypothalamus. Believe me, your mom did not have the opportunity to support her hypothalamus through the change, but you do.
Menopause can be a graceful transition if you choose to support your hypothalamus.
That’s why I created Genesis Gold®. In supporting your hypothalamus, these hormonal transitions will be as easy as possible. If you have any questions about your menopause symptoms, please join us in our Hormone Reboot Training, where you’ll get access to our hormones support group. It’s an amazing way to get your questions answered. I do regular Facebook Lives so that you can get all the answers you need.
Just remember, your lifestyle choices are way more important than your DNA when it comes to the kind of menopause symptoms that you’re going to have. And it’s never too late to start exercising, eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, changing the way you deal with stress, and supporting your hypothalamus. All so you can make menopause a breeze. You can change your heredity through the way you live your life and predict your menopause age.
Research Reference: Menopause and the Human Hypothalamus: Evidence for the Role of Kisspeptin/Neurokinin B Neurons in the Regulation of Estrogen Negative Feedback, Effects of Amino Acid Deficiency on Monoamines in the Lateral Hypothalamus (LH) in Rats, Hypothalamus Enlargement in Mood Disorders.
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