1. Lead a healthier lifestyle

Menopause won’t affect your body so much if you are accustomed living healthy. Stop smoking for that would dry up your skin and affect many of your internal organs. Stay clear of alcohol as your body will have lower tolerance of it as you get older. The permissible alcohol limit for women is 40ml per week. This time usually also corresponds to the time when children are leaving home for higher education, hence you can pay more attention to yourself and get into a regular lifestyle.

2. Watch your diet

What you eat is who you are. Be sure that you eat lots of vitamin-rich foods that would put your body well in shape. During the menopausal stage, your body will require a diet that is high in fiber and calcium. Make sure to pile up your plate with naturally coloured foods to get all the nutrients.

3. Exercise

The best and the fastest way to keep your body in shape is still through regular exercise. The peri-menopausal stage will make your body feel tired more than usual. Counter that by living a more active lifestyle. Work out more often. Muscle aches and fatigue tend to go away with the daily flexing of bones and muscles. Have enough exposure of sunlight i.e. around 30 min per day between 10am-3pm, to get vitamin D into your bones.

4. Take hormonal pills

There are many pills available at drug stores and pharmacies that contain the women’s hormones progesterone and estrogen or derivatives of it. These pills are going to help greatly in countering the changes that your body is expected to go through. However, these medications can only be obtained with proper prescription so talk to your health provider about it.

5. Have a positive outlook of life after menopause:

Consider it as a life free of period and pregnancy worries instead of a time of lost youth. Yoga and meditation can be extremely beneficial to reduce hot flushes and to overcome dryness and weakness of the genital muscles.

HRT…Is it Advisable?

Menopause often signals lot of changes in the body, mind and psyche of a woman along with stoppage of monthly periods. Vaginal dryness, hot flushes, mood swings and depression are common but sometimes can be severe enough to disturb the day today life of a peri-menopausal lady.

For most women these symptoms are short lived and pass off in a few months with slight modification in lifestyle or after taking over the counter medications. Some women on the other hand find it extremely hard to adjust to the new phase of their life and may develop suicidal tendencies due to depression.

Hormone replacement therapy with traditional Estrogens and progestogens had fallen out of favour with women and doctors in the last decade due to its perceived increase in the risk of heart problems and breast cancer if a woman takes them for many years.

New more robust studies conducted on thousands of women have now concluded that low dose estrogens including creams and trans-dermal patches along with cyclical progestogens are safe, effective and reduce depression, anxiety, memory loss, suicidal thoughts and improve mental sharpness.

HRT is most beneficial if started early i.e. within a year or two after menopause or even before menopause has actually set in. It improves menopausal symptoms without increasing the risk of heart disease or breast cancer. These hormones were found to be safe and did not increase blood pressure or heart disease risk and some even increased the amount of good cholesterol in the body thus reducing harm to less than normal.

The very recent evidence suggests that women who have significant menopausal symptoms which are severe enough to interfere with her day-to-day living should visit and inquire their doctors about prescribing HRT. This may help improve their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

What is Peri- menopause?

Menopause is attained when a woman’s monthly periods stop for more than or equal to a duration of 12 months. All women undergo a peri-menopausal period which may last for 2-8 years before menopause actually happens. During this time, she will detect many changes in her body which happen because of fluctuations in the hormones produced by the ovaries.

Once menopause approaches, different symptoms can be observed like hot flashes, irregular periods, night sweats, vaginal dryness and difficulty in sleeping, among others. However, each woman has her own experiences. It’s very rare for two women to have exactly the same peri-menopausal issues.

Hot flashes, or extreme heat felt from the torso up, are usually felt along with reddening of the face, neck, and chest. Heavy sweating and rapid heartbeat are associated with it as well. This symptom is seen on at least three-fourths of all women who are going through menopause.

Night sweats are quite common too. Many women are bothered by this symptom a lot because it disrupts their sound and soulful sleep. Aside from excessive sweating, the feeling will be accompanied by headaches, nausea, flushing, chills, and irregular heartbeat.

Three to ten years before a woman’s menopause, irregular periods will be observed. This symptom comes out 90% of the time. A woman will note that the time between her period to be either much shorter or relatively longer than it used to be.

Vaginal dryness might be the common reason why women experience the loss of libido during their menopausal stage. This occurs among up to 40% of females and often times, it is the one most difficult to deal with. Many women, including with their partners, don’t understand why they suddenly have a much decreased need for intimate relations.

Some women on the other hand develop an increased sexual appetite due to a sudden increase in ovarian activity. It is important to continue to use a good contraceptive method during this time as an accidental pregnancy may occur.

For some women, peri-menopausal symptoms may occur as early as 15 years before the actual menopausal stage. As such, a woman may show all these symptoms during her mid 30’s. While these symptoms are generally accepted, they can be treated so as not to keep a woman from living the life that she wanted. Consult your doctor if you are troubled by any symptom so as to lead a healthy carefree life.

5 Tips for Weight Loss in Woman over 40

After 40 years of age, the hormonal level of a woman starts going down. And one of its many effects is slower metabolism leading to increased body weight. In order to successfully reduce your weight despite your increase age, the following tips may help you greatly:

1. Adjust your calorie consumption

The lower calories you add to your body after every meal, the lower work your body has to do to burn it. If you would like to lose around one pound each week, try to remove as much as 500 calories from your diet. But never cut out on vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients. Be sure to focus your diet on fruits, vegetables, and healthy meat choices.

It may be a good idea to have your basic metabolic rate (BMR) checked from a nutritionist. This gives an idea about how much you need to put in your stomach.

2. Drink a lot of water and fluids

If you can increase your water intake to more than just the usual eight glasses a day, do so. Water helps a lot in facilitating the many functions of the organs in your body. Drink a lot of fresh fruit juices as well so you can take advantage in the nutrients in those too.

3. Mix aerobic exercises with strength training

As you get older, increasing the body’s metabolism gets a lot trickier. At 40, aerobic exercises simply won’t suffice. You’ve got to do some strength training as well, but always with a knowledgeable trainer. Enlist at gyms with trainers who can personally assess how much weight you can handle at your age and physical condition.

4. Get more sleep

Sleep is a very crucial element in one’s health. Whether you’re or not trying to lose weight, you are advised to get at least eight hours’ worth of sleep everyday. Sleep aids in managing body weight because it makes your muscles relax. Bur more than that, two of the most important body’s hormones that control both satiety and hunger are regulated during sleep.

5. See your doctor

There’s no better person to consult when you’re 40 and obese than a health expert. Get professional health advice on what diet, exercise, and lifestyle you must lead in order to get to the weight that you wanted. Seeing a doctor regularly for this purpose will also help you keep your motivation.