Hypnosis is extremely effective in reducing and eliminating many of the symptoms associated with menopause.
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What is menopause?
Menopause is a universal and natural biological process for all women, signifying the end of their fertile years.
The timing of menopause and menopausal symptoms are beyond every woman’s control. Menopause can’t be stopped, yet if armed with the right knowledge, every woman can take action to lessen the impact of the symptoms and optimise their menopause journey for the long haul.
Menopause symptoms are thought to be generated, at least in part, by deficiency of the ovarian hormones oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
Understanding the symptoms of menopause is important, yet not every woman will get every symptom. Most symptoms of menopause relate to oestrogen deficiency, but some are linked to low progesterone and testosterone. Recent research suggests that some brain hormones, secreted by the hypothalamus gland may also play a major part in menopausal symptoms, including hot flushes.
Common symptoms
Approximately 70 – 80% of women will experience menopausal symptoms. The severity and duration of symptoms is variable, usually ranging from two to ten years (with the average being seven years).
Erratic periods
Some women can have erratic periods for years before they finally stop altogether, while for other women, their periods can stop overnight. It’s not uncommon to miss a few periods and from this, it’s not unusual for the lady to think she’s done, and then have a heavy period or two before they fizzle out again.
Hot flushes and sweats
These are the symptoms most people identify with menopause. Some ladies will have sweating episodes day and night. Some will experience a heat or flushing sensation. Some ladies will not be bothered by the presence of sweats when they occur, but the ‘drenching night sweats’ are unpleasant for many ladies and can disrupt sleep. Hot sweats and flushes are often followed by a sense of feeling the chills and can be accompanied by palpitations and anxiety.
Sleep disruption
It’s common for ladies to experience sleep problems during menopause, but sleep difficulty is not only due to menopause. As hormone levels decline during menopause, many ladies experience some degree of sleep disruption. Oestrogen does promote healthy sleep – it helps the body use serotonin and other neurochemicals that assist sleep. If oestrogen is low, it’s important to address other factors that disrupt serotonin, such as chronic stress, poor diet and heavy alcohol intake, etc. Serotonin depletion also negatively affects mood and can impact melatonin (the circadian rhythm hormone that regulates the sleep cycle). Low progesterone can bring about anxiety and restlessness and therefore, trouble sleeping. Other menopausal symptoms such as night sweats, palpitations and anxiety can also contribute to disrupted sleep.
Brain fog
Symptoms range from mild memory issues to more severe memory and attention issues, as well as difficulty focusing and concentrating.
Fatigue
Fatigue can be triggered and driven by many different factors. In menopause, there are a multitude of potential triggers for fatigue, particularly for ladies today. Examples of factors that can trigger or worsen fatigue in menopause include:
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Changes in mood
Low oestrogen can be a trigger for low mood, but there are many other factors that can contribute to a lady’s mood, for example, historic and ongoing stress, major life events, genetic factors and previous history of depression or trauma.
Joint and muscle aches
Muscle and joint aches often trigger an instinctive response to do less physical activity and movement. This is the wrong response because exercise and movement strengthens muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones ands exercise can actually counteract and balance the effect of low oestrogen.
The Menopause House
Lifestyle tweaks work because they are small changes in many systems of the body, rather than large changes.
Imagine menopause wellbeing as a house in winter with the heating on, but all of the windows are open so the heat (the energy) is escaping. Each window losing energy represents each of the systems in the body that contribute to a person’s overall wellbeing and energy levels. If a lady closes one window she can’t expect the house to get warm when all the others are still open. However, it’s also important that they don’t give up too early, and take the time to close each of the windows.
