- Fuel your body with balanced nutrition and avoid trigger foods. Eating a healthy diet with lots of fruit and vegetables can make you feel full, which contributes to preventing weight gain. Fruits and vegetables may also help prevent heart disease and other diseases, which become more prevalent after menopause. Calcium-rich foods help keep your bones strong. In addition to dairy products, green, leafy vegetables like kale, collard greens, and spinach have a good amount of calcium.
- Make movement a daily practice. The research on exercise’s ability to lessen menopause symptoms is not definitive. A recent study of 300 women in Poland found that the women who were highly or moderately physically active had lessened menopause symptoms compared with women who didn’t exercise. Many studies have found that regularly being physically active is associated with better overall health and protection against several diseases, including heart disease, and may lessen depression.
- Maintain a healthy weight. This is a tough one for many women, as perimenopause and post menopause are often associated with weight gain, partly from hormonal changes and partly due to aging and lifestyle changes. One large study found that women who lost 10 pounds or 10 percent of their body weight significantly reduced their vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats). Rather than focusing on fast weight loss or fad diets, focus on healthy habits. The Mediterranean diet, low carb diets, and vegan or vegetarian diets show promise for weight loss or preventing weight gain during menopause.
- Mind your stress levels Reducing stress and increasing your skills for dealing with stress have been shown to improve sleep, which is a huge factor in managing anxiety, depression, and mood changes, as well as the brain fog that sometimes is a menopause symptom. Yoga, meditation, journal writing, massage therapy, and walking outside in nature, even in a city park, can all contribute to managing and reducing stress. Antidepressant medications can be prescribed for anxiety and depression both before and after menopause.
- Get creative with your lifestyle—starting with a few of our favorite tips. If you smoke, quitting may help reduce hot flashes as well as improve your overall health. Some solutions to hot flashes are as simple as dressing in layers, so you can add or remove based on your body temperature, and using light, sweat-wicking sheets and bed covers to help you keep from overheating in the night. Some women find it helps to carry a small battery-operated fan or a hand-held fan to cool off when needed.
- So, when is it over? Menopause is a point in time when you have gone 12 months without a period. If you go 11 months and then have a period, the count starts again. Post menopause, symptoms typically last for four or five years after your last period, but lessen in severity. Â Â
