Making Changes In Your Lifestyle Can Help With Menopause

Lifestyle changes what can you make to ease the symptoms and ward off any nasty side effects. Your body is going through a major adjustment and you can help it by:

Improving your diet

Get regular exercise and:

Stop smoking

Use the right contraception

It will also help if you talk about your feelings. Improving your diet is very important to think about. You need to do this for two reasons:

Making changes to your diet might help to reduce some of the symptoms of the menopause

Your diet can help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke all of which become more common after the menopause

Many women have found that what they eat can help to reduce some of the symptoms of the menopause. You might have heard about the 'menopause cake' which is rich in ingredients such as linseed and soy flour that have high levels of substances called phytoestrogens. The term 'phyto'� means plant and these substances are essentially plant versions of the female sex hormone estrogen. Research has shown that eating a diet rich in phytoestrogens can help to reduce hot flushes. A trial that compared daily supplements of 45 grams of soy flour with 45grams of wheat flour found that women who had added soy flour to their diet had a more rapid and continuous reduction in their hot flushes than the women consuming wheat flour. On average the soy flour group experienced a 40 per cent reduction in their hot flushes and the wheat flour group experienced a 25 per cent reduction. Much has yet to be explained and understood about these substances and research is continuing into the effects of phytoestrogens on health.  It's interesting to note that Japanese women, whose traditional diet is full of phytoestrogens, do not have a term for hot flushes and the symptom is virtually unknown there. 

Virtually everything we eat that comes from plants contains phytoestrogens. This includes grains, beans, nuts, seeds, seed oils, berries, fruits, vegetables, and roots. Particular foods that are high in phytoestrogens are:

Pulses (especially chick peas and lentils)

Soya beans

Cereals and grasses

Legumes (such as peas and beans)

Red clover

Citrus fruit

Linseed

Eating a healthy diet is more important than ever during and after the menopause. The drop in estrogen levels that happens at the menopause leaves women more at risk of osteoporosis (thin, fragile bones), heart disease and stroke. Eating healthily is vital in reducing your risk of developing these conditions. Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death in women aged 50 and over. To keep your heart and circulatory system healthy it is crucial to eat the right fats and to lower the intake of all fats. Diet can play a big part in preventing osteoporosis and keeping bones strong, calcium and vitamin D are the two main nutrients to think about.

Exercising regularly is good for the bones, heart and possibly of most importance to those women who feel they are going a little crazy during the menopause, it's also good for the mind. Stress appears to trigger hot flushes and other symptoms of the menopause for some women. Exercising regularly, whether it's badminton or a brisk walk, can help to reduce stress levels.

You are more at risk of the common condition of thin, fragile bones known as osteoporosis, during and after the menopause. You can exercise and strengthen your bones by doing regular exercise in which you carry your own weight, which means swimming and cycling are ruled out. Good bone building exercises include running, skipping, aerobics, tennis, even brisk walking. Try to exercise at least three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes. If you haven't exercised for a while, start gently. It's a good idea to check with your doctor if you have another health problem and are worried about exercising. Just 50 skips a day can increase bone density by a small but significant 4 per cent.



Exercise is key to a healthy cardiovascular system. Aerobic exercise (the kind that makes you warm, increases your breathing rate and makes your heart beat faster) helps to improve the 'electrical stability' of the heart, making heart attacks less likely. It strengthens the heart muscle and keeps the arteries elastic, both of which enable more oxygen to reach the brain, muscle and other tissues. Exercise lowers blood pressure, increases good cholesterol, and reduces 'bad' cholesterol.