Menopause Wellness

What is Menopause?

Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a woman's reproductive years. Anyone who was born with ovaries will experience this process, regardless of their gender identity.

Menopause is marked by a decrease in the production of the reproductive hormones, estrogen and progesterone. This hormonal change can lead to a variety of physical and emotional symptoms, including hot flashes, mood swings, anxiety, brain fog, vaginal dryness, and sleep disturbances.

Menopause can be quite challenging, but there are many ways to manage its symptoms and maintain good health during this transition. This is an experience that all women, or those born with an ovarian system, go through. For many of us, about 40% of our lives will be spent in menopause, so it's crucial to empower ourselves by actively taking responsibility for how we navigate this significant life stage.

A key first step is to understand what menopause truly is. It's also important to consider how we use the term, "menopause", in everyday conversation compared to its medical definition, as this discrepancy can lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

Perimenopause, Menopause & Post-menopause Defined...

Menopause - medical definition

Menopause is clinically defined as occurring exactly twelve months after your last period; this marks the anniversary of your final menstruation. Unfortunately, having a period at any time within that year restarts the twelve-month countdown.

Premenopause

This phase encompasses the reproductive period, from puberty to the onset of perimenopause. Typically, menstrual cycles during this time are quite regular, so it's beneficial to track your cycle to establish your 'normal'.

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the transitional phase during which you experience menopausal symptoms while still having menstrual periods. During this time, your periods may become irregular as your reproductive hormones fluctuate and decline. You might notice changes in the duration of your periods, irregular timing between them, variations in flow (either heavier or lighter), and fluctuations in pain levels.

Perimenopause can begin anywhere between the mid-thirties and mid-fifties, with the average starting age being around forty-seven. This phase typically lasts between four to eight years, although it can extend much longer.

There are two stages of perimenopause:

Early Perimenopause: In this stage, the length of your menstrual cycle is consistently seven days or longer compared to usual, meaning your period may arrive about a week later than expected. This can be challenging to recognize, especially if your cycles have previously been unpredictable.
Late Perimenopause: At this stage, the gap between your periods may extend to at least sixty days or more.

Perimenopause officially ends when you have not had a period for a full year. At that point, you have reached menopause.

Post-menopause

You enter the post-menopause stage after twelve consecutive months without a period.

Why Menopause Wellness?

Menopause can impact women's mental and physical health, both during the transition and later on in life as it is still very much a taboo topic for many, and we often suffer in silence.

In her book Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause, Dr Louise Newson suggests that we redefine it as "what it actually is: a long-term hormone deficiency, which with the right support, treatments and lifestyle changes, can be managed so that the symptoms and, more importantly, women's future health, improves."

It's the difference between struggling and enduring life or taking ownership of our bodies and menopause journey; proactively taking charge and doing what we can to make this impactful experience in our lives as positive as possible.

Feeling good

So, taking care of our overall health and wellbeing, whether it's physical, mental or emotional, is vital!

Whether it is managing symptoms, or providing the foundations of good health, nutrition, stress management, traditional hormone therapy, alternative treatments along with other holistic approaches are among some of the strategies, practices and lifestyle choices that can support and promote your menopause wellness during your menopause journey and beyond.

As a Menopause Wellness Practitioner....

My purpose is to provide you with a supportive and safe space to help you navigate perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause.

Learn more about how and why I became a Menopause Wellness Practitioner.

How I will work with you

I cannot emphasize enough that you are the expert on how you feel and your body! My role is to act as your support and guide; working together in partnership with you. My aim is to help you find what works best for you at whatever stage of the menopause you are at.

This is so important because we are all very different individuals and will experience our menopause journey in very different ways from one another. Your experience of menopause will be different from others (and mine) and what works for you won't necessarily work for another. Even through the different stages of the menopause process, what may be effective in managing symptoms at one stage, may not be at another.

To find out more about the Menopause Wellness Program, click on the link below.

Explore the Menopause Wellness Program