Perimenopause and Menopause
More than just hot flashes!
Many women think that this transition time is only about hormones, hot flashes, weight gain and not feeling like yourself. It is much more than that.
Post-menopausal women are often diagnosed with bone loss. This is because the hormones that are decreasing are the same hormones that help protect our bones from osteopenia or osteoporosis. This means the bones break down faster than our body can make new bone tissue. Bone loss can severely limit mobility as well as cause pain and disability. The good news is if prevented or treated early, a woman can have a much longer health span.
Most women don’t have heart problems until menopause. The scary thing is that after menopause, women are as likely to have cardiovascular disease as men. Those same hormones that protect our bones also protect our heart. Starting a personalized exercise and nutritional program along with good sleep, stress management and appropriate nutritional support goes a long way in protecting our heart.
Digestion issues is another thing many women struggle with during and after menopause. Often, it is because our body does not produce as much stomach acid as it used to. This makes it more difficult for our body to breakdown food and move it out of our stomach. Reflux often occurs not because we have too much acid in our stomachs, but because we don’t have enough. The lack of enough stomach acid also prevents us from absorbing important vitamins and minerals which our body needs to function properly.