Breathing from the belly
The basic principle of all breathing exercises is to use your diaphragm, rather than the top of your chest as we tend to do when we are anxious or stressed. Three trials have shown that this type of breathing ca reduce frequency of hot flushes by about 50%. Breathing in this way works best at the start of a hot flush. Breathing from the diaphragm is part of many health systems such as yoga and the martial arts.
Menopause Management
Eat oily fish every day
Firstly, these will help you with skeletal health in light of what is mentioned above. However, the omega-3 fatty acids can help with hot flushes too. Omega-3 is metabolized into several different communication compounds in the body, including a group of chemicals called prostaglandins. One of the roles that these chemicals play is to regulate the circulatory system, and they may well help to reduce excessive dilation of the blood vessels, which leads to the flushing sensation. The omega-3 fatty acids are also incredibly useful for elevating mood and easing the symptoms of depression and anxiety, so can be a powerful tool if you find that the menopause is affecting your moods.
Exercise
According to a 2003 study conducted at Lund University in Sweden, if you stay active, you can reduce the impact of menopausal symptoms. Researchers interviewed nearly 4,500 women 58 to 68 years old about their socio-demographic, lifestyle and current health conditions. They found that women who did more vigorous exercise were less likely to suffer from hot flushes. Exercise also has profound effects on keeping your bones strong and protecting you from osteoporosis.
Some helpful herbs
Most promising of the herbs used to treat the symptoms of menopause is black cohosh, which can help reduce hot flushes, sweating, insomnia and anxiety. Another "hot" herb for hot flushes is dong quai (Angelica sinensis). A study of post menopausal women in 2003 showed an 80% reduction in hot flushes after one month of taking dong quai and chamomile instead of HRT.
St John's wort, a herb known for its anti-depressant effects, has been demonstrated to relieve other menopausal symptoms, including headaches, palpitations, lack of concentration and decreased libido. A combination of black cohosh and St John's wort (300mg a day) can be particularly effective for women who are experiencing menopausal-related depression, irritability and fatigue.
Increase bone-building nutrients.
One of the big issues that arises from oestrogen decline is a loss of bone density, so it is vital to supply your body with the nutrients it needs to maintain bone density. While everyone focuses on calcium, it is actually rather difficult not to get enough calcium in your daily diet, unless you have a very unusual diet. Taking in yet more calcium could actually be harmful to the kidneys and even the heart in the long term. I like to use the analogy of bricks on a building site. While the bricks are indeed the structural material that everything is made out of, without a team of builders, nothing will happen. The bricks will just sit there. The same applies to bone health. We need to focus on the nutrients that are involved in the absorption, transport and utilisation of calcium (the big ones are vitamin D and magnesium) while of course keeping calcium rich foods coming in too. This way you not only provide the nutrients that make up the structural material of the skeleton, you also supply what it needs to do its work.
The menopause comes about when the ovaries stop working properly and the levels of hormones they normally release begin to fluctuate as they become less effective as each cycle continues. When this happens, the brain starts to release other hormones that usually activate certain processes within the ovaries in an attempt to resuscitate them. The effect of these hormones, plus a drop in hormones like oestrogen that would normally be released by the ovaries, causes chaos in the body, and many symptoms arise from this.
Control blood Sugar
Two major issues in menopause are mood swings and bouts of low energy. While hormonal changes are responsible, a few simple dietary changes can help to take the edge off them. The key is following a low GI diet. This means eating foods that release their energy very slowly and steadily, drip-feeding the blood sugar and keeping it nicely even and stable. Foods such as whole grains, lightly cooked vegetables, lean proteins and dairy products are top of the list, and refined carbohydrates like white bread, white rice and white pasta are banned! To take this a stage further, try to ensure that you have a good-quality protein and good-quality carbohydrate together at each meal. When you combine ingredients in this way, the meal will take longer to digest, longer to release its energy, and be much more gentle on your blood sugar levels.
Sources: Food is better medicine than drugs - Patrick Holford and The Medicinal Chef - Dale Pinnock
Eat foods rich in phyto-oestrogens.
These are naturally occurring plant chemicals that are very similar in shape to the body's own oestrogen. As such, these compounds can bind to cells in tissues that are responsive to oestrogen. Some of the symptoms that arise in the menopause are caused by the fact that these tissues have suddenly had their oestrogen supply cut off so they go crazy like a kid that has been denied sweets. It is thought that phyto-oestrogens deliver their effect because they can bind to the receptors that are crying out for oestrogen. This fools them into thinking that there is adequate oestrogen present and stops them making such a fuss.