The Great Awakening--Menopause By: Dr. Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHPMenopause is a natural transition all women experience, as natural as adolescence. For your grandmother and great-grandmother, life expectancy was shorter. Reaching menopause often meant that their life was nearing an end. But this is no longer true. Today women are living longer—on average, until age 78. How you experience menopause is determined by many factors: attitude, diet, overall health, genetics, and your cultural group. Medical science views menopause as
state of your body after you had completed one full year without having a period. It is most definitely not a disease! By making wise decisions about your menopause and healthy lifestyle, you can make
most of
20, 30, or more years afterwards!
Attitude Many women report that they are glad to no longer have their monthly periods and all of
hormonal or just physical issues that accompanied their periods. They feel a freedom from having to be concerned about pregnancy and birth control. There is a sense of more energy, and a sense of freedom that comes without
biological drive to be mother, helper, and nurturer. Many women turn their attention to those things in life they have put aside. Some start new careers or businesses. Others take up creative pursuits like photography or painting, while others travel to places they have wanted to see. These women have a positive attitude.
Those women who dread menopause, see it as unnatural, or a sign of old age (and we all get old don’t we!), have more problems enjoying
transition during perimenopause. They report more symptom issues. Negative attitudes result in negative experiences.
Wake-up Call Everything is magnified, starting in your perimenopause, then continuing on as you make
transition into menopause. Issues you have not reconciled as a woman will surface for you to deal with. Perhaps long overdue lifestyle changes need to be made. Your body is very smart and it will start to purge any “stuffed” emotions. This means
body does not want to carry these negative thought patterns or habits inside anymore. If you have experienced trauma or hurtful experiences—the ones unresolved--they will come up. You will remember incidents you ignored or just could not deal with at
time. Maybe you did not have a safe space to work on them. This is
opportunity to let them go. If you understand this purge and welcome it, you will experience an easier transition.
Health issues that have been neglected will also wake-up. Be sure you get thorough check-ups and tests during this time, including dental, vision, heart health, as well as hormones. Health issues are serious to me. I have walked
path of being unhealthy and
path of health. I very definitely choose being healthy. We can implement preventative health. Diet, exercise, clean water, stress management, healthy environment, and no synthetic drugs go a long way in creating and keeping a healthy body.