There are many life style changes one can make to ease the symptoms of menopause without resorting to conventional or natural hormone replacement therapy. By changing the diet, becoming more active and using supplements and creams, menopause symptoms can be greatly reduced in most people.
Exercise
"Exercise is one of the best things women can do ahead of time in order to fare better during their menopausal years. Adopt a program of regular exercise-at least 30 minutes, five times a week. Exercise places stress on bone, increasing its density and strength.
Women's bones lose density after menopause happens at the rate of about 4 to
6 percent in the first four to five years. So the stronger they are to start
off with, the better. Experts suggest that weight-bearing activities such as
walking and running are best. Exercise also helps keep your cholesterol levels
down, offering protection against heart disease." Exercise is so effective at
regulating and balancing body function that the need for conventional or natural
hormone replacement therapy will diminish.
Yoga or stretching is great exercise for naturally alleviating menopausal symptoms. It.s weight bearing exercises are great for building up bone density, something that diminishes quickly after the onset of menopause. Yoga can help ease insomnia, depression, hot flashes, and mood swings by improving blood circulation, and increasing the levels of mood-regulating chemicals in the brain.
Learn to Relax
"In one six-week study of menopausal women, stress was associated with an increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of hot flashes in half of the participants. To combat stress and reduce the need for natural hormone replacement therapy meditation or a soothing tub soak are recommended. Yoga poses, meditation and breath control are also beneficial.
In one study, women who were experiencing frequent hot flashes were trained to slowly breathe in and out six to eight times for two minutes during each episode. They had fewer hot flashes than women trained to use either muscle relaxation or biofeedback."
One of the side effects of conventional or natural hormone replacement therapy may be mood swings, depression or anxiety. Learning to regulate mood and emotion naturally will prevent the need to seek treatments that carry such side effects.
Prevent Dryness
"The decrease in estrogen that women experience with menopause can cause vaginal dryness. The elasticity and size of the vagina changes, and the walls become thinner and lose their ability to become moist.
This can make sex painful or even undesirable. Vitamin E oil can be rubbed into the vaginal lining or bioidentical estrogen/progesterone creams. Do not use oil-based lubricants such as petroleum jelly. They don't dissolve as easily in the vagina and can therefore trigger vaginal infections." (www.holistic-online.com/Remedies/hrt/hrt_common_sense.htm)
Avoid natural hormone replacement therapy by changing your diet
Watching saturated fat is important because it helps reduced the risk of developing heart disease, which rises after menopause. Fat intake should make up no more than 25 percent of the diet with good, healthy fats comprising a majority of the fat intake.
Good fats include olive oil, essential fatty acids from cold water fish (salmon) and flax seeds. Oil from avocados and most nuts are also beneficial. Fats to avoid are hydrogenated oils and most vegetable oils. A diet high in good oil can add internal moisture to the body, and help alleviate the need for natural hormone replacement therapy to combat dryness.
Very natural hormone replacement therapy in the form of soy and flax
Soy foods like tofu, soybeans, soy flour and soy milk contain isoflavones, which replenish the body.s estrogen levels naturally, while decreasing the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. Isoflavones are plant phytoestrogens that not only regulate human estrogen activity, but may inhibit the production of cholesterol.
Other natural approaches to avoiding conventional or natural hormone replacement therapy
Increasing calcium intake helps slow the loss of bone mass, which starts at age 35 and begins to accelerate at menopause. Before menopause women should take 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily and increase that by 500 milligrams after menopause. Your complimentary alternative medicine provider will discuss with you the best forms of calcium and magnesium to ingest for the best absorption.
Avoid coffee and alcohol because they robs calcium from the body and worsen hot flashes by dilating blood vessels. Hot and spicy food can also induce hot flashes and should be minimized.
Taking 400 IU of vitamin E twice a day could also help with hot flashes. Doubling the dosage could help with intense heat flashes but check with your doctor first as vitamin E could also thin the blood.
Quitting smoking is a good idea for anyone, but for women experiencing menopausal symptoms it could make quite a difference. Not only does it increase risk for osteoporosis by lowering bone mass but it also may induce menopause earlier.
Drinking lots of water is useful for not only keeping hydrated but keeping body temperature in check and reducing hot flashes. Also staying sexually active will help combat the vaginal dryness and other sexual changes brought on by menopause. Like exercise, sex promotes blood circulation to the vaginal area and therefore helps it stay moist.
Most women turn to hormone therapy to manage the discomfort of menopausal symptoms. By just following some simple and healthy lifestyle changes could bring the need for conventional and natural hormone replacement therapy down as the body naturally regulates itself and menopausal symptoms are diminished naturally. These tips are the most natural hormone replacement therapy of them all.
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