Going through menopause can impact women in different ways, and coping with symptoms can be incredibly frustrating – even debilitating for some. And despite World Menopause Awareness Month kicking off this week, this stage of life can come as a surprise for many women.
I started noticing signs of perimenopause about six months ago – shortly after my 45th birthday, although, it’s tricky knowing exactly when because the symptoms are so far reaching and not always obvious. There are common indicators: hot flushes, night sweats, irregular periods, bloating, weight gain and mood swings, but also lesser known signs such as headaches, itchy skin, memory loss, muscle pain, joint stiffness, depression and reduced libido.
I was suffering from a mixture of both well known signs; hot flushes, low mood, bloating and weight gain, and other symptoms that I didn’t immediately recognise as connected to menopause, such as itchy scalp and skin, sensitive breasts, sore hips and knees, fatigue, blotchy skin, painful gums and brain fog. It took a while to figure out that I was perimenopausal, and for a couple of months I just thought I’d have to live with the symptoms, which are largely caused by the fluctuations of the sex hormone, oestrogen, during perimenopause, and the huge drop in oestrogen after menopause.
But after a few weeks of feeling like a completely different person to my usually motivated, healthy and focused self, I decided to try and tackle some of my symptoms. I’m a personal trainer, qualified PN1 nutrition coach and I have a good understanding of how the female body functions, so I decided to do some research and speak to the experts. As a result, I made some simple lifestyle changes. Three months on, these tweaks have reduced, or in some cases completely alleviated, some of my symptoms. These changes have worked for me, but as women’s bodies are so unique, they may not help everyone. Here’s what I did…
Adding a probiotic and increasing my prebiotic foods
A growing amount of research links gut health to menopause symptoms, with a recent study by science and nutrition company Zoe, which analysed over 70,000 peri and postmenopausal women, finding that a healthy diet and good gut health is associated with a reduced likelihood of experiencing menopause symptoms.
This is largely due to changes that occur in the gut during menopause and its role in oestrogen regulation. “The gut microbiome, which is made up of trillions of microscopic organisms called microbes, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, plays a role in the metabolism and circulation levels of oestrogen,” explains Katie Ward, gut specialist and managing director at Microbz, whose soil-based Women probiotic is designed with hormonal changes in mind. “Reversely, the amount of oestrogen being produced by the ovaries can impact the make-up of the gut microbiome, and with the gut also being linked to the brain, a healthy microbiome could help reduce all sorts of menopause symptoms, from bloating, gas and constipation to fatigue, hot flushes, weight gain, lowered libido and mood swings.”
For me, the easiest and quickest way to support my gut microbiome has been to cut out as many ultra-processed foods as possible, and by introducing a daily women-specific probiotic, which has helped increase the amount, and variety, of my good microbes. To keep these microbes healthy you need prebiotic foods, so I have increased the amount of berries, bananas, apples, flaxseeds, oats and nuts I’m eating – all of these foods also help boost oestrogen levels. These changes have almost alleviated my bloating and itchy skin and helped hugely with fatigue and brain fog.
Tweaking my sugar and alcohol intake
Refined sugar can cause mood swings, weight gain, bad skin, gum problems, brain fog, fatigue, hormone imbalance and also negatively effect the gut microbiome – all of which are linked to menopause symptoms. The Zoe study also found that pre-menopausal women tend to eat “more sugary foods, mostly in the form of sweets and desserts” which has definitely been the case for me. I had gone from rarely eating sugary foods to craving desserts after every meal.
