Not everyone suffers post-menopausally. If a woman does, it’s usually as her body is learning to adapt to function on much lower levels of hormones, namely estrogen and progesterone. It’s almost as if her hormonal tide has gone out, and she’s left holding her surfboard and wondering where all the surf went.
Common post-menopausal symptoms include hot flushes, vaginal dryness, low moods, disturbed sleep, fatigue, a lower metabolic rate, decreased libido, thinning hair, a change in body fat distribution, and mental fuzziness.
If you are post-menopause, it can be helpful to nourish and support the organs in your body that continue to make new hormones post-menopausally (such as the adrenal glands) as well as the organ that supports the efficient elimination of the older hormones (liver).
When it comes to producing new sex hormones, once you are post menopause your ovaries have stopped producing these, and it’s primarily up to your adrenals. It’s also up to your adrenals to produce your stress hormones (no small feat in today’s busy world).
And when it comes to preparing hormones for elimination, your liver takes a prime role. An efficiently functioning liver is better able to support the elimination of hormones, minimising their recycling, and helping your body to adjust to its lower level of sex hormones.
So, doing all you can to support your adrenals and liver will help them to ease the suffering you may experience as a result of them being overworked!
The best ways to support yourself post menopause are:
- Restorative practices such as meditation, breath work, restorative yoga and Stillness Through Movement which help to activate the calm arm of the nervous system, decreasing stress hormone output.
- Explore your perception of pressure and urgency, and keep the “life or death” urgency for when it really matters, rather than everyday tasks.
- Support thyroid function by ensuring you’re getting enough dietary selenium, zinc and iodine. The thyroid is critical to us feeling energised and also for our metabolic rate and fat utilisation capabilities. Focus on including plenty of nutrient-rich whole foods.
- Support the adrenals – Support your adrenals as they are now the primary site of your sex hormone production.
- Make sure your liver is fully supported by reducing your ‘liver loaders’ and increasing your intake of nutrients the liver loves (think plenty of brassica and other green leafy vegetables), particularly if hot flushes are a challenging symptom for you.
