and how you can treat them!!

If you are a woman between 35 and 55 years old, it is very likely you are going through perimenopause (road to menopause). Before you start worrying about getting old and all the changes that are coming your way, not all is bad news. Now is the time to be aware of these changes and start taking action to make these symptoms as light and manageable as possible.

The road to menopause, or perimenopause, can cause plenty of symptoms that you might not even be aware that are caused by these changes in our bodies. Often, they are not even taken seriously by many doctors, minimizing the importance and impact they may have in our daily lives.   

In this post, we will start by describing 3 common symptoms of perimenopause along with tips and actions you can take to prevent and treat them. 

1. Perimenopause Weight Gain/Abdominal Fat:

As we grow older, we may notice that what we used to do, no longer brings the same results. Suddenly, there is this extra love in our bellies that doesn’t seem to go away, no matter how many sit-ups and crunches we do. This new and extra belly fat seems to me stubborn. It turns out that as our bodies begin to change, we start producing less estrogen. This drop results in an increase of body fat, often accumulating in the abdominal region. 

The thing is, our bodies are changing, and so should our efforts to be healthy. This does not mean more hours in the gym or endless cardio routines and sit-ups, or more fad diets and starving seasons. In fact, it is no longer about quantity but more about quality and knowing exactly where to aim our efforts.

As we age, the reduction of estrogen leads to a reduction of muscles, which are key to burning fat. Therefore, the easy math is: WORK ON BUILDING MUSCLE. Working on a muscle building routine, two to three times a week, combined with a not so heavy cardio routine, will make a big difference in your results. Add a high protein diet with lots of fruits and veggies for better and faster results. 

Click HERE for a suggested program to follow, designed especially for women over 35. 

2. Lack of Sleep:

Over half of menopausal women say they have trouble sleeping. When you don’t sleep well, you’re tired, irritable, can’t focus, and may even affect your hunger making you starve all day. Some experts believe that poor sleep is the main challenge of menopause, and that it contributes to most other menopause and perimenopause symptoms (like weight gain). Therefore, it is very important to understand some of the reasons why many women have sleep problems and steps you can try to solve them. 

Here are 5 reasons women have trouble in their sleep:

• Hot Flushes / Night Sweats
• The urge to urinate
• Bloating / Acid Reflux
• Sleep Apnea
• Cravings

Many of these symptoms may get better with some simple health strategies, such as these:

1. Skip caffeine in the afternoon. As a stimulant, caffeine may have an important role in troubled sleep. From not being able to fall asleep to waking up during the night, caffeine could be the one to blame. It’s effect can last up to 12 hours. Try having your coffee during the morning and consciously reduce your intake after noon. If you find it difficult to stop your afternoon intake, try going for decaf options or slowing reducing your daily intake. Give it a try for some days and see how you feel. 
2. Avoid Alcohol before bed. Contrary to many beliefs, alcohol intake could make sleep worse. The classic evening wine may be responsible for suppressing your REM or dreaming sleep. As well as affect your vasomotor regulation, leading to hot flushes. Try avoiding as much as possible alcohol intake before going to bed and take note of how you sleep and feel the next day.
3. Meal timing. Try to create a predictable eating schedule to help your body prepare for food intake and work correctly though the digestive process. Aim to finish your last meal at least 2-3 hours before going to bed. 
4. Breathing Exercises. These exercises may help you relax, reduce stress, and fall asleep as soon as possible. Breathing exercises may also help you fall asleep faster after waking up during the night (because of hot flushes, anxiety, urination urge, etc).

For a suggested routine to learn to FALL ASLEEP FAST, click HERE. 

3. Urinary Incontinence:

This is a symptom that may or may not be related to perimenopause or menopause. Sometimes urinary incontinence may start after giving birth or only due to a weakened pelvic floor. That is why I cannot stress this enough: STRENGTHENING YOUR PELVIC FLOOR IS VERY IMPORTANTE FOR ALL WOMEN, no matter the age.

As was mentioned before, we start losing estrogen during perimenopause. This is a hormone that helps us preserve our muscles. Given this hormonal reduction, our bodies start losing muscle strength. It is of vital importance that we put in a little extra effort in building our muscle mass. Same thing happens to our pelvic floor. Our pelvic floor es full of important muscles that help us, not only sustain our reproductive organs, but is also in charge of controlling our urge to urinate. Therefore, continually working on your pelvic floor is a strategy that will always be recommended for a good and graceful aging process. And the sooner your start, the better (no matter the age).

For a workout program designed for PELVIC STRENGTH, click HERE!    

In Conclusion, you are in perimenopause…

In this post, I mentioned only three common perimenopause symptoms, but there are plenty more that we will continue to cover in future posts. Our main goal is to help women going through this important process and to be able to go through it in the most simple and natural ways as possible. Most of the times, small changes can lead to great results. 

Please let us know in the comments, if there are any topics that you would like to be covered in future posts. Remember we are in this together.

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