Although women have been going through the menopause for centuries we still don’t know a lot about it and to this day it remains a mystery to practically all men and most women until they are confronted by it in their late forties!
“The Change”, “The Climacteric”, “That Time of Life” are all other names for the menopause, and it usually occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55. The average age in the UK is 51, however women can experience premature menopause in their 30s or younger. For those who don’t know, the menopause (or rather the perimenopause) is the time which leads up to the end of a woman’s periods and can be extremely uncomfortable, scary and confusing no matter how prepared you are. You’ve heard about hot flushes, but what other symptoms do women experience when the hit the menopause? Obviously, the experience is different for all women, but symptoms include: night sweats, anxiety, low mood, insomnia, reduced libido, weight gain, panic attacks and body shape changes to name a few.
Did you know that hypnotherapy can actually help to control some or all of these symptoms and through one or more hypnotherapy sessions with a trained hypnotherapist you can experience a lot of help with any number of issues caused by the menopause? A recent study by Gary Elkins Ph.D. of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory at Baylor University found that hypnosis actually reduced hot flushes in 80% of women involved in the study. It was also found that participants in the study experienced improved quality of life and an easing of anxiety and depression.
So, whether it’s body confidence issues caused by the menopause that lead to low libido, or insomnia caused by the menopause, hypnotherapy could help you to reframe the thoughts and feelings associated with these issues and ultimately, find a way to cope with these unpleasant symptoms. It’s not just about the physical symptoms of the menopause either, hypnotherapy can actually help you to deal with the mental and psychological changes associated with your periods stopping such as anxiety, depression and any number of other problems.
Aside from hypnotherapy, women undergoing the menopause may also find activities such as yoga, homeopathy, reflexology and aromatherapy helpful in reducing their symptoms, as well as Hormone Replacement Therapy (also known as HRT) which simply replaces the hormone oestrogen that is lost during the menopause.
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