What Is Menopause?

Soothing Moves for the Menopause Blues

Yoga to the rescue

These exercises from Mary Beth Janssen, author of Rejuvenation: Spa Secrets for Menopause, will help you relax—and may even help keep hot flashes at bay.

Bridge

The Bridge

Lie down on a mat with your knees bent and your feet flat, placed hip-width apart and close to your butt. Your arms should be by your sides. Relax and focus on your breathing. As you let your body sink into the mat, feel your back lengthen and release. Firm your butt and draw your tailbone toward your heels to protect your lower back. Pressing your feet into the mat, slowly lift your spine upward as you inhale, raising your pelvis as high as is comfortable. Keep breathing smoothly. You may stay in this pose for a few breaths or longer, if desired. When you feel ready, exhale and slowly roll back down.

Downward-Facing Dog

Downward-Facing Dog

Kneel on all fours. Knees should be underneath hip­bones, and hands, with fingers spread, should be one-hand’s distance forward of shoulders. On an exhale, lift your butt toward the ceiling, pressing into the floor through your hands. (It’s OK if your heels don’t reach the floor.) Let your head hang between your arms. Breathe smoothly and naturally for several breaths. Release your body back down to all fours. Sit back on your heels, while lowering your torso and head to the floor. Rest in this position for several breaths.

Healing Breath

Sit in a relaxed position. Keeping your shoulders down, inhale through nostrils into lowest part of lungs, and watch your belly moving outward. Exhale completely before the next inhale. Repeat 10 times

Upward-Facing Dog

Lie face down with feet hip-width apart and the tops of your feet pressing into the mat. Place hands, with fingers spread, on either side of your chest, keeping elbows close to your body. Draw tailbone toward heels to protect lower back. Inhale and lift torso and hips off the floor, straightening arms. Keep shoulders drawn down and back. Look forward, keeping neck long and relaxed. Press down through your hands as you keep your body lifting away from the floor. Breathe. On an exhalation, lower your body to the floor. Place your arms by your sides and turn your head to the right for a couple of breaths; repeat with your head turned left.

What Is Menopause?

Menopause
Menopause is simply the name given to the last menstrual period, but for most women it means much more than this.

It is the cycle in a woman’s life when her ovaries stop producing eggs, when her periods begin to stop and when her hormone levels change. Menopause is something that typically happens between the ages of 47 and 53. It means hot flushes, no more periods, an end to a woman’s reproductive years – and is a natural part of her life, which for a women in her teens, 20’s, 30’s and early 40’s, should be far in the future.

Premature Menopause
Early menopause, premature menopause and/or premature ovarian failure are terms that are often used to describe the same condition, whatever the cause.

Age is the key factor, as early or premature menopause is typically used to mean menopause that comes well before the average age of normal menopause — when you’re still in your teens, 20s, 30s, or early 40s. Simply put, it means that the ovaries aren’t working properly. They stop producing eggs years, and in some cases even decades, before they should. This condition affects one per cent of women. Approximately one in every 100 women under the age of 40, one in 1,000 women under 30 and one in 10,000 under 20 experience this condition. In Britain 110,000 women between the ages of 12 and 40 are experiencing premature menopause. Early menopause affects 15% before the age of 45 affects 15% of the population.

Premature Ovarian Failure
Menopause And Climacteric
The term menopause is often used incorrectly. As explained earlier, menopause means your last menstrual period. Climacteric more accurately describes the gradual changes and symptoms which occur as the production of hormones and ovarian function diminishes. The process whereby periods stop is a gradual one, in most cases, and is a long process of changes akin to puberty.

Premenopause
This is the stage where your periods are still regular but the first symptoms such as night sweats and mood swings may occur. However, sometimes it is used to mean the years of your life when your periods are regular and you are fertile. So make sure you know which meaning the word has in the context you are reading it or being told about it.

Perimenopause
Premature menopause is not to be confused with perimenopause. Perimenopause lasts several years on either side of your last menstrual period. Vague symptoms you may not have connected may become significant when viewed as part of perimenopause. It is during this time that you notice the most physical changes, when your periods may become irregular and hot flushes and night sweats may start. During this stage you are still fertile and may conceive although the chances of getting pregnant are often negligible. Perimenopause is the time during which your ovarian hormones start to change and your egg production is significantly reduced. One of the key indicators of this change is the rise of the Follicle Stimulating Hormone levels – see Hormones .

Postmenopause
This term describes the time from after your last menstrual period to the end of your life.