Menopause and the Mind-Body Connection

When many women first start the symptoms of menopause, they sometimes feel as if they are going crazy. This is really understandable, since the changing hormones in a woman’s body have a direct affect on her mental as well as her physical health. Let’s find out what ways the two are connected.



The fluctuations in hormones can cause many physical problems in a woman, but they also can trigger many emotional and mental changes as well. In some women these can be overwhelming, with sudden bouts of irritability and downright unstable mood swings! Not a good thing for anybody to go through, but when the physical symptoms start to kick in as well this only adds to the mix. Lack of sleep, night sweats, and weight gain round out the mix and in no time many women are mentally at their wits end.



In effect, perimenopause is almost like puberty in reverse, the hormones this time are decreasing and causing mental and emotional stress instead of increasing as they did when you were a teenager. This can affect not only mood but also sex drive as well. Some women will experience diminished sex drive, while others seemingly have the opposite experience. This can partly be explained by the knowledge that it is now much harder for a woman to get pregnant, although she still needs to be careful since an occasionally period will still leave the chance open. This can actually lead to a certain amount of panic in a woman, when her period is late she may think she is pregnant – then the hormone progesterone finally kicks in and she gets her period, late.



Can women get depressed as well during perimenopause? This is the case in some women, and again it is usually the hormones that are the culprit. However another thing to consider is that a woman at this point will realize she is in the waning years of her life, and this alone can be somewhat depressing. Add that to the other symptoms, and it’s a wonder more women don’t go completely bonkers! To hear some describe it, they certainly feel that they are.



If it seems as if your symptoms are mimicking PMS, this is quite a possibility, since every woman experiences perimenopause in different ways and degrees. The unpredictability of hormone levels will cause mental functions to also become unpredictable and the end result can be similar to PMS, with mood swings, irritability, fuzzy thinking, fatigue, and lack of sleep quite bothersome. Estrogen loss can affect memory as well, so loss of concentration and memory loss can go hand in hand to aggravate these mental symptoms.





There are many symptoms of menopause and also many cures for these symptoms. Learn as much as you can about them, and you can take positive steps to find relief for yourself.



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