There are a lot of symptoms we come to expect with menopause, think - hot flashes and weight gain, and there are a whole host of symptoms that are a little less well known but are common occurrences for women (and make the top 40 symptom list that floats around the internet). Then, there are the unusual symptoms that women often don't associate with menopause; things like bleeding gums, burning mouth, a change in body odor, and so on.

But, a more important question might be, why these symptoms? Some women are plagued by certain symptoms, and other women have none at all, but often, women have symptoms in clusters. These clusters are often related to specific hormones, and understanding which area is at the root cause of our symptom cluster can help us to better manage our menopause.

What Is Causing MY Symptoms...?

The first thing to note is that there ARE outside factors that can affect our symptoms, including their severity and overall appearance. The top five culprits are:

1. Diet - our diet, including sugars, alcohol, coffee, as well as proteins, plants, and phytoestrogens, (as well as the many things that can help menopause symptoms) will play a role in how we experience menopause. Things like alcohol, sugar, and coffee, have all been found to increase the duration and severity of menopause symptoms, whereas things like spearmint tea, flax, vegetables, and phytoestrogens (think edamame or tofu) have been found to help regulate overall hormone balance.

2. Exercise - though getting sweaty and beetroot colored (just us?) may seem counterintuitive, numerous studies have found that women who exercise experience significantly less vasomotor, sleep, and mood issues during menopause, plus with greater heart health, their overall longevity is improved. This means a daily dose of movement can help make your menopause better, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time!

3. Exposure to Xenoestrogens - xenoestrogens are artificial estrogens that can be found in many food and beauty supplies that disrupt normal hormone balance. Things like parabens are a good example of a xenoestrogen. They are not the same as the estrogens that our bodies produce, and they disrupt how our bodies recognize, regulate, and produce hormones. We go into much greater depth on this topic in this blog, but it is always a good idea to limit your exposure to xenoestrogens!

4. Chemical Balance - hormone balance is one thing, but for many of us, sleep and stress will affect our lives on several levels, including cortisol and neurotransmitters. Each person has a unique chemistry, but things like GABA or cortisol levels can also affect our mood; whilst menopause may increase mood disruptions, and so on, there are often other areas that affect the severity of these symptoms.

So, What Do I Do?

Well, like a lot of things, the best thing to do is start tracking your symptoms! Once you have a better understanding of what your issues are, you can get a clearer picture
of what is going on with YOUR hormone health.

Enter our FREE PDF. This PDF is designed to help you track symptoms you might be suffering from, as well as showing you which hormone clusters might be responsible for those troubles. Keeping track for at least 2 weeks, but ideally a month, will give you the most insight into what is going on, and help you decide your next steps.

You can download and print the PDF below simply by clicking on the image. It will link to the PDF in a new tab, from where you can save or print the file!