How to Make Menopause Symptoms Easier: 7 Natural Solutions

You’ve probably heard some variation on the famous quote, “Nothing is said to be certain, except death and taxes.” But had it come from a woman rather than Benjamin Franklin, she might have added “menopause” as a third certainty.

What Is Menopause?

A universal and normal part of aging for women, menopause is when you cease having a menstrual cycle — one full year without it, to be exact. Menopause typically happens between the ages of 50 and 52, when the body runs out of eggs for reproduction and the ovaries stop producing estrogen.

But your reproductive system doesn’t suddenly just close up shop overnight. The menopause transition, as it’s known, usually starts years earlier. Understanding how the transition progresses can help shed light on why symptoms happen and, even better, how to minimize them.

Menopause: Why It Happens + What to Expect

The transition of menopause typically begins around age 45 with a stage called perimenopause. It’s during this phase that most women start to experience telltale symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and vaginal dryness, along with other common ones you may not realize are associated - brain fog, weight gain, and sleep problems.

“A lot of the symptoms you experience in perimenopause aren’t due to declining estrogen, but rather irregular estrogen,” says Dr. Bill Rawls, M.D., medical director of Vital Plan. “The ovaries are running out of immature eggs to become follicles, which in a normal cycle produce increasing amounts of estrogen until the egg is released during ovulation, after which estrogen declines. Fewer eggs means fewer follicles, and therefore irregular estrogen production.”

In other words, instead of a neat and tidy decline in estrogen all the way to menopause, estrogen levels in perimenopause chart more like a jagged, irregular heartbeat, with lots of peaks and valleys, moving in a general downward direction, until estrogen eventually bottoms out. That unpredictable up-and-down of estrogen is why irregular periods are another standard part of perimenopause.

It also causes imbalances in your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis)  — the brain’s hypothalamus and the body’s pituitary and adrenal glands — which helps to balance your hormones and keeps your body functioning correctly. This imbalance triggers typical menopause symptoms.

Along with helping to ensure the proper functioning of the ovaries, the hypothalamus is also a key control center for body temperature, metabolism, sleep, and many other functions.

“So, when ovaries start producing irregular estrogen levels, the hypothalamus is getting irregular messages, and goes, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, what’s going on?!’” Dr. Rawls says. “It’s essentially getting bad feedback.” Or, at least, feedback it doesn’t expect. And that can throw things off in a way that may contribute to hot flashes, weight gain, and more, he says.

What Can You Do?

While you can’t necessarily avoid symptoms of menopause entirely, there are factors you have some control over that can improve the transition.

Treating your body well can have an incredible effect. “Healthy habits help normalize the body’s signaling systems, which will help everything work better,” Dr. Rawls says.

And it’s never too late or too early to begin: Whether you’re in your 30s or the thick of menopause, adopting the right habits can significantly reduce the physical and mental angst that comes with the transition. Here are the seven key things to focus on, starting now.

7 Natural Menopause Treatments That Really Work To Ease Symptoms

1. Get or Stay Active

Exercise is like an amazing (and free!) multivitamin that does all sorts of good things for your health, from improving heart and brain function and metabolism to helping you sleep, quelling stress, and boosting your mood. These are all areas that tend to suffer in menopause, which is why physical activity has been shown to have a direct impact on menopausal symptoms.

Need Proof of Subsided Menopause Symptoms?

Research has shown that physically active women have fewer physical and psychological symptoms of menopause compared to those who are sedentary. One reason may be that exercise helps protect you from obesity, which is key since carrying extra weight has been linked to more frequent symptoms.

Even if you’re currently sedentary, overweight, and dealing with rough symptoms, starting to exercise now is still a smart move. In one study, women in both perimenopause and postmenopause who began exercising moderately three days a week for 12 weeks saw improvement in their sleep quality, insomnia symptoms, and mood.

Breaking a sweat may be less than appealing if you're plagued by hot flashes. But that’s actually all the more reason to increase the intensity and frequency. Why? Athletes’ bodies naturally regulate temperature better than those who are only moderately active or inactive. Plus, the more fit you are, the more efficiently your blood vessels release heat to the skin's surface.

The best part is that you don’t need to adopt Olympics-level training to reap the benefits. Researchers found that women experiencing hot flashes who embarked on a 16-week exercise program that gradually upped its intensity found improved cardiovascular health and less intense hot flashes.

2. Eat Your Vegetables

 

Dr. Rawls says that reducing your intake of sugar and other processed, simple carbs and fatty meat can help keep weight in check and stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels (which can improve energy and mood). Plus, it helps balance your body’s response to the hormonal fluctuations in menopause.

Regarding hot flashes, specifically, research shows a healthier diet truly helps. In one study, women who improved their diet and/or lost weight thanks to the dietary changes reported fewer or less severe hot flashes.

There are likely multiple ways a plant-rich diet helps balance your body’s response to fluctuating estrogen levels. For one, plant foods are high in fiber, which may affect estrogen metabolism and stabilize hormones. What’s more, they’re rich in antioxidants that help reduce the inflammation that may also exacerbate symptoms.

Another explanation may be that a whole-food, plant-filled diet helps maintain a diverse and healthy mix of gut microbes, and good gut bacteria help regulate estrogen. 

3. Help Yourself! Prioritize Sleep

  

Along with exercise and a healthy diet, sleep is vitally important. While you snooze, your body goes to work, re-balancing hormones, clearing out cellular debris, and cleaning up, reshuffling, and otherwise organizing your brain’s “files,” a process that helps you think more clearly, Dr. Rawls says. So, no matter your age or menopause status, establishing a consistent sleep routine now will have far-reaching benefits.

How to Prioritize Sleep?

To help improve sleep and make it easier to drift off, follow these healthy tips:

• Exercise. It helps build up adenosine, a natural brain chemical that makes you feel sleepy.
• Consider quitting caffeine: Until sleep normalizes, curb your caffeine intake. Even caffeine in the morning can disrupt precious sleep at night.
• Be mindful of your sleep hygiene. Make sure your room is cool, dark, and quiet; avoid watching or reading exciting or suspenseful shows, movies, or books before bed; switch off blue-light emitting phones and computers a few hours before turning in; and try to go to bed and wake up at the same time, working backward to ensure you can log a total 8 hours of shut-eye.
• Don’t switch on the lights. If you tend to wake up in the middle of the night, stay in the dark and instead try to do some deep breathing or meditation.
• Consider cognitive behavioral therapy. Research suggests that CBT, which includes changing behaviors around how you sleep and prepare for sleep, can help make it easier to fall asleep and cut down on middle-of-the-night awakenings.

The problem, of course, is that sleep disturbances are a hallmark symptom of the menopause transition. For a quarter of women, sleep issues are severe enough that they interfere with day-to-day functioning and qualify as clinical insomnia. Unfortunately, sleep problems can then compound other menopause symptoms, like brain fog, mood disturbances, weight gain, and stress, all of which may make it even harder to sleep, trapping you in a vicious cycle.

One Solution That Can Help With Sleep:

Calming, sedative herbs, and other natural remedies. Bacopa, passion flower, motherwort, tart cherries, and magnesium work on specific sleep pathways that help you wind down, feel more relaxed, or otherwise promote a good night’s rest.

The Best Sleep Solution Out There:

Vital Plan’s Sleep Complete is a physician-formulated, clinically-studied, non-habituating natural solution created by Dr. Rawls and his Vital Plan team to turn the tide on restless sleep.

4. Take Herbs That Balance Hormones

 

“Humans are made up of 10 billion cells and 200 different types of cells, and the only way we can function as a unit is if all those cells are talking to one another,” Dr. Rawls says. “Hormones and neurotransmitters connect cells and allow them to communicate.” But when hormone production becomes erratic or drops off — as it does during the menopause transition — things don’t run as smoothly.

“Herbs help modulate hormones, and they can help the body balance its signaling systems during the menopause transition,” says Dr. Rawls.

Ashwagandha, especially when combined with calming herbs including l-theanine, Chinese magnolia and phellodendron, has a calming effect on the HPA axis, which plays a crucial role in temperature regulation, sleep, metabolism, energy, and other functions. As a gynecologist, he saw firsthand the effects of the herbs.

“In my practice, I found that these balancing herbs, along with good health habits like a healthy diet, keeping stress down, and staying physically active, made a big difference in minimizing menopause symptoms,” says Dr. Rawls.

If you’re ready to take back control of your menopause symptoms, give HPA Balance Menopause from Vital Plan a try. Carefully designed to support normal hormone balance and adrenal function associated with menopause, Vital Plan’s HPA Balance Menopause helps stabilize temperature fluctuation, increase your energy levels, improve sleep quality, calm mood.

5. Reduce Your Exposure to Environmental Toxins

 

When your body is already trying to adjust to irregular estrogen levels, it may be susceptible to artificial estrogenic and other chemical compounds in your environment, Dr. Rawls warns. So be sure to drink filtered water and try to reduce the use of plastic bottles, containers, and other chemical-containing household products.

“So many chemicals are estrogenic compounds,” Dr. Rawls explains. “And every cell in the body has estrogen receptors. So if you’re pinging those receptors with abnormal estrogen continually, it can cause real problems.”

While research doesn’t definitively show that the chemicals cause early menopause, it’s worth trying to reduce your exposure to all chemicals that could potentially interfere with your body’s natural hormonal activity, Dr. Rawls says.

6. Learn to Meditate and Practice Mindfulness

 

Life can be stressful, and going through the menopause transition can add even more potential stress to your plate. Mindfulness could be one antidote.

Known as an effective way to reduce stress, a new study from the Mayo Clinic links the calming practice to fewer menopause symptoms, specifically irritability, anxiety, and depression.

Ways to Practice Mindfulness?

The first step to mindfulness is to simply recognize that the brain is often on autopilot and to try to switch it off. Then, take some time to sit quietly with your thoughts. You needn’t try to manipulate them or empty your brain; instead, notice your thoughts, emotions, and mental activity without judgment, letting thoughts come in and out of your brain.

You can practice mindfulness through traditional forms of meditation, including guided meditation (plenty of apps like Calm can help). Or spend several quiet moments throughout the day, taking deep breaths and checking in with yourself.

7. Quit or Cut Back on Caffeine

 

Caffeine is a stimulant that blocks adenosine, the sleep-promoting chemical in your brain. So, if you’re experiencing sleep problems, it’s wise to limit your intake to the morning, cut back on the amount, or possibly quit caffeine altogether, Dr. Rawls says.

In particular, if you’re also struggling with hot flashes, try avoiding caffeine entirely to see if symptoms improve. In a study of more than 2,500 women, those who regularly consumed caffeine reported worse hot flashes and night sweats than those who didn’t.

The Bottom Line: Make Menopause Easier; Adopt Healthy Habits!

While menopause is a part of life for women, you don’t have to suffer through the often-debilitating and havoc-wreaking symptoms silently; you can lessen their severity by adopting some of the above advice. 

And if menopause is still years away for you, taking steps to ingrain symptom-mitigating healthy habits is a worthwhile investment in your future well-being. Because while many menopausal symptoms subside after the transition, the choice to take care of yourself and your health will keep paying off long after the last hot flash cools.